# General Plant Choice/ID for rough cichlids



## Guapote (Jan 31, 2011)

Hi, this is my first post, I am new to the forum. 
I currently keep Jaguar, Wolf and Red Tiger Cichlids in a 125 Gal.
At the moment I only have a plastic plant, but would really like to have some real plants.
Trouble is that these cichlids I keep are notoriously bad with plants, as they love to dig up the roots.
So I need some very hardy plants that could withstand this kind of brutality.

The following picture, (which is not my picture, or tank!) is of a Piranha tank in Antwerp Zoo, Belgium.
I really like the look of these plants and the whole tank. 
I think there are only 2 species in the tank, and algae growing on the rocks. 
Java Moss and Java Ferns perhaps?

Also how can I get a lovely covering of green algae all over the rocks for that extra natural look.
If I am not mistaken, this tank I am showing you has low-tech plants, but would the zoo be using specialist plant lighting and CO2?

Anyway here's the pic;


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## Guapote (Jan 31, 2011)

So my questions are...
1)Are the only plant species in this tank Java Fern, Java Moss and Algae?
2)How do I get a lot of algae on the rock?
3) Do I need CO2 and Specialist lighting for these plants/algae


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

That is a very beautiful tank, and the design should work with your chiclids.

It is hard to tell for certain, but the plants do look like Java fern, moss, and algae. You definitely could get the same appearance with those plants. The biggest difficulty will be anchoring the fern and moss to the rocks tightly enough to prevent the fish from pulling them off before they attach themselves.

These are easy care, low light plants. You do need lighting appropriate for plants, but not too much of it. You do not need CO2.

With enough light, you will not be able to stop the algae from growing on the rocks, especially with messy fish like big chiclids. The trick will be finding a balance that lets your ferns and moss thrive without an overgrowth of algae. 

Good luck, and let us see the tank when you set it up! I wish more people would try planted chiclid tanks.

--Michael


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## kineticcomfort (Aug 5, 2010)

I have a 40 breeder with some juvenile and adult africans and a 6" eartheater who are really bad with plants as the name suggests, however I have some brazilian pennywort, rotala and val that was listed as italian val, only the val is planted, they are pretty good at not tearing up the val and it sends out runners so fast that i do lose one or two every week but i get about the same amount of new plants. its 1.5 wpg with small dosing of ferts and half plant substrate and small dosing of liquid carbon to help keep algae under control

the rotala and pennywort are in the tank with a bunch of stems put together with lead weight wrapped around the bottom which is barely noticeable and as long as not put on too tight the stems will still grow some roots and grow rather well, they do get pulled up some but the weights def help and even after they have been pulled up they still look planted

i will post a pic of it in a little, it has some fake decorations it it too but its what the fish grew up with....


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## kineticcomfort (Aug 5, 2010)

also put stones just large enough your cichlids cant move them around where you are planting and you will have good luck with keeping them there escpecially with the lead weight on them


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## Guapote (Jan 31, 2011)

thanks, i honestly dont think the moss would last at all. but i have a much better chance with the fern. I have had a small amount of fern in the tank before, and it did well, but i could not get it to establish on the wood. im thinking it would be even harder to get it to attach to rocks/boulders, but i read somewhere that if u staple the fern to the silicon in between rocks, that worked well.


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## joshvito (Apr 6, 2009)

I have had success with Anubias sp. in cichlid tanks.


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## Guapote (Jan 31, 2011)

so how much light do i need? to get lots of green algae I need a lot of light, but the java fern requires low light levels?


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## Guapote (Jan 31, 2011)

are the anubias planted in the substrate or attached to stuff?


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## joshvito (Apr 6, 2009)

attached to rocks and wood

Its east to attach with cotton tread to lava rock. You can always hide the lava rock with more rock, to keep your scape natural looking.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Super glue gel also works to attach Java fern and anubias to wood or stone. For extra durability, you could do both thread/fishing line and glue.


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