Why Do My Fish Keep Pulling The Plants Out Of Their Pots?

[Shantih]

Hello

I bought some plants after being told they would help my fish etc, went to pets at home got 4 plants which are in little pots, got them home... day after my mollies have pulled all the stems out and the plants are floating on the top of the tank!

Cheeky buggers i thought, pulled it all out, pulled the white foamy type stuff out of the pot, unravelled it and wound the stems back in (the white stuff stunk like fish poop, not impressed)

now the little buggers are pulling it out again! what can i do to keep the plants planted? anything? any advice much appreciated

Nicola

 

[fifefish]

it is not adviced to keep the plants in the foam and plant pots, because the roots are not able to establish themselves properly thus won't be able to gather nutrients. so your fish are doing you a favour...
try planting them into your gravel/ sand. at first you may have to rest a couple rocks around the plant stems to stop the fish from deplanting the stems..

Alan.

 

[Shantih]

Thankyou, i wish the lfs would tell you these things, my gravel is quite big and i can't see it holding the plants down, should i change my gravel for something more suitable? or just find a way to "wedge" the plants down?

 

[fifefish]

what diameter would you say your average piece of gravel is?

 

[Shantih]

yikes! dimentions, haha av got a "ahem" ruler and had a look and i would say each piece is approx 1cm wide? as i am useless i have adde some pics, maybe this will help?

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i am also cack at posting pics, i hope i did this right haha

ahh see i got it wrong, try again

ahh see i got it wrong, try again

 

[fifefish]

simply take the plants out of the pots, take the foam off be careful not to damage the roots,
then dig little holes in the gravel with you finger, then put each stem in these holes, if you have to make little mounds around each stem to hold them down until they establish roots,

 

[OldMan47]

The Elodea that you have in those pots probably has little or no roots. Nothing will keep them planted as if they had roots. For something like that, I just stick the end of the stem under quite a bit of gravel, maybe cover enough of the stem to completely bury 4 or 5 leaf nodes, that way the plant stays put and being a water column feeder, the stem grows and looks like it is planted.