Plant Attacking Cichlids

[ari]

How often do we see our cichlids up root our nice planted setups, or push aside those heavy potted plants, or simply chew them to pieces? We might ask ...what do our cichilds have against plants?...do they hate plants so much ? or was because they have their reasons for destroying plants. Then again i do notice cichlids seldom touches those java ferns tied high up among the bogwoods,...while java ferns tied at ground level on the same bogwood gets the usual cichild work out....and chewed to pieces. WHY?
i remembered reading somewhere during the Vietnam war the US Army deployed the BEEHIVE for anti-personnel purposes, but they found better use for this weapon which is packed which 5000 1inch nails....to clear the tall grass and bushes around their firebase. they wanted a clear view upfront for a better field of fire....incase Charlie Victor decides to sneak up on them.
I might be wrong...but i do think our cichlids too want a clear view infront of them...just incase some bigger fish tries to sneak up on them.Even in the wild they always stayed in open water relying on their sprinting abilities to escape. i guess we couldnt blame the cichlids for destroying our nice plants...they are just using their natural instint to survive.
So i came up with an idea to stop plants from being destroyed...hang them up higher or just let them float. i use one those rough texture foams to insert the plants...they float nicely and the roots will get hold on the rought texture with ease
when left floating in a large tank, these plants do offer some sort of protection for the lesser fishes from the tank bully. the cichlids will float along with the plants...but never attacking it or chew it
they also serve to induce new shy fishes out from hiding if u tied them up at front corner of the tanks
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when weighted down they become a portable potted plant for juvenile fishes to hise and play.


try it...im sure it will work for u too

[dom]

Hi Ari,

I don't know what type of cichlids you are refering to. As to SA, CA and Malawi. Their actual biotope don't really have plants inside the lake. Unless it is those near to the riverbank.

I gave my friend the Anubias Congresis and other type of Anubias. His SA and CA just chewing the leaves and left the root. (I thought they should be vegetarian or hate the green color thing.)

For my Malawi, they just chew the new leaves which just growing out. The old leaves was leaving there and no touch at all.

But then those dwarf cichlids like African riverine cichlid - Blockhead and apistogramma. those dwarf cichlis is good to keep in planted tank.

[ari]

of course, im refering to the BIG cichlids mostly CA and SA. not vegetarian...they spit the leaves out......check the filters, theres where all the bits end up.those they could push aside..they will push ...those they cant (anchored pots or tied to bogwood) they will chew the leaves to the stumbs.
dont know about african cichlids...they are never my favourite and i seldom touch hormone feed fishes...its hard to tell which AC is not feed with hormones....in bangkok anyway.
of course, most deep watered lakes or river do not have plants unless at the banks...even in malaysia ( the sunlight factor)
i usually dont care much about biotope for the simple reason ...apart from my wild caught fishes, most of my fishes are farm breed and im sure they would not know how their original biotope looks like, do they? even if they did...i think its crazy if the fishes would redecorated its surrounddings so it would look like home.so i suppose they destroys plants thru instinct...pure and simple.

[dom]

oh..you are wild caught locally and frm farm. Then I don't knw about it. Saw in Singapore cichlids farm. All of them are in GREEN water. hahaha...

my members n i was keeping wild caught. All imported... So we have to stead to their boptope. Like rockies and sand bed. no plant....

[ari]

hahaha..yea i know what u mean about singapore farms...and i dont quite like their set ups...its almost the same as the ones in johore.i never buy from them ...simply coz they dont sell any to me ...long story..some comment i made about them releasing unwanted cichlids. im base mostly in thailand, and here the cichlids are kept in indoor huge shallow concrete tanks..so the water is quite clear. the orang putih buyers always drop by to inspect those fishes before importing them back to their home country. as u can imagine...those farms are huge.
once in a while the farms will import some new species for breeding purposes, and i try to help out on identifying some of those fishes...for a free fish or two as a reward ..but i decline on most ocassion( i prefer a 6 pack ) unless its a very good fish.
wild fishes are seldom imported unless the orang putih have some surplus and charge them at give away prices. the reason is wild fishes are normally not used for breeding due to their unpredictable behaviour.so, tank bred fishes are usually imported for spawning purposes...they are easier to bred in captivity.
i do have a number of wild fishes ...imported and those i caught myself. they did quite well in my set up ...not much fuss. but i must say imported wild fishes doesnt guarantee top quality....and in most cases i would avoid them unless tank or farm breds are not avaliable. WHY....u need to spend long years keeping cichlids to understand why