Utricularia graminifolia getting chewed!!!

[blackBRUSHalgae]

Help! my green neon tetra is chewing off every single tips of my newly bought Utricularia graminifolia. I'm serious! I witness with my own eyes!

at first I was wondering why is the tips of my Utricularia graminifolia is always "melting" away... and I was thinking it is either having a hard time aclimatising or there is some nutrient defficiency... until a few days ago when I was putting in another new Utricularia graminifolia, where I witnessed my green neons happily chewing off and eating the tips of the plant!

Since when a characin like green neon eats plant? I have these tetras for 3 years or so already (they are wild caught), this is the first time I see them eating my plants. I also have 2 cardinal, but I have no problem with them.

so I guess my only way to grow this plant is to do it without the green neons?

[blackBRUSHalgae]

Ok.... I switched the green neons to rummy nose tetras. It was fine for 3 weeks or so, and then the new rummy nose tetras started to chew on the tips of my Utricularia graminifolia TOO!!! DAMN! what is going on with these tetras and my utricularia graminifolia?

[Fuzzy]

ooh delicious plants...Hmm its a carnivorous plant I hear they are very slow starters and do not take well to sudden changes in water conditions.

I've seen something like this with my Downoi, my shrimp start to feed on it after awhile, but this is only something I've seen when the plants are not doing well, they otherwise leave them alone.

Maybe you should try growing them in a breeder tank until they acclimatize to your water?

[blackBRUSHalgae]

Thanks for your input.

The plant has already acclimatize and growing well, but my tetras love to chew the tip of every single leaves and they actually eat them! On the long run, the plant suffers.

[blackBRUSHalgae]

Found someone with the same problem as me!

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...0&postcount=32

[grey_fox]

My pack of rummies finished off my H.C when I did a rescape. 8-9 pots worth of H.C gone in a week and also my downoi.

It's hard to say why they're eating up your U.G at the moment, but given time they'll probably leave it alone.

[Mikex]

wat!? Downoi eaten up? Now i know where my downoi has gone the other time..my downoi was growing slowly and one day,it is gone..totally vanished in the tank..tink shd have been eaten up by my tetras as u have mentioned..

[blackBRUSHalgae]

My pack of rummies finished off my H.C when I did a rescape. 8-9 pots worth of H.C gone in a week and also my downoi.

It's hard to say why they're eating up your U.G at the moment, but given time they'll probably leave it alone.

IT was initially being eaten by Green neons, which I changed them to rummy nose, and the same thing happened.

[ching4ever]

Why don't you just remove the fauna away?

[barmby]

Yes, confirmed. Green neons will munch plants for salad. My case - green neon munch on my Blyxa japonica (tip only)

What I did - I feed my green neons with algae wafer, twice a week to curb their urge for plants. It helps abit

[crandf]

I wonder if it would be possible to balance the tetra population with the UG growth so that less/no trimming of the UG is needed?

[feide]

Hi BBA

You are not alone, my green neon tetras did the same thing.
They were happily chewing off my UG while I was actually planting them! The UG was gone within minutes...
I have no problems with the normal neon tetras or cardinal... strange as I thought they were close cousins..
I have changed to E.tenullus but still the edges are constantly been chewed...
Lucky thing that they are leaving my parva alone...

[GaspingGurami]

Try giving them a stick of Japanese cucumber (normal cucumber also can but cleaning up the seeds is a chore) or a leaf of lettuce, weighed to sink to the bottom. It takes them a few days to switch to eating these.

All my fishes will munch on plants. Rummy nose, Red Eye Moenkhausia, Green Neon, Black ghost knife fish, Chilodus punctatus, Anostomus, all graze on my plants besides plecos and farlowellas. After feeding cucumber and lettuce, grazing damage is lessened.

FWIW, I notice that mine do this because of a high protein, low vegetative diet. I used to feed with tropical flakes and don't have this problem, but after switching to pellets (that Chinese brand of micro pellets with a red box and gold cap), tubifex and bloodworms, the plant grazing began and now cannot stop.

Changing the plants is only a temporary measure - they hit the Amazonian frogbit root hairs first, eventually finishing the whole root, progressing to Echinodorus, Mayaca, Heteranthera, Lilaopsis,... I changed to Africain plants Anubias, Aponogetons and after 6 months where they ignore them, and the S. Americain plants got stripped bare, they turn on these African plants too.

When my boxes of red Chinese micro pellets finish, I'll go back to tropical flakes again. But I have to finish 3 boxes first.

[feide]

Hi Lawrence
Thanks for the tips.
I think my fishes are getting quite good food - I mix serveral brands of pellets into a 'buffet spread' (nutrafin, NLS, doctor aqua, freeze dried blood worms etc..), plus occasional treats of frozen blood worms.. seems like it is too high protein indeed.
I do throw in some greens once in a while but only the shrimps are feeding on them, the green neons can't be bothered...
Probably I will try not feeding them pallets for a few days and see if they switch to veges.

[GaspingGurami]

Just put in a piece of cucumber or a lettuce leaf. It takes time for them to start eating it. Otos will get at them first, followed by plecos.

The others will switch taste in a matter of time. I find mine start to eat it only when the cucumber had somewhat melted. Then they come and fight for it.