Fish Devouring My Plants

[treelo]

after a 10 year gap of keeping fish, i have gotten round to having a tank again, for the sole purpose of getting one sort of fish(differnt topic)

so i was looking at just getting the tank set up correctly and up and running for a few months before introducing the fish im looking at

i had my tank up and running for a week so it could settle down and had no fish in there but introduced coral sand and coral pieces(the fish i want need a high pH) and decided i would throw a plec and a few platys in the tank so it can cycle

i have only actually put the fish in there about 4 hours ago and the fish are demolishing one of my plants

it is a fairly larged leaf plant with pink/cerise coulored edges and im not best pleased my runt fish are eating it to death TBH

they have had a few nibbles at the other plants but this one is the main course it seems

any advice?

 

[Gadgetman1805]

heya had a similar problem! little things were eating all my plants to be honest its going to happen especially with the softer plants

try more hardy plants like

java fern

wysteria (looks amazing fully grown)

elodea

theres plenty more i got mine of ebay which were very cheap and also very healthy ill try and post sum pics

 

[treelo]

please do mate

ive got a bit of experience with fish but im not up on the plant side of things TBH

id love to know what this plant is as well, by far the best looking plant in my tank, ill see if i can grab a piccy so someone can identify it

 

[treelo]

apologies for the stupid size of the picture but i couldnt be bothered firing up CS to make it smaller

anyone got any idea what that plant is and what sort of enviroment it would be best kept in?

would it suit brackish type setup?

 

[Christine1014]

Is there any way you can cycle the tank without the fish? (using ammonia or fish food flakes? See the fishless cycling pinned topics for a full description.) And without the plants? It's my understanding that the plants will slow down the cycling process.

 

[treelo]

i dont really want to cycle it without fish TBH

its about 10cm from me while im on my PC(which is a lot of the day) so i would prefer to have something in it for me to look at

 

[stang1]

Plecos prefer to be in a tank that has matured so putting it in your tank is a bit risky to be honest.
While I appreciate that you want to see fish in your tank, it's a lot kinder to the fish to do a fishless cycle.
Also, what are your water stas at the moment? f it's only been set up a week then the chances are it hasn't had a chance to cycle completely. Although I'm not familiar with Platys, I do know that you could end up harming your Pleco.

 

[treelo]

water stats not known, i bought basic bare bones fish that can survive in a variety of enviroments to just cyle the tank

im hoping to give these fish away once my tank is ready

 

[stang1]

I'm afraid the Pleco isn't a bare bones fish, they can be very sensitive when it comes to changes in water. Like I said, they prefer a more mature tank and if it isn't cycled, then your fish will be the ones that suffer.
It's also worth investing in a liquid test kit so that you can keep an eye on your water stats and know when it has cycled.