Whose eating my plants?

[DigsH2O]

I have a 29 gallon and I recently decided to go "real" as far as plants are concerned. I planted my tank about a week ago, and now I am noticing that leaves are being chewed off of all my plants. Here's my role call :

1 Bala Shark
2 Gouramis
4 Cherry Barbs
1 Long Nosed Loach
1 Pleco
1 Rainbow Shark

Does anyone have any ideas on who it is that is wrecking my plants?

[TKOS]

I have seen gouramis nibble at plants but from what my friend told me, his balas are plant munchers. This may mean that you have to live with your plants being eaten or else add some veggies to the diet.

[brookline45]

I have read the common plecos (Hypostomus plecostomus) can be serious plant munchers. Ottos and Cories seem to be preferable for planted tanks.

[Richer]

Your pleco is probably your plant eater. In general, most experienced plant keepers will not keep a pleco in their tanks, as they will literally turn your tank into one giant salad bar. If you want a pleco look for more plant friendly kinds... I've had a clown pleco in my 70 gallon tank for more than a year, and my plants are all doing very well. The bala shark might be nibbling on your plants, since they are omnivorous... as are most of your other fish, but they shouldn't be posing a problem.

On another note, I hope you will reconsider keeping some of those fish in your tank. Some of those fish should not be kept in a tank of that size.
The common pleco (which I assume yours to be), can grow to be quite large... I've seen many that were at least a foot or longer. Fully grown plecos require tanks that are much larger than yours.
Bala sharks also require a much larger tank then what you currently have. Bala sharks like to swim in groups... I would suggest somewhere along the lines of at least 4-5 in a group. Bala sharks can also grow to be quite large... somewhere along the lines of about about 12inches... though most aquarium kept ones don't grow that large.
Regardless I personally don't think bala sharks should be sold to the regular keeper. They need much more swimming room than a normal keeper can usually provide, and on top of that they usually do better in groups.

HTH
-Richer

[Must4ng s4lly]

It's your Pleco. Esp if it is a common Plec. I feed my common pleco an Hikari algae tablet every night right at lights out and this stops most plant munching!

[ticklemepunk473]

I had a rainbow shark that nibbled on my plants all the time