# redline torpedo barbs eating plants



## kineticcomfort (May 13, 2011)

I recently aquired some redline torpedo barbs at that pet place in lancaster when I went down for an aquarium club of lancaster county meeting, they have been in the tank for 2 weeks and have not had any problems till last night

so I woke up and they had eatin a ton of my Lobelia Cardinalis leaves, also they are constantly pecking at my foreground, I have HC glosso riccia marsilea crypt parva and mircosword all in my foreground battling for space,,,, so its not evident yet what they are picking at, could even be the small red cherry shrimp that hide in the gloss untill they are too big, however I cannot tell....

has anyone else had this problem with this fish??? They are really beautiful and I would prefer not to get rid of them if possible, the plant species alone will be fine to get rid of but I dont want to worry about the rest of it as well..

thoughts and opinions... I do not have more tank space or I would setup a special planted just for them with only tough leaved plants..


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

Try feeding them with vegie flakes.


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## kineticcomfort (May 13, 2011)

I feed spirunula flake daily and also frozen peas at least once a week... puttin some zuchini in there tonight and see how it looks tomorrow, also they could be _Puntius chalakkudiensis instead of the regular torpedo bardbs however they are sold as 
*Puntius denisonii "Redline Torpedo Barb" - Small*

_
if you look the strip does not extend as far as most from the head, however I do not know if this will lengthen as time goes on.. or if they are selling the wrong fish...

btw the plant in ur profile pic is beautiful what is it


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## kites1664 (May 5, 2011)

I keep a shoal of Red Lines and have not had any problems with them eating plants.

They do however eat anything else that goes in the tank food wise, plec flakes, veg, catfish pellets, literally anything.

What are you currently feeding them, it may just be that they are hungry?

I think as above, try putting some veg in the the tank and see what happens.


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## kineticcomfort (May 13, 2011)

so if you read post right before, I am feeding them spirunula 20 flakes and fozen peas and last night I put a large chunk of zuchini tied to a rock in there and they didnt touch it but more of that plant is gone... : (

looks like they are goin to someone elses tank, too bad they were may fav....

I am convinced however they are the larger of the 2 fish sold uner these names and they are known to be worse tank mates the the smaller species


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

How about growing tons of Lobelia cardinalis in another tank and use it as food for your favorite fish?


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## BBradbury (Nov 8, 2010)

*Plants vs Fish*

_Hello Kin. The fish are fine, just supplementing their diet with a little fiber. My fish do the same. Keeps them healthy. So, all you need to do is look for tougher plants. Depending on your lighting, I've found Java fern, Pennywort, most of the Amazon swords pretty tough, and two that a lot of people haven't heard about, let alone plant is Crinum thaianum "Onion plant". This guy gets tall and will spread across the surface of the tank. The leaves are very tough and even large fish can only pick at the algae on the leaves. I get the bulbs and sprout them in a 10 G and then replant them. The other plant is the Peace lily or "Spathiphyllum wallisii". It's not a true aquatic plant, but it will do well totally under water for as long as most tropicals. Underwater, and under lower light, it turns a light green. It has tough leaves and gets pretty tall too. I have some tall plants in a 45 G tall and some shorter ones in a 30 G._

_B _


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## kineticcomfort (May 13, 2011)

no tank space : ( for the exta plants...

and I have the tank for the plants and the scape rather than the fish... will sell em at club auction or some other way...


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## amberskye (Apr 22, 2011)

what a shame, the fish are gorgeous....and so are/were hyour plants. I shall be interested to see the outcome x


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## amberskye (Apr 22, 2011)

BBradbury said:


> _Hello Kin. The fish are fine, just supplementing their diet with a little fiber. My fish do the same. Keeps them healthy. So, all you need to do is look for tougher plants. Depending on your lighting, I've found Java fern, Pennywort, most of the Amazon swords pretty tough, and two that a lot of people haven't heard about, let alone plant is Crinum thaianum "Onion plant". This guy gets tall and will spread across the surface of the tank. The leaves are very tough and even large fish can only pick at the algae on the leaves. I get the bulbs and sprout them in a 10 G and then replant them. The other plant is the Peace lily or "Spathiphyllum wallisii". It's not a true aquatic plant, but it will do well totally under water for as long as most tropicals. Underwater, and under lower light, it turns a light green. It has tough leaves and gets pretty tall too. I have some tall plants in a 45 G tall and some shorter ones in a 30 G._
> 
> _B _


 excellent reply. Ive been looking for onion plant for some time. Never heard of the _Spathiphyllum wallisii_ but imma googling as we speak


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## ua hua (Oct 30, 2009)

So have you actually caught the Red lines eating on the plants or are just assuming that it is them? The reason I ask is because I have red line torpedo barbs in my tank along with a bunch of rummynose tetras and I saw in your picture rummynose also. Anyways to the point, I had a nice foreground of Starougyne Tropica and slowly but surely it was having little bites taken out of it. I thought it was my red lines eating the plants until I finally caught the rummynose mowing the staruo down early one morning. They must of liked the taste of it because they ate almost all of it. I guess I will feed my fish some expensive plants from time to time as long as they are healthy. Thats just the price we have to pay to keep fish in planted tanks.


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

I'll confirm that these guys do eat plants. They eat my fissidens fontanis and keep it nice n trimmed like a freshly mowed lawn. I think they may be eating my staurogyne repens as well but I've got no solid evidence except leaves always getting stuck in my filter inlet daily.


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## kuni (May 7, 2010)

The limited Internet info on their natural habitat suggests that they're not commonly found with plants, which is sometimes a sign that the fish is not a particularly good candidate for a planted tank.


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## kineticcomfort (May 13, 2011)

I have not caught them eating the plants however, someone on a dif forum had them eating their S repen. so it probably was them speedie

ua hua, as far as the rummynose go I have had them in the tank for 5 mo maybe and this is the first any plants were eaten, right after the barbs were put in, so I'm just assuming, hopefully I am not mistaken cause if i get rid of em and the rummynose are accually doin the damage I would be upset...


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## 10487 (Jan 6, 2007)

I've had some nice huge Vals in my tank, three big ones. no one messed with them. THEN I bought two Denison Barbs, all was well when they were small, now they are big, and I thought what the heck is happening to my big Vals? they are disappearing. one day the middle one was just GONE, I had to dig in the substrate only to find the roots! It had been getting shorter and shorter, then, poof, gone. the only other fish I used to have who ate my Vals, was a goldfish. Goldfish and Denison Barbs are both Cyprinids (I had the goldfish years ago) the other tank occupants hadnt messed with the plants before, not that i noticed. The other tank fish are two large Synodontis, 1 Bushynose, 1 guppy, 3 green corys


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