[CJ0435]

Over the last couple weeks I've been coming home to some of my plants being uprooted,stems and leaves being torn off, and even some noticeable holes bitten out of plants.

Currently the inhabitants are 6 turquoise rainbows, 6 khuli loaches, 1 blue gourami, a three inch pleco, and some small shrimp. I'm starting to suspect the pleco because hes the largest and the only one who seems big enough to rip the stems off of plants. I plan on getting rid of him and getting some chinese algae eaters or something soon. Is he or whomever is eating them doing it because of a lack of plant matter in their diets? What kind of stuff can I give them to snack on to leave my plants alone?

 

[Rhaethe]

I would put my bets on the rainbows. They need more vegetable matter in their diet than people think.

Supplement with spirulina flakes, or veg flakes, fresh veggies (like peas or zucchini) If you do peas, do frozen peas that are thawed, not canned. Stuff like that. They will sometimes (but not always) voraciously chow down on duckweed.

 

[Oceangirl]

Its your gourami, they are the gardeners of the fishy world. they like to arrange plant just so! I remember someone on here that had a gourami and the owner was having a fight with it. Everyday the owner would plant wisteria in one corner and when he came home it would be uprooted and tucked in the opposite side of the tank. Naughty little fishy!

 

[cjstl]

Its your gourami, they are the gardeners of the fishy world. they like to arrange plant just so! I remember someone on here that had a gourami and the owner was having a fight with it. Everyday the owner would plant wisteria in one corner and when he came home it would be uprooted and tucked in the opposite side of the tank. Naughty little fishy!

+1

I have pearl gouramis now. They love duckweed, but don't really bother my other plants. But I used to have some dwarf gouramis, and they loved to eat stem plants. They completely devoured my ludwigia, and were always picking at camboba and anacharis.

 

[Rhaethe]

This just goes to show that fish are often individuals.

I've had several varities of gourami in tanks before, adn never had an issue with them and plants.

On the other hand, I've had bosemani, turquoise, and fluviatilis, and they have all decimated my planted tanks without supplements. The bosemani did it just to be a pain, I think.

In your tank it could very well be both

Try supplementing with the veg, and see if that helps.

 

[mistergreen]

, a three inch pleco

Especially if it's the common pleco. They eat plants too.