Plant eating fish

Byron

Several months back we had a member post about some loaches nibbling holes in sword plants. Botia kubotai was the species; I have had a group of these for a couple years now, and they have not nibbled any of my plants, including 3 Echinodorus bleherae. Perhaps this occurs due to stress as I mentioned preivously? Just surmising. The digging as DKRST noted is the usual problem as the loach gets larger. Mine are fond of digging tunnels connecting their "homes" under chunks of bogwood and river rock; it is fascinating to watch them chasing one another, the first will disappear down beside a boulder and come up several inches away. Sometimes the chaser figures this out, and "waits" at the other end.

55Range

Ok...
So Byron, what fish do you think I need to remove ?
Considering my 6 discus are my favorites and and kind of love the loaches too, 5 clown, 5 yoyo, 1 striated and the 1 weather Loach.

Byron

Remove the Weather loach, is not not suitable due to temp. Increase the Botia striata to at least 5 [assume this is the "striated" species, check our profile]. In a well-planted tank, subdued lighting, this will work fine. You could add some shoaling fish too for added interest upper water, not necessary but possible. The Botia almorhae (YoYo) can sometimes be a bit "playful" or feisty, but are generally quite compatible with other loaches.

On the lighting, by subdued I mean as minimal as necessary for the plants. Floating plants help here, as they provide some shade cover for the fish. Discus and all loaches are not fond of bright light. I can almost guarantee discus will be more colourful with a cover of floating plants. Fish sensitivity to light is not well understood by many aquarists. They have light receptors in their skin cells as well as via their eyes.

Here's what I mean by discus in shady habitats; this is a video of discus in their natural habitat. Note the very murky water [= little light penetration] and floating vegetation and branches.


Byron.

55Range

Thxs . Will do
As for lightning I have 2 T5 lights. Planning on adding another 2 . Aqua full of lights. My discus seem to like the light.
have some floating plants on extremities, ofc, black ghosts spot :)
weather loach will be removed tomorrow.
And, do you know of any fish, not aggressive, and that becomes of decent size that will do well with discus ?

Byron

T5 probably means HO tubes, and two of these assuming they are 48-inches over a 5-foot tank is more than enough. I wouldn't have that much. My 5-foot 115g has two T8 48-inch tubes, with floating plants. I tried a dual T5 when my old fixture gave out, but it was far too bright. I expected the fish to be asking me for sunglasses. After a week, it went back for a T8. A knifefish will find this highly stressful. As for the discus, how can we tell they "like" this or that? We can't. We give them the best environment we can, replicating their natural habitat, and can then be satisfied they will be healthier. Fish suitable for discus are in the profiles.