keeping plants planted!!!

[ChrisMack]

Problem: One medium sized Satanoperca Jurupari (eartheater) and his little sidekick, constantly digging in the gravel, and up-rooting every single plant in the tank.......(yeah yeah I know it's their natural way! :lol: )

Has anyone got any good ideas on how to keep plants planted under these circumstances?

It was suggested to me, that I make some plastic discs with rootholes and place these around the plants, covering the discs with the gravel, giving a base, and the roots a chance to take hold.

Im a bit concerned that this technique may stunt the growth of the plant, so was thinkg of trying to find an alterantive material (something that might breakdown into the water over time) I though about cardboard, can anyone see a reason against this?

Thanks for any advice,

CM

[Goldie]

I have one eartheater and in the end I have put her into a rogue (plantless tank). Even the plastic plant had to be weighted with rocks around the bottom stem to stop her digging it up and she has a 3foot tank to dig around in.

[Alan]

Try making a hole thru shade cloth,

the bigger weave is fine

[Ira]

I've got 2 Jurupari and 2 Surinamensis. I've tried zip tieing rocks to the plant's roots. That works ok, but then you end up with a rock tied to the roots sitting in a hole. I've tried surrounding the plant with rocks and that works ok for a little while until they undermine the rocks. I've tried plastic pieces cut from an ice cream container with a hole around the plant, they fairly quickly cleared the top of it and then started digging under. Recently I've tried wrapping the roots with a piece of windbreak material plus a couple pebbles for weight and using a zip tie around the plant to hold it together. That seems to be working fairly well so far, but I'm still ending up with the green windbreak mesh visible and they're slowly working the plant out of it. Best would probably be a combination of things. If you can get the plastic with a hole in it to work, does it really matter much if the plant eventually is stunted because the hole is too small? Otherwise it wouldn't grow at all being dug up constantly.

[Warren]

You probably won't find anything to keep the plants down that the fish won't upset. If you do then the plant probably won't like it.

Best measures to stop Jurupari's digging up plants is to move the plants or Jurupari's.

[Caryl]

Perhaps a ziptie around the jurapari's mouth? :lol:

I think Warren is right, remove either fish or plants.

[Ira]

I just had a thought. How about trying planting the plant in a small pot and wrapping some mesh of somekind, like the windbreak mesh or something around the whole pot and the base of the plant with just a rubber band around the base of the plant to hold it. It wouldn't be attractive, but the fish shouldn't be able to get to the gravel and the rubber band should expand enough to keep from strangling the plant.

[Shilo]

How about using plants that attach themselves to rocks and logs like Java Fern and Anubias. They will still look good if their base is uncovered.