I am TRYING to make the switch from silk plants, to real plants. However, I have come across a problem in doing this. I have a blue acara, who is a big PAIN when it comes to plants. He/she (still havent been able to determine the sex of this THING!) is CONSTANTLY uprooting all my plants on me (I have them in gravel.....). He/she will not eat them, but just has some weird fasination with seeing them floating to the top of my tank. Any input on what to do with this crazy fish so he/she cant uproot them????
plants and fish....
- Thread starter itvilcu
- Start date
some fish will just do that. i havent had that problem yet so i am not sure how to deal with it. the eels i have had hide under the gravel. so i dont think they are trying to up root the plants just trying to hide.
Depending on the plant, you may want to use a plant weight... Particularly good for bunched plants, you could also use it loosely around a Rooted plants to give them a chance to root themselves. Once they're rooted, they'll probably stay down rather well.
Digging fish and many plants, esp stems and foreground plants, don't work well together. You can try some swords which have larger root masses or else ferns and anubias whuch are planted attached to rocks and wood. Also, other plants will develop good root systems if they have time to do so unmollested by fish.
You could also try adding some floating plants...If there's already something floating maybe they won't feel the need to pull the others up...
i've done this before, not knowing I was supposed to take the plants out of the pot. The rock wool gets infested with algae, and introduces all kinds of nutrients into your tank, thereby causing algal blooms. They usually grow aquatic plants hydroponically (without soil, out of water), and just impregnate the rock wool with nutrients. Plus, if you leave the plants in the pot, their roots can't grow much more, leading to a stunted plant!_newbie_ said:
Although it sure was easier to clean the gravel by just lifting up the plant, pot and all
The algae was just not worth it, though.