The dangers of live plants for feeding

[FishieFreak_882]

Live plants can be dangerous when you are putting them in temporarilly. When you put them in as temps, the fish will nibble on the leaves as food while you are away. Here is some stuff that can happen if the plants are left in for too long:
>They can leave small particles of green stuff from the leaves, sometimes clogging the filter or making the water look gross
>They can bring bacterial infections if they are not wash in a solution...ask a supplier for info on this solution.
> it can have leeches! (look on my other forums for info on leeches) leeches can also bring bacterial infections.

Live plants are good sometimes, but they can also kill fish becasue of the stuff i mentioned above.

FishieFreak_882

[TheOldSalt]

okay...so... what happened?

Plants are not meant to be temporary, by the way.

[FishieFreak_882]

When I went away, I put in live plants to feed the fish...they will nibble on it so they can eat...but i was gone too long, so the infection had already started... It killed my two guppies within days, even though i had taken the plants out. The 2 mollies i had at the time were covered in leeches...so they both survived the whole ordeal, but i still want to help other people so it doesnt happen to them.

[shev]

hmmm, did you happen to take the plants out of a lake, pond or river near you and put them in your tank? that'd explain the leeches, and carrying a disease that your tropical fish wouldnt be used to.

[maxpayne_lhp]

i have never though of feeding with aquatic plants. If some fish love vegy. you may use salad, letuce, cucumber... easy to find, cheap, safe!

[mlefev]

Wow, that's something to keep in mind. I won't complain about snails, no matter how bad they get with the idea of leeches as an alternative.

[MyraVan]

As OldSalt says, plants aren't ment to be temporary. If you want to have plants in the tank to feed your fish while you're away, why not make plants a permanant part of the tank? Then you can put them in and deal with any problems (infections, leeches, etc) while you're there, so everything has settled down by the time you go away. I've read that you shouldn't add any fish to your tank a month before you go away, and maybe that should apply to plants as well!

[FishieFreak_882]

no i baught them at a local pet shop...

[Damon]

I'm sorry, but that has to be one of the most rediculous stories I have heard.
Feeding with live plants? Leeches? Bacterial infections? What type of plants were these? Not all plants are aquatic and some cane be poisonous to fish and inverts.

[Celeste]

we give our koi pieces of zuchinni, green beans, peas, carrots, etc. they love it. they eat the plants and the bugs that fall into the pond too. they leave the bog vine and the grassy plant we have in there alone, but whenever a stray piece of watercress falls out of the bowl, they go after it.

[FishieFreak_882]

im not sure what kind of plants they were, but they were tall and flexible, with small narrow leaves. it was a deep green

[Damon]

I'll just leave this thread alone.

[shev]

there are carnivorous aquatic plants, I guess they could be pretty dangerous to small fish.

[Damon]

Very few plants in aquatic trade are carnivorous, a few of the Utricularia species being the most common. Not easy to acquire either as most stores don't carry it (none I've seen). You won't find them in any local store, just from on-line sources and a few planted tank keepers who sell or trade.

[shev]

lol, Oh I wasnt implying that he accidentally bought a carnivorous one.

speaking of the devil: http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/aucti...tsb&1118492706

[Damon]

Its a beautiful plant. Not to be kept with shrimp or if you planning to breed though.

[Mr Aquarium]

Somebody is a Plastic Plant fan huh,
If I may add, the only way I can think that what was posted that will kill fish, is lazyness, lack of you doing your job to keep your plants nice and out of the filter intakes.....

[TheOldSalt]

I have access to carnivorous aquatic bladderwort and floating sundew plants most of the time. Many of the ponds around here are full of them. We also have banana plants.

The Bladderwort's bladders are very small. While they'd be a menace in a fry tank, adult fish wouldn't be in any danger.

[Lydia]

Originally Posted by Mr Aquarium

Somebody is a Plastic Plant fan huh,
If I may add, the only way I can think that what was posted that will kill fish, is lazyness, lack of you doing your job to keep your plants nice and out of the filter intakes.....

i agree with yah

[Vivid-Dawn]

I'm going to toss my two coppers in here...

I've heard plants are great food... for supplemental use, though! If you're going to be away for more than 3 days, you probly should have an automatic feeder, or those disolving tablet things for your fish.

Plants are good for them to nibble on ever so often (they eat the plant itself, and diatoms off it), but it shouldn't be used as the whole source of daily meals.

And yes, if you take care of them properly, they won't clog the filter (I had Hornwort die and it's shedding leaves clogged the filter, but my Anarcharis is healthy and doesn't shed at all). In fact, they help the filter...plants like Nitrates, which bio-filters don't catch.