# What plants won't my african cichlids eat?



## CichlidsTank

I know alot of people are against putting plants in a african cichlid tank, but I want to add more color to mine.

I just don't know what kind of plants I can add with out my africans eating them.

I'm pretty sure once I get them I can figure out how to plant them so they can't be dug up, but I don't know what kind to get.

My fish are listed below in my signature. My only fish that is a herbivore is the yellow tail acei. So what kind of plant won't they eat?

Thanks.


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## DJRansome

I have never found any that mbuna won't nibble. And I don't like the nibbled look. Some people have success with anubias and java fern. They also can grow on rocks, eliminating the uprooting problems.

Fogelhund and fmueller have success with everything, even vallisneria. I wish I knew their secrets!


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## gage

my Mbuna ripped my Anubias apart... never tried Java Fern but I imagine the same thing would happen to it.


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## DJRansome

Apparently the secret is add a LOT of plants...not 3 but 30. That way if the mbuna nibble here and there it won't be as obvious and the plants will regrow faster than the mbuna can nibble.

I figure I'll learn how to do well with the plants in my carnivore tanks and then see if I want to add them to the mbuna tank. The plants sure do help with the algae on the rocks.


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## doxiegirl

I have several plants in my 60 gallon- onions plants, anubias, and java fern. When I had aceis all the new leaves on the anubias were nibbled right away- since all I have now is zebras the plants have been safe. I have the anubias strapped to small rocks and java fern on lava rock. I do have to prune them and wipe the algae off- I have some diatom problems- but it's not much work for the look.


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## CichlidsTank

I'm going to try some java fern first. Maybe some spiral valisneria too.

I hope my yellow tail acei like pellet food more than fresh java fern :?


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## MCKP

CichlidsTank said:


> I just don't know what kind of plants I can add with out my africans eating them.


Fake. :thumb:


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## Dewdrop

I gave up on plants in my mbuna tank. They even tore up a moss ball. I do have some in my N. brichardi tank now but the pleco I have in there uproots the stem plants every night :x .


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## CichlidsTank

I ended up adding some Anubia and Java Ferns.

So far I haven't seen any of them nibble on them yet.


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## ridley25

Good luck. I had anubias growing nicely for almost two years, but then one day my saulosi decided to shred them all. But like you, a like a bit of green, so I'm going to kid myself and waste some money and try again with far more plants.

kevin


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## CichlidsTank

> I'm going to kid myself and waste some money and try again with far more plants


-good luck ridley!



> one day my saulosi decided to shred them all


-For some reason I have a feeling my plants will all be shredded one day too.
Hopefully before that happens they'll be big bushy plants and they won't be fazed by any puny little african cichlids


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## LiveFishDirect

Plastic plants are the only ones I have had success with. I like the look of a rocky tank so I don't care much for plants.

Get a cool foam rock background and some sweet rocks for your tank and you will be amazed at how sweet it can look. :thumb:


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## TKC747

I have java fern with a yellow lab...so far so good, theyre potted


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## davespeed3

All the above plants will be pretty safe with Haps/Peacocks (I've also Yellow Labs and Acei), the spiral Vallis I had was very slow growing and I had better luck with the straight and giant varieties. The Anubias tend to get algae growth on the leaves and are best grown in shaded areas. I have a lot of Java Fern attached to driftwood which can be moved around when cleaning or re-scaping, this has grown well and I've now got it in most of my tanks by transferring the 'daughter' plants. I don't use 'ferts', CO2 or special lighting.


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