# Silver Dollars in Planted Tanks?



## blackandyellow (Jul 1, 2009)

I got a present from a friend... it´s a 4 inch silver dollar (the one with the red anal fin, don´t know the exact name). 

Has anyone kept this fish in a planted tank? My tank is 100gals so the big guy will be fine, but I´m worried it will chomp through all my plants. I´ve never had one, but I read in a book that they are peaceful but hervibores.

He´s in my quarantine tank now, but it´s a 10 galon bowfront and the poor fish is too big for this tank. Should I give it a try in the main tank or change him for something else? I definitely don´t want him to eat my plants, but don´t want to hurt my friend´s feelings either...


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## kid creole (Dec 25, 2008)

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/fish/78434-silver-dollars-safe-planted-tank.html


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## Postal Penguin (Mar 30, 2009)

Try him out in the 100g, if it doesn't work tell your friend you cant keep him.


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## blackandyellow (Jul 1, 2009)

Thanks I swear I searched the forum but found nothing good. I´m not going to risk it, it´s been a lot of work to grow the plants and I´m not willing to see it destroyed. My friend doesn´t have a tank, he gave it to me as a birthday present without knowing much about him (he asked the LFS guy if he was aggressive though).

The fish is gorgeous though! I placed an amazon sword I took from my tank (needed space for other plants and I have a ton of echinodorus) to see how much of a muncher he is. 

Would be nice to set up a tank for group of these, they are very striking fish (tank would have to be huuge though, I read they can reach a foot in length)


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## kid creole (Dec 25, 2008)

blackandyellow said:


> Thanks I swear I searched the forum but found nothing good. I´m not going to risk it, it´s been a lot of work to grow the plants and I´m not willing to see it destroyed. My friend doesn´t have a tank, he gave it to me as a birthday present without knowing much about him (he asked the LFS guy if he was aggressive though).
> 
> The fish is gorgeous though! I placed an amazon sword I took from my tank (needed space for other plants and I have a ton of echinodorus) to see how much of a muncher he is.
> 
> Would be nice to set up a tank for group of these, they are very striking fish (tank would have to be huuge though, I read they can reach a foot in length)


I'm no google-nazi. I googled it and it had a link back to here. I just hope it helped.


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## sick lid (Jan 13, 2008)

Red hook silver dollars. Beautiful fish. I had 2 in an 86. Ate any new growth on most plants, but still they were so striking, I adjusted my plant selection to mostly java fern, mosses, and fast growing stems. The only downside? SD are fast fish, and can freak out during re-scaping, or water changes. I had to remove all the rock work in the tank because they'd often injure themselves while racing around the tank.


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## blackandyellow (Jul 1, 2009)

Yes I noticed he´s a nervous fish, probably a result of being alone in qt tank. He freaks and swims like crazy. I know he´s uncomfortable since the tank is 15 gals only.

I was already thinking about getting another large tank so he might be the perfect resident for this new tank. The bad thing is that I asked my friend if there were more where he got him and he told me he was the only child. I would love a school of 5 of these!


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

They're schooling fish, and really should be kept in a group of at least 6.

Personally, I wouldn't keep a school in less than a 125gal.


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## blackandyellow (Jul 1, 2009)

I am now considering finding another home for the fish. He´s totally unhappy in my qt tank, doesn´t eat and looks like a lion in a small cage! 

They just need sooo much space. I was thinking on a 55 g tank but that still is too small for a group of 5-6, and my friend told me he was alone where he got it, so finding him company is going to be very complicated, since they are not common at all around here.


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## rmc (Dec 6, 2005)

Silver Dollars are probably the closest thing to a lawn mower/Weed Eater you can find for planted tanks.


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## blackandyellow (Jul 1, 2009)

I just ordered the tank (a 55 gal) plus 4 other red hooks (smaller than the one I have, this one is around 4 inches round and the new onew are barely 2 inches, but at least he´ll have company).

The bad thing is the fish has developed a bad case of ich due to the stress of being in the bare 10 gal qt tank all this time... will raise the temp and treat it and hope he gets fine...

You think he will eat an amazon swordplant? I have tons of amazons that I need to start to get out of my main tank since they are taking over it. Maybe I can put some with the SD, and I wouldn´t mind the occasional nibble...


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## Tex Gal (Mar 28, 2008)

Your best bet is with tough leafed plants like amazons. You'll just have to try him out. If you can supplement his diet with veggie flakes and zuchini, peas, spinach etc. He might be too full to eat your plants. The trick is to make what you give him more appealing than the plants in your tank.


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## blackandyellow (Jul 1, 2009)

Thanks for the advice, I can certainly share my greens with them. Do the veggies have to be cooked or raw? Can´t wait to get the new tank, the poor fish looks so uncomfortable in the qt tank, but at least I can treat his ich easily there. I already broke my back moving the tank to a warmer place in my home, but it was my fault placing the qt tank so close to the window in the first place. 

He hasn´t touched the amazon sword I placed in the tank so maybe I´ll be lucky!


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## blackandyellow (Jul 1, 2009)

Today I just discovered that Silver Dollars ARE VERY VEGETARIAN! 

The guy is still in my 15 gal qt tank with one neon tetra. I dropped an amazon sword I took from the main tank (have way too many). The SD has pretty much ignored it, though some leaves look nibbled by him.

Yesterday I left him a 6 inch stem of limnophila sessiflora I got as a "gift" with other plants I ordered, which decided to not put into my planted tank after reading its a noxious weed in co2 tanks. 

To my surprise, today noon I look at tank and NO LIMNOPHILA! The Dollar ate the whole 6 inches of eat, stem and leaves included in just one day!


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## nismo tetra (Oct 11, 2009)

We have 6 redhook myleus all about 6-8inches long in a 200 gallon. Your 55 is way to small for them. They can eat all day, kind of like a pacu. Even the 200 gallon is to small for them if you ask me, they are very fast fish and hit the glass often....well the pacu likes to chase them around lol. The marmorata pike keeps the pacu in check though. Its a funny tank to watch non the less.
200 gallon tank


We also have 15 black-barred myleus in a 135. They are just as crazy and can feed constantly. Very cool fish, but if you are trying to feed other fish in the tank, get ready to try and chase them off. They eat anything. Even silver sides. So we have to feed the catfish at night time in pitch black so they don't see the silver sides.


they are great fish for throwing plant clippings in to eat. Might as well make them food rather than throw them in the trash.


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## blackandyellow (Jul 1, 2009)

You have quite and impressive setup! I´m aware the fish will eventually outgrow the 55 and need larger quarters, but for a 4" fish it should suffice for about a year (the other are 1" long). I knew this fish was going to be a problem, I got him as a gift, I would have never gotten it myself, even though he is gorgeous and has developed a nice personality (not scared of me anymore, will come and munch the pellets i feed him right away). 

I guess when the time comes I´ll take him to the public aquarium (a friend owns the place, and has taken some fish before). He´s been enjoying plant clippings so far. He loves hygro and limpnophila sessiflora. He doesn´t like amazon swords much, he has one in the qt tank and although the plant is nibbled he doesn´t eat it


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## mountaindew (Dec 10, 2008)

rmc said:


> Silver Dollars are probably the closest thing to a lawn mower/Weed Eater you can find for planted tanks.


+1
nothing like a fish that can grow from nickel size to 4+" in a couple months mowing your lawn!


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## aqua360 (Feb 20, 2018)

blackandyellow said:


> Today I just discovered that Silver Dollars ARE VERY VEGETARIAN!
> 
> The guy is still in my 15 gal qt tank with one neon tetra. I dropped an amazon sword I took from the main tank (have way too many). The SD has pretty much ignored it, though some leaves look nibbled by him.
> 
> ...



Hi I used to keep silver dollors and they are a good fish but need to be kept in groups of 6 or more and grow fast. A single fish may well die of loneliness. However, I was horrified when I saw you were considering putting them in a planted tank. I never managed to find a plant they did not eat, (and I tried) they are after all vegetarian piranha.

They would, of course, love it in your planted tank but would turn it into a tank with little or no plants unless you regularly bought new ones and even then would struggle to keep up. Now what would be good is having them in a separate tank and adding excess plants to it as you get them from your planted tank. 

But honestly, there can't be many worse fish if any to put in a planted tank.


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