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I have my 25g well planted with no troubles. I am using my 29g as a holding tank and plan on transferring the stock over to a 180g once i set it up. I planted it with some green cabomba and some vals. Every mornining when i check on the tank, its a mess. The plants are always being up-rooted and trashed. My stock is a 3" Green Severum, 2" Blue Acara and 3"-4" Royal plec. Should i throw in the towel and stop trying to keep it planted? Ive tried using rocks and driftwood to secure them in place, nothing seems to help.

There are many fish you just can't keep plants with . I've heard goldfish like to eat them, certain cichlids like to dig them up, and so on. If they just keep tearing it up, maybe they would do better with rock formations, etc.

Found this: "Severum thrive on a varied diet, including Krill, mine will eat some pelleted cichlid food, and any green plant that I attempt to place in the tanks. The small fish even eats Java Fern, which is supposed to be a plant too bitter for even the most vegetarian fish. Sturdy Amazon Swords are munched upon as though they were leafy salads planted especially for the Severum" here:http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/14243/73728]http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/14243/73728[/link] and on [link=http://www.planetcatfish.com/core/index.htm it states that royal plecos will rearrange a tank to their own liking when they get larger.

Thanks. I figured the cichlids would b hard to do with plants but decided to try anyways. There is one patch of cabomba that hasnt been destroyed yet, but everything else is gone.

Try Java Moss lol It won't be much but it will look nice on whatever decorations you have in your tank..

I wouldnt get java moss that stuff dies on everyone even with 4/wpg

i have an abundance of moss.. you can't kill it. Java fern is also a nice slow growing hardy plant that can be attatched to driftwood and rocks so as not to be disturbed by the larger digging cichlids. Moss is messy tho :-'

"I wouldnt get java moss that stuff dies on everyone even with 4/wpg"

RIGHT...lmao

I stuck a ball of java moss in a 2.5 gallon tank w/ a mini compact fluorescent... that was 6 months ago. No fish or anything else in the tank...dumped some ferts in there from time to time... I took it out the other day and it was about 8 times the original amount I put in there. I don't know where it being a "die on ya" type plant came from.

You may also want to try less delicate plants, and also keep them potted, that way they won't be able to uproot them

My last patch of cabomba was just destroyed, time to try some moss.