Re: hypostomus etc.

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: Re: hypostomus etc.
From: WORKINGSW at aol_com
Date: Fri, 1 Dec 1995 12:37:27 -0500

Thu, 30 Nov 1995 Jessica Dion <jdion at mole_uvm.edu> wrote:

<<As long as people are defending fish, I thought I'd defend this one [mine]
have never had any interest in any of my plants at all.  I would think
that, providing that they can munch on enough sinking veggie food, they
wouldn't bee too keen on plants, because they can't "attach" to them
[...] I suppose they may change
their behavior as they get older, or if they were fed a leafy-based diet,
but I've never had a problem with them.[...]>>

Hi Jessica,

In my experience, there are a few plants that will get chowdered by pl*cos,
and the rest are left alone (unless no food is given).  That is why I usually
try a "sacrificial plant" before I introduce a lot of anything into my tanks!
 My fellas were raised on beet greens, in large part, but in spite of my
rather light feeding regime they still don't go for the plant leaves.
 Disclaimer A:  I don't grow swords at all, so can't comment on the sword
leaf surface damage often attributed to these guys.  Disclaimer B:  there is
a HUGE piece of wood in my plant tank (which according to the cichlid list I
should be getting paranoid about ;-) so Mr. Pl*co always has a snack bar
available.

My favorite cat is the farlowella - watching our female spiral along a val
contortionist leaf (complete twist every 2") is really something.

Anne Hull Seales
Santa Cruz CA