my plants must be delicious...any suggestions??

[melonhead]

so, this is my first experience with live plants. i'm not sure right now exactly what kind they are...
but my fish are munching them down!!! mostly i catch the botias and the swordtails.
are there any plants that they won't eat?! i'd hate to have to switch back to fake ones.
peace.
LP

[Damon]

It depends on the type of plants you have, although well fed swords don't eat plants. You might want to start by checking your feeding. What type of plants do you have? What fish are in the tank exactly? Lighting?

[melonhead]

although well fed swords don't eat plants

oh, yes they do! these swords are fed plenty--they are the piggiest fish in the tank!
my other fish are bala sharks, tetras, botias, cories, a pleco, hatchets....the swords are among the biggest, and get more than their share of grub!
we feed them flake food, slow-sinking cichlid crumbles, shrimp pellets, and algae pellets every day, sometimes twice. once a week or so they get frozen or live worms or brine shrimp.

they get around 12 hours of light per day.

like i said, i forget what kind of plants they are. i know i have an amazon sword (it doesnt' get eaten as much as the thinner-leaved ones)

[Damon]

The pleco could be destroying the thinne leaved plants (very common). COuld I get your full tank specs and fish types? It might give me a better idea. And how do the plants look? Describe them if possible including damage.

[melonhead]

hmmm. the pleco, huh? i hadn't thought of that, cuz i never see him eating them, just the swords and botias. pleco mostly stays attached to the driftwood.
i have a 55 gallon tank.....2 huge pieces of driftwood, a homemade 3-D slate background with lots of hiding spots. some holey rocks and the like....

plants: one big amazon sword--pretty healthy looking, except for a few munched leaves....a few small amazon clippings from a friend, they're getting kinda brownish--might take em out soon...
one of the plants, the one that must be the yummiest, might be a Mayaca fluviatilis or a Anacharis (Egeria Densa). i found pics online, and it kinda looks like that. they are eating the little leaves, and have even chomped off whole stems!
one is sorta grass-looking, might be Jungle Vallisneria.? this one gets eaten a lot too. i also have some java moss that doesn't seem to be getting eaten.
oh, and also, another one that looks sorta like oak tree leaves, but smaller and green. also getting eaten a bit, but this one is growing quickly.
i'm not sure of the id of those 3 plants. i know they were fairly inexpensive (under $5)

i already listed my fishes. to be more specific.....(i don't know a lot of the scientific names):
2 botia striata, 2 botia dario, 1 botia lohachata/almorhae (who is very fat, btw), 1 botia Kubotai....
1 panda cory, 1 juli cory, 1 emerald cory, 1 (unknown) cory
2 black sword tails--female (solid black with white eyes)
2 bala sharks--tiny ones
1 pleco (common? brown and black)
5 tetras (black neons, i think?)
3 silver hatchets and 1 marble hatchet
1 gold barb

i THINK that's all of em!
thanks for your help.

[Damon]

Try adding some algae wafers occasionally or spirunella flakes. This might help curb the swords need for munching on your plants.

[tungsram]

Don't forget that almost all freshwater fish eat plants in the wild. Too me it's almost insane to expect them to do any differnt in an aquarium. If it's really that much of a thorn in your side you could always (*gasp) go to artificail plants.

[Damon]

Plecos, in generall don't eat plants. They will, however hurt them eating the algae off of them. Common plecos and plecos of the same eating habits will destroy sword edges while rasping the algae off the leaves. A well fed tank will not eat plants.