# plants in mbuna tank?



## tarralb

I have a 75 gallon mbuna tank...aside from one tropheus duboisi. I was wondering if I could turn part of it into a planted section...I know my duboisi would love that. What kind of plants would work? Can I just get basic ones from petsmart? I know cichlids have a habit of uprooting them but I wanted to try anyway. Here is a pic of the tank...I wanted to just put some off to the side. Also, I have a light that has reg white bulbs and blue actinic bulbs in it...is that good enough to help keep the plants alive?


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## Willy W0nka

Java Fern works very well with mbuna. I have a Brazilian Sword in my tank right now as well and it is doing good. I haven't seen my mbuna take a bite out of it since it has been in there.


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## kornphlake

I've seen vallisineria in african cichlid tanks, I guess it takes a bit of work to get it to root before the fish dig it up but once it gets established the fish don't dig it up. Maybe try adding the plants before adding fish to give the plants a head start. You could use floating plants like duckweed, water lettuce, watersprite, hornwort or riccia as well.

Generally actintic light and plants don't do well together as plants can not use the actintic light very efficiently if at all. You'll want to use lights that are in the 6500k-10000k range for best results.


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## xalow

There are fish feeding devices that float and keep all of the food in one area - if you try floating plants you should probably try some sort of similar concept to keep them from getting pulled down by the flow from your filters and clogging up your intakes, particularly with duckweed.

I would try some Java Fern to start out with, which has all ready been recommended. When I tried added plants to my mbuna tank they were constantly grazing the leafs for food and would eventually rip them up, they didn't bother the roots though because I protected the base of the plant with rocks. Java Fern though don't do well when planted into substrate its better to attach them to a rock and keep the horizontal part of the plant above the substrate.


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## teefers

I've tried numerous plants in my mbuna tanks and the one that does the best and grows the fastest in my tanks is the broadleaved swordplant.


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## tarralb

Thank you for the advice...I have another light fixture but I don't know if the light burnt out or it's broke...it's a coralife trichromatic 6500k bulb...will that work? Also, I was thinking if setting up a section where the plants are just stuck in between a bunch of rocks rather than buried into the substrate...is that a good idea? Will my duboisi eat them? Or any of the other fish? I read some taste bad so get those...does that apply to the java fern?


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## DJRansome

My mbuna ate my java fern so I removed it because it always looked tattered. Tropheus would be the same I think.

The same plant is doing OK in the Tang tank but they are carnivores.

Some people have luck with plants and mbuna, no special substrate or CO2 or lights. Check out Fogelhund's tanks or do a search for posts he authored. The secret is lots of plants from the start.

I'm happier with my plants in the carnivore tank, however. I grow java fern, crypts and vallisneria with no CO2 but I do have 3 watts per gallon and the vallisneria and crypts are growing in polyester "pillows" of Fluorite substrate. I also use root tabs and a little Fluorish liquid fertilizer.


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## Willy W0nka

If the mbuna are eating your plants maybe you can try adding more vegetables to their diet. Maybe they won't get as much of an urge to eat the plants. Worth a shot...


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## tarralb

I got 2 java ferns and kinda wedged them between my section of lace rocks. I was told the roots with grow around the rocks. They seem to be doing ok. I also got some floating plants for them to just eat...and they seem to pick at those rather than the java ferns. I got a flora sun max bulbs for my regular fixture so I keep that on for half of the day.


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## tarralb

I got 2 java ferns and kinda wedged them between my section of lace rocks. I was told the roots with grow around the rocks. They seem to be doing ok. I also got some floating plants for them to just eat...and they seem to pick at those rather than the java ferns. I got a flora sun max bulbs for my regular fixture so I keep that on for half of the day.


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