[SaveGoal]

i have a 46 gallon tank that only has 5 cherry rasboras and 1 spiny eel.
I have gone to my LFS and they say that it isnt possible to have plants on the base of the tank with an eel.
But I have seen many planted tanks with eels in them

I am interested in a lot of mosses and crypts and i was wondering if you guys give me some ideas for plants.

 

[JDM]

My LFS said that you couldn't have plants in a salt water tank.... whenever getting LFS opinions, always get at least one other.

Not that I have a plant selection for you but anything that can be attached rather than planted would work... there's no pic in your tank profile so I can't tell if you've already got anything in there at all. Java fern and java moss don't get planted... Anubias either.

Jeff.

 

[SaveGoal]

It is a freshwater tank, but are you sure i cant plant anthing

 

[JDM]

It is a freshwater tank, but are you sure i cant plant anthing

Sorry, my comment was about how far wrong they can be... nothing to do directly with your eel.

I've seen videos of eels and I can see why they would say that, they love to burrow and that uproots everything... as long as that is the only issue.

What you might try is planting little "gardens". Seeing as they burrow, perhaps you can place rings around a small area to put plants into. There are ABS couplers (see picture) for anything from 1" up to 6" or so. If you placed one of these on the bottom and filled it with the substrate material and planted in it you might find that Mr Eel doesn't get to the roots. You may have to shave the coupler down so it is not as wide as the substrate is deep so you don't see it, but it might let you plant anything. They have smooth edges so if you do try this and do have to shave one, be sure to smooth the edges so the eels doesn't get injured.

Jeff.

 

[Sanguinefox]

It's not impossible to keep an Eel in a planted tank. I have a Peacock Eel in my 80 gallon community that is well planted. What you want to do is set things up so that you have mostly floaters, and plants that can establish good root systems.

Eels are not entirely stupid. At least mine isn't. When he wants to dig in and cover up he looks for the easiest spot to dig into. He hardly ever roots around where some of my crypts are because the roots give him problems. This is why he prefers other spots where there are no roots, and he can get into the sand and end up slightly under a piece of wood.

Mine doesn't always use the sand to burrow either. There are several pieces of driftwood and he like to make use of that as well. There are a variety of things you can do to give them other alternatives. Some people use PVC Pipe and hide it using rocks or driftwood. That way you don't have to see it but the eel might use it. I prefer creating low hanging caves or crevices with drift wood. Given enough time an eel can get used to these things and may opt out of digging into the sand entirely.