Find the culprit

[TOMMY]

Hi all! What ever happened to the planted tanks section?
Anyways when I got back from the hospital I noticed that all my plants had mega holes in them and some of my amazon swords turned into madagascar lace plants!
In that tank the only fish I suspect are clown loaches, a large pleco and two 3" otto cats. I haven't seen anyone making a meal out of my plants yet so I thought I would take the shortcut and ask.

Thanks and Happy New Year to you all!

Tom

Sorry Tom.. It is now called "Showtanks and Biotopes".. I can getcha there. :)

[dm]

My vote goes to the large Pleco. They will tear up plants quicker than just about anything. I had some Swords in my community tank and it sucked on them until they were transparent and full of holes. Never again.

[Ralph]

Tom, glad you are out of the hospital, I've done a long stay and it wasn't much fun.
I'm with Dale, if you don't have snails, the pleco would be the next most likely suspect. The loaches would probably eat around the edges instead of making holes. I've never seen otos eat anything green other than algae.
On the other hand, I've been impressed with the individuality of fish and their behavior. Each of my discus have their favorite foods and others that they won't touch. So no guarantees until you catch them in the act.

[peety]

I ditched my plecos because they ate just about everything (and what they didn't eat they unearthed).

Bristlenose seem to do the same on a much smaller level (I can cope with the damage they do).

peet

[TOMMY]

Oh, well... the Pleco is now gone... I've noticed that the holes on the leaves are getting bigger now. I guess the loaches just eat around the holes?
Thanks for the input guys!

-Tom-

[Wahter]

Tom,

Here are the 'tell tale' signs (I've got clown and gold nugget pl*cos and clown loaches):

The pl*cos will give the plants an 'abrasive' bite - looks like someone took really rough sand paper and rubbed it across the leaf. Sometimes this will wear right through the leaf.

The clown loaches initially leave a small "U" or "horseshoe" shaped bite.

Obviously, after the initial bite, the loaches can come around and nibble off more, making the holes larger and larger.

Hope this helps.


Walter

[TOMMY]

A-ha! Now this all makes a lot of sense! So until my plants decide to finally grow back should I let the clowns eat the rest of the leaves or should I just give it a good "mow".

Thanks, Tom