Plecs V Java fern tied on bogwood

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Freakdaddy

Freakdaddy

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 29, 2006
353
4
0
60
Bristol , UK
www.bristoltropicalfishclub.org.uk
Hi all , I have just sat back down after a frantic time in trying to save the life of my Flash Panaque (time and melafix will tell).Many of you may have bogwood with Java fern attatched, personally I have it in most of my tanks and until recently had no problems with it.3 weeks ago I saw one of my clown plecs snagged by his head on a piece of cotton I grabbed some scissors and released him no problem ,no harm done a freak accident I thought.A week later same tank same place this time my queen Arabesque was caught this time dorsal fin ripped(healing nicely now) .so I stripped the fern off and put the wood back took the cotton off the fern weighted it, put it back, sorted.Tonight I was looking at the 4ft in my frontroom and thought to my self that fern is taking over the tank I'll prune it and it was while I was doing this that I found Flash he came up with a chunk I had just cut off.This time being a bigger more powerful fish not only was he snagged around the head he was garroting himself .the cotton had cut his throat just behind his mouth I could see white flesh and blood.
I have personally stripped every piece I have now and stapled the fern back to it to remove any posibilty of this happening a forth time. The problem seems to be the constant chewing over the wood and cotton plus the stuff rotting with age causes the cotton to break off forming aquatic snares.I was lucky the fish were in view when this happened if not they could have been some unexplained fish disapearnces...ever had one of those?
So all you plec owners with fern tied on bogwood please be VIGILANT
 
wont the staples rust and mess up the tank??
 
Yeah I just jammed it under stuff in the end ,it'll root by itself.
 
Whoa thats freaky thanks for the heads up I got some moss tied on to driftwood in my plecs tank Ill make sure I take it out before it rots.
 
thanx for warning, i was gonna get a queen Arabesque and put it in my planted ( guppy) tank, it has bog wood and java fern onit, but mine is tied on with fine fishing line ( nylon) i think, maybe that would be more secure, its mega tight, ill let you know how it goes
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom