# Swordtail eating plants help



## bigbadjon (Aug 6, 2015)

A fish that eats plants cannot be deterred. You can try adding tougher plants in hopes it will not eat them.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Well I took them out of my tank with my favorite plants. I still have some in a 20g high with sags and water sprite. Both plants are barely existing. Could they be eating them because their food is not satisfying them?


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## bigbadjon (Aug 6, 2015)

Some fish are naturally inclined to graze all the time. They don't stop because they are full. You just have to find plants they won't eat. My black ruby barbs ate my anubias but they didn't touch my buce.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

bigbadjon said:


> Some fish are naturally inclined to graze all the time. They don't stop because they are full. You just have to find plants they won't eat. My black ruby barbs ate my anubias but they didn't touch my buce.


Yeh they look more like they are having fun grazing the plants like cows. I wonder what plants I can have with the Lyretail Swordtails? 

That is strange that they ate the anubias. For I read people whom have Goldfish have mainly anubias. It is a tough plant.


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## Natasha (Nov 22, 2015)

A bit surprising you're having issues with swords eating plants. They definitely eat filamentous algae and dying plants, but I've never had the issue of them eating healthy plants of any kind. 

All that said, every fish is different and there isn't much you can do once they've developed a taste. The plan going forward is either use only plants they don't eat or the fish hit the road. I've got a goldfish tank with a bunch of anubias and crypt varieties and they leave all of those alone, if you're wondering what should be safe.


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## bigbadjon (Aug 6, 2015)

My black ruby barbs destroyed my congensis, nana, and nana petite. I've had goldfish that ate any and all plants, some that wouldn't eat anubias and java fern, and some that wouldn't eat any plants. You are just rolling the dice with omnivorous fish.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

They have been attaching plants that are like grass which are micro sword, hair grass, sags and pennywort. They playfully poke in the dirt around the plants. I constantly find stems on the top.

The crypts they leave alone though.


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## Bloomer (Mar 22, 2014)

Swords peck at plants a lot, mostly at algae on them, though. Mollies, guppies and endlers do the same. I've had a bazillion swords from giant Mayae's to tiny ones and they've never really decimated plants but have caused some damage. The behavior is the nature of the beast, about all that can be done is to find plants they tend to avoid. How do the males look? They should have a more or less smooth contour to their bellies, not fat looking nor thin. If they don't look skinny, feeding's probably OK.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Bloomer said:


> How do the males look? They should have a more or less smooth contour to their bellies, not fat looking nor thin. If they don't look skinny, feeding's probably OK.


I have 4 full grown male Swordtails. All but 1 look normal. The oldest 1 looks like it is pregnant. 

At the pet store I was recommended to use vacation feeder rock to keep them from eating the plants. I put some in the 20g high which has fry in it. For I can tell that there are some fry in it that are having a hard time getting food. I am thinking that the vacation rock could cause ammonia spike so I will not leave it in. 

It is possible that the plants got destroyed while they were plucking at the algae. For they pluck the algae on the crypt plants and don't damage them. That is what I saw in the tank with adult Swordtails. In the tank with fry the pennywort leaves were eaten off.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

I've kept plant eating fish with plants before-the key is giving them another source of plant matter to eat-aka blanched veggies or high quality foods like repeshy soilent green gel food. My sword don't bother the plants, nor do my goldfish (separate tank) when I kept plants before turning it into an aquaponic setup.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

AquaAurora said:


> I've kept plant eating fish with plants before-the key is giving them another source of plant matter to eat-aka blanched veggies or high quality foods like repeshy soilent green gel food. My sword don't bother the plants, nor do my goldfish (separate tank) when I kept plants before turning it into an aquaponic setup.


That is what is thinking about. I have tried blanched zucchini. 

The Repashy Soilent Green is expensive and not sold locally so I started searching Petsmart website. I think Emerald Entree will work with the addition of zucchini. For It is has spinach and lettuce in it. 

Still uncertain if the damage to the plants in the tank with adults was from them grazing for algae or eating. So until the plants rebound they are going to stay in a tank with mostly crypts.


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## bigbadjon (Aug 6, 2015)

While it is worth a try this strategy did not work for me. Grazing fish don't stop eating just because they ran out of food or they're full. When they run out of preferred fare they will turn on your plants.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

bigbadjon said:


> While it is worth a try this strategy did not work for me. Grazing fish don't stop eating just because they ran out of food or they're full. When they run out of preferred fare they will turn on your plants.


Yeh watching them they seem like cows graving to amuse themselves. The problem could depend on the individual fish's need to amuse himself.

I am breeding the Lyretail Swordtail so Emerald Entree will good be for the fry.


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