Help who is eating my plants

Hello, to a "neighbour," as I'm in Pitt Meadows.

I wouldn't suspect any of the fish listed to be eating the Anubias directly; fish are not likely to eat this plant as it is quite tough in leaf structure. It is probably more likely the older leaves dying off which is common when plants are moved to a different environment. And in this case, the Siamese Algae Eater might be eating the dying leaves.

You do have a couple issues with the fish though. First, mollies are not going to do at all well in our very soft water, unless you are adding hard minerals somehow. We can discuss this.

Second issue is the Tiger Barb; this fish is a known fin nipper if kept in too small a group, and three is much too small. A group of 10 or more is required. You have the tank space, but keep in mind that Tiger Barb do limit other types of fish more; nothing with flowing fins, or no sedate fish, are suitable with TB.

Byron.

ruby said:

ok thank you for posting byron it helps to know it might have been old dead leaves being eaten but
i have seen the Siamese Algae Eater on the plant but he was just sitting there maybe hes doing most of his cleaning at night as the day he just sits on the plants in my tank or is on the glass of the tank
i did not know that about tiger barbs the ones i have where in my friends 10gal tank that her dog some how borke on her im not sure how that happened so she bought them over to me for my tank i was just gong to do mollys in my tank but i love the barbs now i will try to get more of the barbs so they have a nice size school so about 10 you say would be good ?

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Yes, a group of ten is best with this species. While we're on increasing fish, the cherry barbs and zebra danio should also have more, a minimum of 6 or 7 is OK for these, though as with most shoaling fish more is better. I usually go for 9-12 of these type of fish.

The mollies are still going to be a problem, if you are not providing the hard minerals they absolutely need to be healthy. With our very soft water, it is easiest to stay with soft water fish, which is just about everything except the livebearers (mollies, swordtails, platy, guppy) and rift lake cichlids.

I have your email about local plants and will respond in a moment.

Byron.

You asked about snails, and I don't think they are really necessary for a tank. I keep them because I like them, but I've found that some fish will eat them. I have never had a problem with snails overpopulating any of my tanks, but other people end up with serious infestations. If you're looking at snails for algae control, they aren't very effective and they produce a lot of waste to boot.

ruby said:

byron what kind of hard minerals do mollys need ? this is my first big tank i use to have goldfish in my little 10gal that i now use as a hatchery tank for when i get baby fish
i do have 4 baby fish in it right now but i dont know what kind they are as they where from my firend that has platys & guppys she was going to flush them so i got them to give them a chanse at life

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Before I get to this, on the snails, I consider them a good friend in the aquarium. I'm talking about the small common snails, like pond, bladder or Malaysian Livebearing snails. I can give you some of these when you come for plants later as we discussed in the email. These snails get everywhere, and they eat all organic matter which includes all fish waste. This breaks the matter down faster so the various bacteria can get at it. None of these small snails eat healthy plants. They do eat algae, but minimally (i.e., they will not handle an algae infestation). All in all, I like to see them as part of a healthy aquarium.

To the hardness. I checked your Abbotsford water report here
http://www.ourwatermatters.ca/files...ts/AMWSC_Annual_2013_Water_Quality_Report.pdf
to refresh my memory, and the water is very soft (like mine). However, some of the water at times comes from various wells and it is a tad harder though still not sufficient. If you really want to maintain mollies, I would suggest hardening the tank water. I personally would not combine soft and hard water fish in the same aquarium as it is easier on them to keep them separate. However, the other fish you mentioned should be OK with this, provided it is not too hard. But increasing the GH (hardness) will make life difficult for certain soft water fish if you should get them down the road.

The easiest and less expensive way to harden water is to use a calcareous substrate, or place some in a compartment of a canister filter. I have used aragonite sand or fine gravel. You can buy this from many fish stores. Manufacturers like CarribSea carry it in bags, and a couple stores in Vancouver might have it in bulk. Crushed coral is another calcareous substrate, though this should have some aragonite mixed in as coral is basic calcium and the aragonite has magnesium too.

As I said, you can replace the substrate with this, or you can put a couple cups in the filter. The latter is easiest if the tank is established, and it will suffice.

Without some calcium and magnesium, mollies will weaken and are then prone to skin diseases and premature death. The shimmying swimming is a sign of this, as well as patches of cloudy or whitish skin.

Byron.