# 60 gallon mbuna African cichlid tank



## MbunaManBran (Aug 28, 2015)

What do you all think the hardiest best plants that I can affix to the rocks using thread or fishing line and they will attach themselves eventually







and don't need substrate? The rocks are sandstone

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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Welcome to APC! It's great to see African cichlids in planted tanks. I keep shell dwellers and Julidochromis in mine.

Any of the hardy epiphytes should work, depending on how herbivorous your fish are. Both anubias and Java fern have may varieties. Bolbitis fern might also work. The common mosses will attach well to the rocks, but they are soft and might be eaten by the fish.

I once saw a very attractive Rift Lake tank with a lawn of vallisneria growing in the substrate. The plants were put in first and allowed to establish. The cichlids browsed the vallisneria and kept it much shorter than normal, but did not destroy it.


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## Silvering (Jun 10, 2011)

Michael's right - the key is more, more, more when it comes to keeping plants with mbuna. Mine will nibble on everything but if you offer them a more palatable option, they will focus their destruction on that kind of plant and let the less tasty ones grow!

I have vals, anubias, java fern, and bolbitis in my mbuna tank right now, and the best solution I've found is to regularly transplant big handfuls of duckweed from my planted aquarium to the cichlid tank for them to graze. They LOVE duckweed. Anubias seems to be their second favorite target.


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