# How to Keep Plants with Geophagus?



## 679x (Jul 25, 2016)

Multi-Tank Syndrome has hit me hard, I've been in the hobby for half a year and I already want a 3rd tank, but I don't think my parents approve...

I won't be getting another tank for a long time, but I still want to think about/plan what I would do if I got the chance to get one. I want a planted tank with Geophagus Orange-Head Tapajos and some other fish (tetras perhaps, kribensis, rainbows if the tank is big enough). The problem is that I've never had a tank with a focus on plants before, so I'll have to do some research on how to successfully maintain plants in an aquarium.

I'd like to gather some knowledge about the geos+plants combination though, so I have a few questions:

1. How do I keep the plants from being uprooted by the Geos?
2. Do Geos eat plants at all, or do they just uproot them with their sand-sifting?
3. I want soil for the plants in an area offset near the center, and sand for the rest of the tank. How do I prevent the dirt from being picked up by the Geos, and deposited into the sand area?

My solution to 1. and 3. would be to use larger rocks to separate dirt and sand, and putting the plants amongst the rocks so that the rocks are in the way and the Geos can't uproot the plants.

Hopefully I can do this sometime, thanks for your time.


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## mambee (Apr 13, 2003)

I keep tons of different species of anubias in my geo tank, and they are all tied to pieces of driftwood. Geos don't eat plants but appreciate some zucchini or corn in their diet. You could also plant amazon swords in clay pots which you could hide with rocks. I would also cap any soil in the pots with sand and large rocks so that it couldn't be reached by the geos and make a mess.


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