Platy's murdering my plants...

[Def]

Hi all,

I have 6 platy's in a 27-ish gallong tank. For decor, it's approx half fake plants and half real ones. I don't know what the actual name of the plant in question is, but it looks like an underwater aspidistra (sp?).

Anyway, my platy's absolutely love munching this plant. It has very long, thin leaves that go straight up - they strip each leaf until it's just thin strands... And if that's not enough, they also munch the tiny bits of algae off the sides of the glass...

What the hell ! Any way I can stop them from doing that? It's a bit annoying to have to replace the plants so often... I've tried feeding them cucumber etc but they ignore it - just go straight for the plant. I don't mind about them eating the algae, just seems a bit unlike platty behaviour from everything I've read...

On the plus side my platy fry are growing like crazy... There are a couple in the tank and loads in the breeding net - just don't know when to release them...

Thanks

 

[yhbae]

I never had platies that eat plants... Perhaps you should switch to another plant - java fern or java moss. Platies absolutely don't though these (for that matter there's almost no fishes that will eat these).

 

[willywonka099]

Although i don't know much about platys and this but mollies almost require plant matter for the best possible health they can live without .......... but its very good to have this in there with them as for ur problem not sure sorry i cant b more help

 

[Da_Oz]

Change there food. They are eating your plants to keep from starving to death. Feeding the same food every day is not a good idea so mix it up a little.

 

[Sasha]

That's strange! My platies never harmed any of my plants. Try feeding them some algae wafers! They love them!

 

[Def]

Starving to death? I don't know much, but I do doubt that. I feed them flake and bloodworm, as recommended by my local shop... They eat it all no problem. I was a bit concerned about feeding them too much actually, considering the amount of plant they eat...