Will plants last long?

[Eric A]

Hello

I a getting 3 bocourti soon, and want to know if plants will last in that tank?

 

[Aromantis]

no

 

[Eric A]

Didn't think so. What is ur reason? The risk of them ripping them out or they ripping the plants them selves?

 

[Aromantis]

well for some reason I had thought they were largely herbivorous... but now im not sure. Either way it seems to me plants tend not to last long with cichlids their size... at least not in the same place haha.

 

[Eric A]

Well i'll keep em in until they start getting knocked around.

 

[Sab_Fan]

never had this fish, but IME there are many fish that have the reputation that you can't keep them with plants, but it's not always true

if the Bocourti is anything like a Texas cichlid, you may find them uprooting plants when they want to breed, and digging around in the roots, etc., but if you can tolerate some occasional disruptions, you might not have too much trouble

one thing I have tried is putting a flat rock or flower pot saucer on the floor of the tank; this serves as a flat spot for the fish and - - again, IME - - makes them less likely to make one of their own, which is what may disturb the plants

of course, I think these are pretty big fish, so they make knock around some plants just by swimming thru them . . . good luck

oh, you can also try keeping your plants potted in the tank; this is also pretty effective against root digging

 

[hairdog]

with my cichlids I just use floating plants, because as much digging and rearranging that they do they would be no way to keep rooted plants.

 

[Eric A]

Something I did myself in other tanks is put rocks around the base of the plant to keep the roots safe. The plants are pretty firmly rooted, and I can't pull em out with a firm tug, so I think it should be okay.

 

[duanes]

I kept bocourti a few years back, when full grown the 5 would polish off a half head of romaine lettuce per day.

 

[Natural_Born_Killer]

Haven't kept this particular fish, but with my cichlids its has been just trying out different plants to see which they don't particularly like.

Managed to keep some with my O's and my JD's without a problem just have to make sure that either a rock is covering the base or they are well tied down to a rock.