Synspilum and plants?

[magpie]

This might be a quick answer.

If I was planning on having minimal number of rooted plants, but some anubias / java fern tied to wood, floating plants and/or just plants near the surface riparium / pothos style with roots growing down into the water column, would a Synspilum just trash all of that?

 

[PhishMon84]

I would think it would be eaten

 

[Stanzzzz7]

More than likely yes.
Saying that though,I have kept them with hornwart.
I let the hornwart float and fill the top layer of the tank and they left it alone.
I've yet to find a cichlid that will eat it.

 

[kewpiefishypewpie]

Not apples to apples but my Heterospilus have destroyed any and all plants I had with them. Come to think of it my old synspilums would too, they seemingly would do it just for the fun of it.

 

[duanes]

Since Vieja are omnivores with a tendency toward vegetarianism, finding that particular type plant yours just don't like is the key, but may be difficult.
Some Vieja I had would gobble down java fern, but let Anubias alone, and also would tear Pothos roots to shreds. One of the reasons I started doing separate planted sumps.
Although not Vieja, ny bocourti even ate Anubias and even papyrus into nubs, which is basically just like eating paper. They would also chisel down certain driftwood.
Here in Panama, V maculacauda venture into the rocky mangrove (sea water) to graze ocean algae, and maybe to have the sea water dislodge parasites.

 

[Toiletcar]

Most CA cichlids love to snack on plants. It's a big part of their natural diet. I wouldn't risk it.

 

[Gourami Swami]

Well you are always going to get some nibbling/uprooting, in my experience, but I never let it deter me from keeping some minimal plants in my CA tanks. Anubias and cryptos are what I have had the best luck with. Tall-growing plants always seem to get left as nubs, but the ground cover seems to do okay for me. I have kept various Vieja with plants over the years.
I'd say go for it, worst case your out 15$ for a few anubias, best case they leave them alone.

 

[magpie]

I really appreciate the responses.

I just love the looks of them but also love plants.

 

[ragin_cajun]

I've tried this....and the bigger Vieja get, the more futile plants in the tank is. And not only because the fish physically rip 'em out and eat 'em.

Bigger fish eat more food. Then they excrete phosphorus and other excess nutrients into the water, which is fertilizer for algae diatoms. So if you feed your Synspilum, you'll have algae growing all over your plants' leaves. And tough plants grow slow, so you won't get a whole lotta new green leaves. You'll just have algae covered leaves.

Those planted tanks you see, with nice green leaves, and no algae....notice how few fish you see. How tiny the fish are. 20 tetras in a big planted tank eat less than a single Synspilum.

You can have nice big CA Cichlids. Or, you can have a nice algae free planted tank. But, you can't have both.....unless you have 2 tanks.

"You can have anything you want. But, you can't have everything you want."

 

[tiger15]

What the previous poster said is generally true. It’s difficult to have big fish and lush plants to co exist. Most nature aquariums have only small schooling fish that you can barely notice they exist.

It’s difficult, but not impossible. I’ve seen many heavily planted discus and angel fish which are big fish but don’t dig. I’ve been experimenting in the last 6 months to keep plants with medium to large CA and African in a 75 gal. My fish are more challenging because they are not just big but also dig. I’m riding through a learning curve to gradually get things in order, and hopefully will work out.

First I selected only easy low light epiphytes that don’t need to root in substrate, which included java fern, anubias, Buce and bolbidus which I superglued to rock, My fish included a 10” Vieja Bifas and a 10” GT plus half a dozen 4 to 6 inch African and CA. None of the eat my plants, but they can be rough on plants when they attempted to rearrange the plant scape. I had to pick up loosen plants just about every day to re glue them since it’s take time for them to develop anchoring roots.

Initially I did not dose fertilizer in the assumption that heavy fish load will produce adequate nutrients. I was wrong because while fish waste is rich in nitrogen and phosphorous, my plants were showing severe potassium and iron deficiencies. So I started dosing potassium sulfate and micro nutrients containing iron. From what I read, fish waste is rich in iron, but it is not the soluble form plants can absorb.

Another big problem I had was algae invasion within weeks due to high organic waste load, The most devastating algae is black beard algae covering the foliage and hardscape. So I started dosing Flourish Excel which is a carbon source and an algaecide if dosed at 2x recommended dosage. I also sprayed peroxide to exposed bba during WC. That took care of the algae.

Before dosing excel and nutrients, my plants were dying from nutrient starvation and suffocation by bba. I lost 2/3 the plants I started out before they started showing some life and green growth. But the growth rate was too slow to my satisfaction, so I made a leap to install CO2 injection. CO2 is like steroid, and the plants started to take off and the algae went away. The faster growth also accelerated plant rooting on the rock so I need not re glue them as often. The plants are looking better now. I still have a few algae here and there, still dosing excel to combat bba on hardscape, and still tweeting the balance for perfection