# Rosy Barbs terrorizing my plants



## CatG (Apr 10, 2010)

Well, brief story is that I started seeing a very small amount of thread algea beginning in my unpopulated planted tank. I did a bit of research and found out that these guys will eat it, and not bother the plants too badly. I was going to get SAE's, but the store didn't have any.

Well, these guys are holy terrors. They keep uprooting my baby tears, dwarf hairgrass, and crypt wendtii. They are also eating the seed pods on the hairgrass (biting them and shaking them like a dog to get the seeds off) and are pecking at the roots and leaves of the baby tears and crypt. 

I am feeding them flake food once a day, but am hesitant to feed them any more than that since they are also eating the plants and sifting through the dirt - I assume there's food in there. If I feed them the flakes twice a day, will they stop harassing my plants? I don't want to over feed them, but I just bought 6 new plants and would like not to have them destroyed.

They seem to be in breeding mode, too. After they were in the tank for a couple of days, the male picked out a female and started pushing her around the tank. Are they eating this much due to breeding issues?

I'm wondering if I should get rid of these guys. I like them alot, but they have proven to be pretty destructive so far, and I'm also afraid they are going to be aggressive with anything else I might put in there.

Help! 
Cat


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## Six (May 29, 2006)

Hi. They will pretty much eat plants all the time. Feeding them more often isn't a bad idea, but that will lead to more waste production (what goes in must come out!) and more work for you in the long run (algae scrubbing, water changes). 

If you don't mind the work, give it a whirl. I've heard it helps (which means they may just eat some plants and not all) or doesnt help at all.
GL!


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## CatG (Apr 10, 2010)

Thanks for the info. 

These guys are going back to the store. The manager was kind enough to allow me to bring them back. I like them alot, but they are WAY more destructive than what the articles I read said they were. This morning, I woke up to find several plants floating in the water, and some of my plants they've been attacking are starting to look kind of bad. Even though I hate to see them go, I've got way too much money tied up in the plant aspect of this tank to allow the total destruction that is sure to happen if I keep them.

I just hope that I don't end up getting more fish that do this. In all the articles I read, I didn't come across one that said they would be this destructive, so now I'm wondering about all the other fish I had planned to get. I am planning on getting some cory cats, some cardinal tetras, and some bolivian rams. Will those be ok in there, or will they be destructive?

Thanks so much,
Cat


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