I was just wondering if anyone know any good tricks for keeping plants from being uprooted and shredded by larger fish. I do not want to do artificial but it might be my only choice unless there are tricks I don't know. Ideas?
Live Plants + Bigger Fish = Shredded Plants. Tips?
- Thread starter Calvin Klein
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+1 for artificial, I have afew in with my rck (17"+) and thats the only thing he cant destroy, and they look as close to real as you can get. When visitors to myhouse look at the tanks I always get "what kind of plant is that", I always tell them I dont know but its fake. Most people think there real at first glance. You will spend a little more money buying the nicer looking artificial, but its worth it in my opinion.
Pothos vine will grow in the water as long as lighting is good. It will make a fish sick after the first time they eat it and puke but after that they seem to leave it alone. I use it in 3 out of 5 tanks and it works great.
Thanks for the feedback. I'll look into that pothos vine and perhaps try the pot idea. I just really like to do the real plant thing. Don't ask me why. I guess it is because I like the idea of making my tanks close to the natural habitat as one can. (I know.......it'll never quite be the same as the amazon basin. Ha ha!)
The species of fish makes a big difference. I'm having no problems with fish ranging from 11" to 18" in my planted tank, all bottom dwelling bichirs. Some fish are just made to rearrange though.
An old school trick for maintaining plants along with plant-wreckers is to use a lengthwise-split tank. Plants in the back third, fish up front with rockwork. The glass divider can even have a weir overflow to turn the plant section into a refugium as part of the overall system filtration.
I've seen the same setup used to keep piranha with other South Americans. Looked pretty cool.