Why

[fishfishfish]

i just moved my african chiclids from a 20 to a 40 gallon.i put live plants in this new tank but they are ripping them up and tearing them apart.in the 20 i had them in yhere was only 1 live plant.

why are they ripping them apart and uprooting them

PS. when i moved the fish i found i had only 1 red zebra fry.i left it in the 20 gollon and i am keeping it set up.how long before he will eat flakes.its abot 1 1/2 cm right now eating algae.

any help will be appreciated

 

[Fish_Mike]

This is their natural behaviour and is nothing short of expected. As for them not chewing your older plant, what plant was it? They don't always like to taste leathery plants like A. Nana.

 

[fishfishfish]

i dont really know the name but its a large leaefed plant.i moved it into the new tank.is there any way to keep them srom doing this.i added a plant supplement or fertalizer so they will root fast.when they are well rooted they wont rip them up right?

 

[Fish_Mike]

i dont really know the name but its a large leaefed plant.i moved it into the new tank.is there any way to keep them srom doing this.i added a plant supplement or fertalizer so they will root fast.when they are well rooted they wont rip them up right?

Well they will still try to rip them out, and how are you going to keep from doing so while the plants are growing?

 

[fishfishfish]

i have just been replanting them

 

[freddyk]

Plants are an unnatural decoration for mbuna - although Malawi does have them, not where mbuna tend to be found, and they've got very strong teeth for ripping up algae that works perfectly well for plants.