i have a 125g tank with several south american cichlid species in it. I have someone telling me that my live plants will not survive through a breeding cycle. So is this true that live plants cannot live with breeding cichlids? I am new to aquariums and dont want to waste money on problems unforseen in the future. Any advice will be appreciated. I also have a 36g community tank. And a 20g tall guppy/ghost shrimp tank. Both if wich are heavily planted. My 125 is sparsely planted.
Plants with breeding cichlids.
- Thread starter Chicohombre39
- Start date
Most plants will be destroyed, cichlid dependant. If your talking angels, convicts, acaras, kribs, Rams, or fire mouths your plants could fair well.
I keep a known plant destroyer (vieja melanura) with plants half successfully. He rips up what he doesn’t like, pushes around the rest. I have no say on what plants stay or go!
It might help if you told us which fish you are referring to
I keep a known plant destroyer (vieja melanura) with plants half successfully. He rips up what he doesn’t like, pushes around the rest. I have no say on what plants stay or go!
It might help if you told us which fish you are referring to
I have 1 flowerhorn. Several convicts. A few blood parrots and a pair of salvini. I have apotogen. Dwarf water lily and hornwort in my tank. I had alm these in my 36g aquarium for the last 6 months. They did tear up the apotogen a bit and they do knock pieces of hornwort off sometimes. With alm the extra room they now have there is very minimal aggression. Im sure that will change with fish sizes. But so far ive had luck with plants and cichlids but dont want to get too much as far as plants going now. Thanks for advice guys!
I depends on the species of cichlid, and how secure they are that other cichlids or fish in the tank will attack their fry.
Some cichlids will rip out plants as a sort of DMZ to offer the parents clear view of any oncoming attackers.
Some species seem to use plants as cover for fry.
I have found large cichlids are more apt to tear the tank up, than smaller ones.
My Andinoacara, at only about 5" have not bothered plants at all during spawns.
Whereas something the size of Parachrmois or Vieja leave the tank as a scorched earth policy ripping up anything that hinders the view of a sneak attack on the fry.
Some cichlids will rip out plants as a sort of DMZ to offer the parents clear view of any oncoming attackers.
Some species seem to use plants as cover for fry.
I have found large cichlids are more apt to tear the tank up, than smaller ones.
My Andinoacara, at only about 5" have not bothered plants at all during spawns.
Whereas something the size of Parachrmois or Vieja leave the tank as a scorched earth policy ripping up anything that hinders the view of a sneak attack on the fry.
It depends on the size of the cichlid, the type of plants, and how the plants are secured. You can have breeding pair of small to medium cichlid not exceeding Firemouth size in power, but for large cichlid you can only keep bachelors to prevent pairing destruction. Single females may not be safe as some will make nest to lay eggs solo. Java fern, Anubias and bolbitus are perfect for their tough texture and epiphyte habit to resist cichlid maneuvering. Sword, sag, and tough texture stems are fine if you secure them in pots, but not planted in substrate to prevent cichlid digging. Mouth brooding cichlid are safer than egg layers as they don’t pair for long.
Here is my 125 g planted cichlid tank where a pair of Jewel cichlid is raising young in the right corner. Other than tearing off a few leaves, not much damage was done.
Here is my 125 g planted cichlid tank where a pair of Jewel cichlid is raising young in the right corner. Other than tearing off a few leaves, not much damage was done.