# fish keep uprooting my new plants



## redstrat (Apr 3, 2006)

Recently my fish, mainly my SAEs, but pretty all my fish have been picking at my plants. Those which are not solidly rooted get pulled up almost daily. What can I do to stop this untill the plants can grow stronger roots. I have some small Bylxa Japonica plants that barely have roots that are getting hit the hardest. I also switched from HC to Glosso recently because two reasons, the HC was taking way to long to fill in and recently my fish were pulling it up faster than I could keep up with them. Its been there for months growing and it was really starting to grow well then the fish decided this wasn't going to happen and started pulling up all new growth. Grabbing it and twisting violently untill it came out of the flourite/sand. Since I planted glosso, they stopped but now they have found out how to pull up the little glosso plants before they can get rooted and established.

Would plant weights work on Bylxa Japonica?

Is there anything I can do for the Glosso other than continously replanting each little plantlet untill they grow decent enough roots?

Has anyone else had this problem before? Could I not be feeding enough? Is this a sign of fish stress I've never seen before? Its really been a sudden change in the habits of the fish I dont get it. I have also noticed that when ever I upset the gravel the fish seem to be attracted to the area and constantly pick at the gravel. Could this be why they are picking all the glosso??


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## bioch (Apr 8, 2006)

i guessing that they are really hungry and when you upset the gravel, they hope they could fine some leftover food probably.


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## redstrat (Apr 3, 2006)

that could be part of it because I do feed kinda lightly... so maybe more food might slow them down???

How deep can I plant Bylxa Japonica? I have 10 small plants and they don't have much of a stem and only small roots. I can't keep them in the gravel for more than a couple hours without them being uprooted.


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## AndyT. (Jun 28, 2006)

Check the substrate carefully. Perhaps some larvae of something has managed to inhabit the gravel and the fish are trying to get them to eat them. I don't remember what the critters were but some years ago I ran across a lady who had an aquarium infested with tiny worms in the gravel. Her fish loved them! Maybe that is what is happening here.


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## redstrat (Apr 3, 2006)

would the worms be something I could see if I looked carefully??


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## werner (Jul 6, 2006)

Some fish just like to eat some plants. I never could keep _Rotala wallichi_ without my SAEs nibbling it, or _Glossostigma_ because my rummynose tetras kept eating all the leaves (only the little stems were left poking out of the gravel.) I no longer have those fish and am trying the plants again. Just one of those incompatibility issues.


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## cwlodarczyk (Sep 18, 2005)

For your stems you can place river rock (the flat ones) around the base of the stem to protect them - just remove the rocks once they're rooted. For your blyxa you might be able to invert a plastic basket over them until they're rooted.


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## redstrat (Apr 3, 2006)

Thanks for the tips I'll have to try that, the bylxa has been putting out some roots but not enough to hold it down when the SAEs come by but I think all they will need is a couple good days to grow some good roots. I replanted all the plants last night and fed the fish some more and even threw in a sinking algae wafer for the ottos and SAEs and as of this morning not a single plant has been uprooted. so maybe they were just hungrier than I realized. they even left the glosso alone as far as I can tell. The thing is its not like they eat or do any harm to the plants themselfs they just pull them out of the substrate and eat whatever is in the substrate where the plants were.


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## AndyT. (Jun 28, 2006)

Hi davis.1841, the worms this lady had were barely visible to the naked eye but you could see them if you tried. Sounds like your fish were just hungry though, which certainly makes life easier.

I love your signature! My wife and I have already done so.


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## redstrat (Apr 3, 2006)

AndyT. - thanks. I'll definately keep an eye out for worms though, I definately can't exclude the possibility yet. I havn't seen anything so far but its not like I look that hard at my substrate I focus more on the plants health. what color were they and what did you do about the worms? I take it they aren't really a problem more of an annoyance but what do you know about them.


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