What plants can keep up with Silver Dollars?

[JenM76]

Hi all! I've had my tank for about a year now and have had several of my fish for close to the same. My desire is to have this 55g tank heavily planted... however, I adopted 2 mature silver dollars from the pet store and I just can't find any plants that can keep up with them. I spend $30-40 on plants (which gets me 10+ bunches of plants) only to have them GONE in a couple weeks.

I do have full spectrum LED lighting now, which has helped. I have finally managed to keep duckweed in there... but I need plants IN the tank, not just at the top. I lost one of my gouramis, so the pair that's now in there has gotten pretty aggressive with the other fish and I feel like this would be lessened if I had better plant cover. At this point, my fish are all mature, so it's hard to replace that third gourami that seemed to keep everyone from getting territorial.

In any case... what's my best bet for plants that can withstand the abuse my silver dollars dish out? And is there a good place to get them without breaking the bank??

 

[Colin_T]

There are no live aquarium plants that you can keep with silver dollars because the fish are vegetarian and will eat any plant matter in the tank.

You can use plastic plants in the main tank, and you can grow duckweed and other plants outside in a plastic tub/ pond and move them into the tank for the fish to eat. You can also add fruit and vegetables to their diet. Just make sure anything you feed if free of chemicals and has been well washed before adding to the aquarium.
*NB* Do Not feed any fish with potatoe or onion or onion relatives (leeks, spring onions, etc). These can poison the water.

If you want a planted tank, then you will have to rehome the silver dollars.

 

[fluttermoth]

If you haven't tried Java fern or anubias yet, it might be worth giving them a go, as they are tougher and, apparently, taste bitter, so many fish will leave them alone; they both need attaching to rock or wood, rather than being planted in the substrate.

If they don't make it, it'll have to be artificial ones for you, I'm afraid. Some of the modern artificial ones look very real, so your tank could still look great