are geohphagus good with plants?

[syddakyd]

im sure they could accidentally uproot some while digging but do they eat plants? how are they with small tankmates like cories and tetras?


if they dont fit in a planted community can you recommend anything else? (not angels or discus though)


it has to be a decent size

not eat plants

not kill tankmates or eat fish

tank is the 125 in sig.

 

[JK47]

Most geophagus will not eat your plants, like you mentioned they may uproot them but there are things you can do to avoid that. Corydoras and tetras are great tankmates BTW and you do not have to worry about them being eaten.

Your sig says, "semi-aggressive" what other fish make it semi-aggressive? That will be the deciding factor in what species of Geophagus you choose.

 

[EdCal]

The problem is that they uproot them, unless your plants are Anubis or Java Ferns which take root on driftwood. Any substrate rooted plant will eventually be floating

 

[syddakyd]

plants can be anchored by surrounding rocks. my only concern is if they would eat them. severums destroy them and jack dempsies eat some as well.

the tank isn't an aggro tank by any means but it has stuff like an aggressive adult rainbow shark (pretty damn big). an adult mean skunk loach, 10 african knives, 2 brown ghost knives...a few corys/tetras. i plan to add alot more plants and filters and do heavy water changes with the python.

so i want to in essence make this a very busy tank

 

[jerzyperson]

10 african knives and 2 brown knives? isn't that a little over stocked as it is!?

 

[japes]

There's 2 main issues with Eartheaters and plants.

The first is that Eartheaters need sand, and they like very fine sand. Plants generally don't and they'll actually lift themselves out of it so their roots can breath without any help from the tanks inhabitants.

Secondly, even if you anchor all plants with rocks around the roots of them, food will eventually make its way to the base of the plants and Eartheaters are ruthless when they're sifting. You are going to need pretty decently sized rocks even even then they'll tear it up from the inside out.

The biggest reason is simple. Eartheaters like as much open ground as possible. If you want to fill it with plants you're limiting this. I'd suggest looking for other fish, perhaps Dwarf Acaras.

 

[syddakyd]

10 african knives and 2 brown knives? isn't that a little over stocked as it is!?

lol...not even close.

 

[jerzyperson]

oh, i just thought it was alot

 

[honda237]

i have a couple plants in my 90g with sand and i am constantly putting the plants back in, but that isn't my biggest worry because my little 2" severum loves them, he ate a 7" plant down to the roots in one day. I found that most cichlid are plant eaters or uproot.