I would recommend java fern , val and anubias for easy low maintenance plants, pretty much they are my go to plants when setting up a new tank.
Live Plants? Forget it.
- Thread starter FINWIN
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I'm a plant guy, my garden looks like a jungle and I have a couple of heavily planted tanks but sometimes you have to go with the fish. I've got a group of clowns that are nearly 30 years old and they were fine with plants for the first decade but once they got 8 inches or so they literally started destroying any plant I added. I also have a similar aged silver dollars who were similarly ok when younger but started living up to their reputation as they aged. I can now put half a cucumber in there and it's gone the next day, so they like eating greens.
Part of the problem is I might get away with plamts if the tank was heavily planted to begin with but if I add just a few pots or bunches I know they wouldn't survive initial contact. Think along the same lines as with mbuna, the more plant matter you start with, the higher chance of success but you do need a green thumb.
Part of the problem is I might get away with plamts if the tank was heavily planted to begin with but if I add just a few pots or bunches I know they wouldn't survive initial contact. Think along the same lines as with mbuna, the more plant matter you start with, the higher chance of success but you do need a green thumb.
Agree with the above, in order to maintain plants, a large number must be maintained from the get go, or they get eaten .
In the states I had similar experience where, if the tank was initially started, and cichlids were added later, plant growth went much better.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/alb...sf5be31d7.jpg?width=320&height=320&fit=bounds, ..https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/i97/dstuer/Astatherosrostratum/asta%20tank/.highres/IMG_1018_zps46383783.jpg?width=320&height=320&fit=bounds
Worked the same here in Panama, if the tank was started with only plants, and they were allowed to get established, growth remained much stronger.
In the planted cichlid tank below, plants were allowed to get established a full 2 months, before any substancial species were added.
In the states I had similar experience where, if the tank was initially started, and cichlids were added later, plant growth went much better.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/alb...sf5be31d7.jpg?width=320&height=320&fit=bounds, ..https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/i97/dstuer/Astatherosrostratum/asta%20tank/.highres/IMG_1018_zps46383783.jpg?width=320&height=320&fit=bounds
Worked the same here in Panama, if the tank was started with only plants, and they were allowed to get established, growth remained much stronger.
In the planted cichlid tank below, plants were allowed to get established a full 2 months, before any substancial species were added.
Y'all are probably right the only hope is having a plant cultivating tank. Can get elodea here pretty good but plant bunches overall are obscenely expensive...by the time you get 10 small pieces you're north of 100 bucks.
Octopus grass (Pogostemon stellatus) works for me but a teaspoon is 7 o 10 bucks. Only plant that needs no help is the duckweed.
Now if someone can give me a good deal, well...
Octopus grass (Pogostemon stellatus) works for me but a teaspoon is 7 o 10 bucks. Only plant that needs no help is the duckweed.
Now if someone can give me a good deal, well...
All Vieja and simiar shaped (Maskaheros, Oscura, Cincelichthys, Isthmoheros , (what ever continent disc shaped cichlids come from)) cichlids are primarilly or at least partially vegetarian.
You can easily tell by their mouth shape, and inate dental formations they are fairly inept as predatores, so plants will be a major part of their diet.
The perception that all cichlids are primarilly meat eaters is highly erroneous.
All Herichthys and cichlids with similar shaped teeth are partially vegetarian. (a major portion of many Herichthians diets is algae)
Most acara are at least somewhat vegetarian
You can easily tell by their mouth shape, and inate dental formations they are fairly inept as predatores, so plants will be a major part of their diet.
The perception that all cichlids are primarilly meat eaters is highly erroneous.
All Herichthys and cichlids with similar shaped teeth are partially vegetarian. (a major portion of many Herichthians diets is algae)
Most acara are at least somewhat vegetarian
You can get plants for way cheaper from other hobbyist selling off their surplus on the plantedtank.net forum or on the Band app. Or, if you come across mother plants of Anubius or Java fern, a few of those will fill a tank. The ones I’ve gotten were huge
Craigslist can be a gold mine!! It is how I have built up my collection of tanks over the last 6yrs. I have scored fish and plants too.
The Choco's destroyed most of these c wendetii too. The mother plant was removed from a 29g where it had grown for several years. This tank is 30in tall x 24in wide.
The Choco's destroyed most of these c wendetii too. The mother plant was removed from a 29g where it had grown for several years. This tank is 30in tall x 24in wide.
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Tell me about it. My acaras loved stripping pothos leaves off the vine to munch. Anything they didn't eat they would nest in. Buzz sawed the guppy grass like all the other fish did too.
