Confounding the Critters

As much delightful fun are the four Lionheads can be, they’re also quite turning into greedy herbivores. And as if on cue, even Nibbler and Stripes (our two Angels) have gotten into the habit too. Many of the plants we pick up for the tank have either been uprooted or ripped into little shreds. The only two fellows who haven’t turned the tank into a salad buffet spread are Aura and Otto. Their victim list includes Cambomba caroliniana, Limnophila sessiflora, Hygrophila polysperma, Egeria densa. The plant that fared the worst were Eleocharis acicularis, or hairgrass, that we were trying to cultivate.

These were planted into the substrate, but instead got systematically uprooted one by one. Over the course of several days, it became a bit of a tug-of-war between the critters and myself, where I would replant and the Lionheads and Angels would uproot. Ling even tried securing these onto a metal mesh; but the critters still somehow found a way to uproot several of the hairgrass elements.

Their more recent menu list have included several stalks of Limnophila sessiflora, which they continally ravaged over the course of a week. Hence, as a precursor to the plant rearrangement we’re doing tomorrow, all the sessifloras have been moved to a new spot right under the filter rainbar. This is what it looks like now (spot A):

Why there? Well…

– If the fishes must turn the plant into their salad buffet, at least they have to do it at the back of the tank and I don’t have to see them and get heart broken.
– Their main activity area has been their feeding spot at the top right corner of the tank. So, by separating this feeding area and their buffet table, it should make it less convenient for them to munch on their salad while waiting for me to feed them. Fishes are lazy to swim around too much, right?:)
– Lastly, there is slightly more water agitation near their salad table now. Maybe this will discourage them from eating the salad too much too.

At the same time, I took the opportunity to arrange Aura’s corner (spot B) a bit. It’s now better defined now that all the Limphonia hippuroides have been moved to his side and lined them all in a neat row like Sunset Boulevard.We’ll be putting in the two pieces of wood tomorrow, but we’ll try not to rearrange these two spots at least.