thesmallestfry Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 I have a 100 gallon cichlid tank and was looking to add some live plants! Wondering what would work best with those fish. The pros and cons, and the best way to set it up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonNeko Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 Since they love to dig in the sand, plants can be hard to keep with them. Attaching plants like java fern and various mosses to rocks, wood, and caves work well. I think it also depends on the fish. My Kribs are in a heavily planted tank, and they seem to leave everything alone. My Shell Dwellers will uproot any plants I try to put in their tank, so theirs is pretty plain. In my Apisto tank I have some vals floating on the surface, and a few pygmy chain swords and dwarf hair grass, but they're being uprooted so I'll have to try attaching some plants to their coconut cave instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jro Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 Cichlids are notorious for being dirty fish. Having plants would be a big plus as they help clean your water (in a sense) and provide more surface area for beneficial bacteria. That is, if you are able to keep them attached/rooted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quetzalcoatl Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 I keep vallisneria gigantea with my large fish and they do well together. If you want to keep yours substrate clean and if it is sand, you can get some large geophagus. I just keep rocks near the roots of the plants so the fish cannot dig them out. Also I have water lettuce floating on the top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tbarabash Posted July 19, 2012 Report Share Posted July 19, 2012 You can always also plant the plants in clay pots if its a bigger tank to stop them from being dub up. Take clay pot, put in about 2/3 of the way with your choice of substrate then fill the rest with large heavier pebbles from ikea or somewhere else (ikea is 2$ for a huge bag) and then bury within your rock formation/substrate/etc until the clay pot isnt visible. Make sure to not only root your plant at the bottom but get them stem at least an inch into the substrate layer of the pot if you can so even if they go smacking into the stem it shouldnt rip it up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.