Yellow Labs are terrorizing my plants

Minnesota Fats

Minnesota Fats

AC Members
Nov 5, 2005
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I have three yellow labs in a 55 gallon tank and they are just absolutely destorying all of my live plants. I recently cut back the amount I was feeding them because I was developing an algae problem. Ever since, they have been eating my plants down to almost nothing. Last week I started feeding them the amount I used to, hoping they would curb the plant eating, but it hasn't worked.

Does anyone know any tips to keep them from eating plants? Or is this just something I am going to have to deal with? Are there any plants that they won't eat?
 
Is your tank a planted tank or is it meant for malawi cichlids? If its meant for malawi cichlids then you should create the tank to suit thier needs and worry more about them than the plants.... and if its a planted tank then malawi cichlids are not the right fish for you!

Yellow labs are primarily vegetarian fish, so they are eating your plants for a reason. Mbuna love to do this.... but you should also take it as a sign that you might not be feeding them enough vegetable matter.

I keep a few types of plants in my african tanks: anubias, vallisneria, and java fern. These three are great A) because they can tolerate the high pH nessecary for african cichlids, and B) because they taste bad to the fish.


HTH
:)
-Diana
 
three yellow labs in a 55 gallon tank and they are just absolutely destorying all of my live plants
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and this surprises you because? a little research would reveal that Malawi cichlids are VEGETARIANS. would you feed cows raw meat? vegetarians, whether fish or cow, eat plants. that's their job in life.

if you want a planted tank, keep fish that don't eat them. if you want to keep Malawi cichids, don't keep plants.
 
liv2padl said:
and this surprises you because?
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It surprises me because for months they never touched my plants and now all of a sudden they are tearing them to shreds. What pisses me off is that it doesn't even seem like they eat the plants. They just rip them apart. Every morning I wake up and fish out about 20 leaves that they have ripped off. I am going to try to stick some spinach leaves or something in there. Maybe that will keep them occupied. If not, I guess the real plants are going.
 
ripping and tearing ... that's just normal malawi behaviour. they're taking little bites along the way. even if you put in spinach, they'll still rip and tear. it's just something they do.
 
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