# The most unusual fish that works in a planted tank...



## Ed Seeley (8 Jul 2007)

Rather than have a best/worst fish for a planted tank I though it might be fun to start this bit off with a slightly more unusual question....

"What is the most 'unusual' fish that you have, or want to have, in a planted tank?"

They could be very rare fish, hard to source or things that people never normally think of being suitable for planted tanks.

What started this idea is a tank I've seen on another forum that had a piranha in.

Personally I have killifish in all my tanks, so they come into the rare / hard to get category at least!

Anyone else got any unusual ideas for fauna in a PT?


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## Fred Dulley (9 Jul 2007)

It would be a smallish planted tank, 15gallon or so and I'd have a true Leaf fish.


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## Graeme Edwards (9 Jul 2007)

The most unusual fish ive seen in a planted tank is a 12" sanke head bichar. Works very well. Becasue its preditory, it seems to slup through the plants with minimum effort. Its not in its interest to be boistruss and thrashy.

R,
Graeme.


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## Matt Holbrook-Bull (9 Jul 2007)

Heres a question...

will pleco's work in planted tanks? 

all the ones ive had before dug around like madness, but theyve been really big lovely pretty sailfins.. so ive always held off getting one, im really good at getting fish that destroy my hard work and sending them on holiday to my neighbours 180ltr.


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## Dave Spencer (9 Jul 2007)

The entseyui fish that Takashi Amano uses are prehistoric looking and an amazing shape, yet they still compliment the scape, rather than distract from it.

In terms of plecos Flora, there`s a guy on here that keeps Pitbulls in a heavily planted tank.

Dave.


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## CJ Castle (9 Jul 2007)

> will pleco's work in planted tanks?



If you indroduce them to a mature planted aquarium in which all the plants are either large or have very secure large root systems, then it should be safe to add (large) plecs... Some Plecs, if not provided with an adequate diet or simply do not get enough to eat, will often chew through soft leaved plants...



> "What is the most 'unusual' fish that you have, or want to have, in a planted tank?"



I always think that a pair of rare dwarf cichlids look at home in planted tanks... Not exactly unusual, but interesting...


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## Maximumbob (9 Jul 2007)

My little study tank (60 litre) is a bit of an unusual experiment.

I'm keeping vailant chocolate gouramis and an LDA033 in there... the choc gouramis dont like it too bright so its been a big challange to maintain the balance... seems to be working well atm...

http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l283/maximumbob/

the tank is still very immature and I have much more work to be done on it....


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## Graeme Edwards (9 Jul 2007)

Frolicsome_Flora said:
			
		

> Heres a question...
> 
> will pleco's work in planted tanks?
> 
> all the ones ive had before dug around like madness, but theyve been really big lovely pretty sailfins.. so ive always held off getting one, im really good at getting fish that destroy my hard work and sending them on holiday to my neighbours 180ltr.



From what ive heard and seen bristle nose ancistrus are the one you want Matt. Dont grow much bigger than 7-8inches MAX, and are plant freindly, well to a point, thats if you feed them well on vegi matter etc, they shouldnt touch your plants, and the certanly wont digg, IME.

Sorry for the off topic reply.

 Graeme


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## Matt Holbrook-Bull (9 Jul 2007)

i love bristlenose's .. i might give it ago, theres nothing better than a plec for keeping your glass tiptop.  if it goes wrong, i can always let my neighbour have it  alot of my fish seem to be ending up there.

all my fish get fed home grown cucumber.. omg they love it so


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## Ed Seeley (10 Jul 2007)

I agree with CJ Castle about Dwarfs too.  I've got Nanochromis, Pelivicachromis suboccelatus (and babies if anyone's interested...) and Apistogramma eremnopyge (plus had various others in the past).  I can't have a tank without dwarfs and didn't even consider them as unusual!!!     I'd really recomend them for any PT as they add a bit of personality that's usually sadly lacking in the usual shoaling fish...

As for plecs, don't forget Otocinclus as they are mini loracids too.  The zebra ones might be a nice choice for something different.  Personally I love bristlenoses and baby ones are ace for a nano!


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## GreenNeedle (20 Jul 2007)

My 4


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## Emmabeth (7 Sep 2007)

My most heavily planted tank. (ok... vallis factory...), has a long finned bristlenose who is very happy and doesnt eat the plants (although aside from vallis theres only some anubias barteri v nana in there... and some other bits that i forget what they are... (ill figure it out when they grow more, the vallis got a haircut two days ago so things will happen now..)..

Theres also a small whiptail cat who enjoys the cover and the bogwood ...

Lots of ottos and shrimps..

And two m. zebrinus..... zebra spiney eels..... and they are VERY happy.

All the info about spiney eels tells you that they will uproot plants and generally cause havoc but i find this to really only be true of the big buggers, ie the tyre tracks, fire eels etc.... and only true when they are kept in brightly lit tanks with no plants.

Kept in a heavily planted tank with plenty of shade, they dont dive into the substrate (this is an 'emergency' behaviour to escape predators, not something a relaxed and well housed eel ought to do), so they dont uproot anything...

They also naturally like hanging out in the stems of plants (or the vallis) pretending to be a stem or a leaf, waiting for dinner to float by and i find my pair a lovely and interesting addition to a planted tank, one that most people wouldnt consider due to a/ the difficulty in finding them, and b/ the 'bad press' they have re uprooting stuff.


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## 2pods (6 Oct 2007)

I've got 10 Clown Loaches, and though I have to put the odd bit of plantage back in after their algae wafers, they're OK on the plants.


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