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So I have a 50 gallon tank planted with several species but I also have 5 yoyo loaches in there of decent size which seem to spend all day screwing with my plants, which leads to numerous problems like uprooting of plants and leaves constantly disappearing.....I know other fish in there also screw with the plants but I think the yoyos are doing most of the damage...

Other members in the tank include bala shark, amano shrimp, farlowella, zebra danios and platys.


Should I blame the yoyos for the damage or might I be looking at another culprit?

Anyoen with experience with yoyo loaches that can help? What can I do, any suggestions or do u think its someone else screwing my plants.

Thanks.

El Tiburon Tailandes.

probably, if your plants aren't rooted yet, they will dig them up, I have he same problem in my tank when I get new plants.

-Vincent

Its probably the digging yoyos.
Solutions I have found work - Bury the plants extra deep.
Use plant weights on those that float easily.
Use under gravel ferts to promote fast root growth - I use Jobes plant spikes for lush ferns and palms.



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Sneaky- I was at wal-mart the other day looking for plant ferts for my tank. I found none but saw the Jobes plant spikes & actually considered them, but didn't buy cause it didn't say they could be used for aquariums.So you buy them & use in your tank & it doesn't affect the fish?

Hi,
You can use the Jobes Spikes, but use them carefully.
They are designed to meet the needs of terrestrial plants
but also work in aquariums. For large plants such as
6-8inch+ Swords, use one whole one, pushed into the gravel,
near the plant. For smaller plants you can snip them with
scissors and plant them in halves or quarters, again pushed
into the gravel near the roots.

The problem with these is that the fertilizer gets into
the gravel in concentrated amounts centered around the
spike. If you dig one up or expose that concentrated
area to the tank, you could have a huge algae bloom.
After they have been in the tank for a while (months)
the plants will have "used up" the fertilizer and they are
not so "dangerous" when rooting through the gravel.

Frank


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In fear of taking Tib's post hostage and hoping he doesn't mind (Although he may also be intrested on the results of the query)... I do have to ask since the point was made.

About the plant requirement differences from terrestrial vs. aquatic plants. I've noticed a lot of aquatic plant fertilizers that we get around here do not use or use very little Nitrogen in their macro nutrient (N-P-K= Nitrogen/Phosphorus/Potassium) formula (i.e. Tetra Flora Pride Formula has 0-0-3 with trace elements of Iron and Molybdenum; Hagen's Nutrafin Plant Gro formula is 1-0-0 with micronutrients such as Iron, Manganese, Zinc, Boron, Copper and Molybdate).

These afore mentioned products are liquid, but the other type of ferts that we get are Aquarium Products PLANTABBS 11-15-20 with no trace elements.

Those are the readily available products at LFSs and my first guess would be to use a smaller dosage of PLANTABBS in the gravel to promote root growth and combine it with Nutrafin Plant Gro to provide those micro elements suspended in the water column.

-Does this sound sensible?
-Would there be a need to dose so heavily with Nitrogen since there are Nitrates already provided by the fish?
-Would this increase in Nitrogen spike my N cycle and end up raising my Nitrates through the roof?
-Do I need to add phosphorus since it is not recommended to add to tanks?
-Or would a combination of both liquids, Flora Pride and Plant Gro work better?
-And would any of these fertilizers hurt our Caridina japonica shrimp and/or apple snails(i.e. chelated copper at 0.0005% found in Nutrafin's Plant Gro)?

Just some doubts I've had all along that would want to settle in order to care better for the plants without compromising the water quality and thus the fish's health.

Now on with the matter at hand: Bro, I think your yoyo loaches are going bananas on your plants, my money is on them...

Thanks for the space to voice my concerns and appologies for going astray on the theme, but do feel that this topic may help El Tiburon's situation as well, since the proper addition of ferts will render stronger more resilient plants in his already beautiful tank.

All the best and thanks in advance for your help,

James

I have a yoyo in a 29g planted tank with no problems. The tank had delicately rooted plants like glosso and I dont have much trouble other than finding a stem or two uprooted once a while.

-Mughal

Thanks Frank! If I decide to use those spikes & want to move a plant, I will vacuum around it first to try & get all the remains of the spike up.