Cichlids with plants?

[ashli]

I'm not a huge fan of the rocky look..is it possible at all to keep cichlids in a planted tank? I know they like to dig and rearrange, so I'm assuming no.

Just trying to figure things out before I dive back into the hobby.

[ibr3ak]

Not only uproot but also eat, depends which cichlid you're talking about though.

[jpappy789]

yeah it depends on the type.

I have vals with my tangs

[elementkid65]

websites said yer but val with your eyebiters- $50 (#@$50) later and alot of floating val

[nchoe123]

you could keep your plants in pots, that way, they won't dig them up so easily, and if they do poorly or get eaten, it's easy to take them out.

[jm1212]

angels, rams, dicus, festivum and a few others wont uproot plants.

most africans will eat plants and dont favor the lower pH that can be the result of CO2 injection. Calvus though, are piscivorous, so will not eat the plants.

[dent20]

I have one plotted plant (a small Amazon sword) in my new world tank, which was a little experiment. My male rainbow cichlid chewed on it early on, but has left it alone of late. It's been doing really well, but I've been hesitant to try more. Last summer I had another plant in my African tank that eventually died, but not because of the cichlids. They left it alone.

[Malak]

It's possible but you have to be even more stubborn than the fishes ;)

I'm still fighting with them after a few months but it's finally working.

[Brian Bivens]

With many tanganyikan fish you can keep plants, I have amazon swords with my brichardi, and I know that you can keep really hardy plants like anubias Barteri with many cichlids...

[claygirl13]

I have some swords and cabomba in my mixed cichlid tank. They tend to nibble on the cabomba but have yet to tear it up. I tried java moss....Bad idea, they ate it all. :) (Fat little fishies.) I would just try to plant the tank a couple of weeks before adding fish so that the roots can grow out a bit.

[ashli]

Thanks for the ideas folks. I just love how colorful cichlids are.