Too many plants?

[Habu]

Hi all. I’m after some advice from more experienced people than myself. I have a 170 litre mature freshwater aquarium that contains lots of shrimp, tetras, harlequins, rummynose and corys. The water temperature is generally around 26-28 degrees Celsius and the tank is not in direct sunlight. The aquarium lights are on from 16:00-21:00 followed by blue light for 2 hours. Despite not generally being fed my plants are growing and expanding at a tremendous rate. The plants are regularly dead-headed and trimmed and I know real plants are good for the water and the fish seem to really enjoy swimming amongst the expansive plants but can too many plants be a bad thing? I don’t care for having an immaculate tank with pedicured plants as I’m for the welfare of the fish even though sometimes I don’t always see them.
Kind regards

 

[Byron]

The answer to your question depends upon the fish species. Many of the fish we keep are forest fish that occur in dimly-lit waters and floating plants especially achieve this. Many of the species are not active swimmers, so they like to "hang out" together among plants, branches, etc. Many (but not all) of the characins (tetras, pencilfish, hatchetfish, characidium) are in this group, and the gourami are really good exampples of fish preferring thickly planted tanks. By contrast there are more active swimmers, in general the barbs and danios for an example, and more space is needed. The habitat of each species should be the guide to the aquascape and if it is, the fish are much more likely to be well off and healthier.

 

[Habu]

Thanks for your reply. This is a complete-ish list of what’s in my tank: Neon Tetra and Cardinals, Harlequins, Rummynose, assorted corydoras (including Bronze, Albino, Sterbai, Peppered), shrimp, a few snails and lots of Bristlenose Plecs plus a couple of other things.

 

[Byron]

Thanks for your reply. This is a complete-ish list of what’s in my tank: Neon Tetra and Cardinals, Harlequins, Rummynose, assorted corydoras (including Bronze, Albino, Sterbai, Peppered), shrimp, a few snails and lots of Bristlenose Plecs plus a couple of other things.

The neons, cardinals and harlequin are not overly-active, so plants suit them. Cardinals actually have a light phobia, though this is almost certainly not confined to this species. The rummynose do swim, they seem to always engage in races down the length of the tank, and I always ensure the front of the tank is open. Floating plants good, but open below the length of the tank and back into the tank maybe 5-6 inches. This also suits the cories as they need an area of open sand on which to feed. But they love browsing all surfaces, including plant leaves and floating plant leaves/roots. The open front area should suit both cories and rummys; I have these together in my 40g.

Bristlenose need real wood to graze, for their digestive health (not as "food"). Open areas not important here, but shade from plants including floating will likely bring then out more. Males are territorial, have wood caves for each BN so they can retreat into "their" space.