[Warhawk]

I know most Cichlids don't do well with plants but some of the smaller guys do okay. So got to wondering how many people try to do plants and cichlids?

I did see the post about Oscars and plants on the main page and I'm not wanting to continue that debate or anything.

I have some Amazon sword with my Oscars and they are doing fine but I understand they might destroy them at any time. I like my planted tanks so I will be keeping them around but I also enjoy my cichlids so I keep two sets of tanks. Just wondering it I'm alone on this.

I have Oscars, Angels, Convicts, Firemouths, and Green Terror. But only the Oscars and Angels with plants right now.

 

[n25philly]

I do, but just dwarf cichlids. A trio of apisto cac. in a wildly overgrown jungle tank and a pair of bolivian rams in a fairly heavily planted community tank. Both are breading so I have to assume they are happy

 

[thedood]

Altolamprologus calvus will do fine with plants provided that you supply them with extensive and easily accessible caves otherwise they will dig under anything they think will provide them shelter and a spot to ambush from. Since they are carnivorous your plants are safe from being eaten. Totally cool fish that I highly recommend if you can sustain the water parameters. The only down side to these fish is they stay hid. They are mostly ambush predators and do some hunting but they seldom come out and play. I had a heck of a time getting mine to eat flakes and I still worry they eat enough because they hide and wait for the food to come down in front of them and ambush it. If you get these guys do not feed them cichlid pellets as the way their mouth is shaped it can damage the roof of their mouth and can cause their jaws to become displaced.

I tried Labidochromis sp. "Hongi" with hornwort both floating and planted and the hongis thought it was aquatic caesar salad. These fish are also prolific diggers and will uproot anything in their path. A caveat to that would be if the plants are isolated well away from their cave network but then because they will also sift sand you are taking a risk. So with Hongi some species of plants MAY work if they are unpalatable to the fish like say java fern but I never experimented enough to know for sure. Even floaters like frogbit or duckweed will most likely fall victim as the hongis will eat the roots. So unpalatable tough plants in planters would be your best bet if you wanted to try it.

With Placidochromis milomo forget plants. They are sand sifters and prolific diggers plus they get fairly large, 10 inches or so. Any plants you put in with them will most likely be promptly uprooted. Since I never tried I cant say for sure but I am betting that they would nibble and if nothing else would eat the roots at least and possible would view it as a garden salad and decimate the whole plant. I love these fish, they are one of my favorite species. This fish has tons of personality and is one of the species that will interact with you. These fish are referred to as herbivores but mine mostly wanted shrimp. I made the mistake of tossing him some red worms from yard dirt I was cleaning for a planted tank and he wouldnt touch anything else for 3 days including frozen brine shrimp.

 

[alcimedes]

I have a tank with red shoulders and some plants in it. They seem to be leaving the plants alone for now, it's been about 6 months.

With that tank, I'm just taking plants that I'm trimming from other tanks and tossing them in to see how they do.

Between the fish and the much harder water, my cichlid tank is kind of the last stop for plants.

 

[RWaters]

I've kept Angels, Kribensis, Rainbow cichlids, Jewel cichlids, and various African cichlids (yellow labs, acei, peacocks, calvus, leleupi, multis) in planted tanks and never had a problem.

EDIT - Just to be clear, the plants in the African cichlid tank were java fern, vals, anubias, and sword plants. I don't think a rotala, for example, would fare well in those water conditions or with those fish.

 

[Nordic]

My angelfish are eating all my plants!!!
I'll watch new leaves forming on little cuttings, only to see them biting it off... every fine leaved plant looks like dog ears in their tank.

 

[TINNGG]

I have angels and one solitary Bolivian ram. I don't have stem plants though as I don't like fooling with the $#@! things. They either grow like weeds or rot and clog the filter - at least for me. Only time I've ever seen my angels bother the plants was when they were spawning.

 

[roadmaster]

Keyhole cichlid's were/are a favorite of mine, and were not too hard on hardy plant's.

 

[PlantedRich]

I keep mostly cichlids with a few others thrown in and find it takes a bit to get the right combo but nothing that can't be done. Do a check of past postings for lots of examples and methods I have used. There will be many who tell you it won't but then they may not have tried it? It only works when you think it will work. I find choosing the correct African cichlids to be much easier than the CA/SA group but there are several of those as well. I use the open water types like Protomelas and combine them with some of the mbuna for the lower levels.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/21-fish/990665-want-cichlid-community.html

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/21-fish/600042-all-cichlids-bad.html

I no longer find much point in posting the same info over and over as there are those who believe and those who will not. It may be tied into the current political thinking?
So my only advise is to decide which way you want to go. Believe and work the problem or pass on trying because you don't believe.