How to combine plants and cichlids in one aquarium?
Imagine planting a sprig of Synnema or Hygrophila into a traditional Lake Malawi aquarium featuring stone-only shelters. What will happen? The answer is obvious – it will simply be eaten within the next few hours or even minutes. If you plant an “unpalatable” Cryptocoryne, for example, Cr. pontederifolia or a Nymphaea, they are unlikely to be eaten, but they will certainly be damaged. The fish will chew through the leaves, taste the petioles… Well, what if you plant tough-leaved Echinodorus or Anubias? Cichlids do not bother tough-leaved plants. Most likely, they will be slightly damaged too. Nibbled into holes here and there, bitten into on occasion. The situation seems hopeless, but what can be done?
Why then do cichlids practically leave plants untouched in an aquarium with lush aquatic vegetation? It turns out that all you need to do is train the fish not to touch the plants. It is one thing when you drop a bush of Vallisneria or Hygrophila as food, and quite another when plants fill the space of the body of water while also serving as excellent shelters for the fish. To get them used to vegetation, common garden crops – spinach, lettuce, celery in all their numerous varieties – are usually tied to a small stone. The fact is that all newly arrived cichlids are thus trained to a plant-based diet.
Experience shows that no matter how “good” so-called balanced fish foods are, they still lack certain components in the daily diet. By satisfying their need for vitamins and microelements in this way, cichlids begin to pay little attention to most decorative aquatic plants (they are not as rich in beneficial substances as spinach, for example) and spend all their energy on sorting things out with their tankmates. At first, due to a lack of vitamins in their diet, they will nibble and damage the plants. Observations have shown that after pecking at them for a day or two, the fish left the plants alone. It seemed as though the fish had “grown tired” of vegetarian food.
From all of the above, the conclusion suggests itself: wouldn’t it be easiest to introduce African cichlids to plants at a very early age? Absolutely right. Most often these are Java moss, Hygrophila, and Ceratopteris fern. Under good lighting, these plants not only serve as a wonderful supplementary food due to biological fouling and an abundance of soft young leaves, but they also clean the water from pollution, acting as a kind of living filter. True, Java moss has to be periodically (usually once a week) removed from the grow-out aquarium and washed, as a lot of dirt accumulates in it.
As the fry grow, they have to be moved to larger aquariums where Echinodorus, Microsorum, Vallisneria, Ludwigia, and larger Hygrophila species are usually already grown. First – do not plant rare plant species in such an aquarium due to the high probability of their destruction. Second – plant tough-leaved medium or large plants that are too tough for your pets.
If you do not have time to train fish not to eat plants, you must follow the main rule – there should be many plants, and they must be fully developed. Only in this case will the fish not destroy them all at once, and some inevitable leaf loss will not be as noticeable. Planting small sprouts in the hope that they will eventually grow is a waste of time and money. In aquariums, shelters made of rocky terraces are used mainly as an element of decoration and underwater design. A small space for swimming and playing is usually arranged in front of such terraces, and all the rest of the space is filled with various plants.
You can stack small caves in the corners of the aquarium, which should have at least 2 openings so that the fish can swim freely through the cave, and it is better to plant the plants on the sides. I should note that when there are truly many plants and strong bushes are planted, it creates the impression that Malawians pay no attention to the plants at all. In reality, this is not the case, and young leaves are certainly nibbled, but against the general background, this is unnoticeable.
Cichlids are indifferent to plants and dig up roots, so one has to resort to protecting underwater thickets. This is necessary to protect the root systems of plants from potential attempts by fish to damage them. Plants are best placed in pots. You can siphon the substrate without fear of damaging the roots, rearrange plants without harming the roots when changing the design, and you can even remove a plant. The size of the pot depends on the size of the plant. Colorless plastic beer cups, PET bottles, and other food containers cut down to the substrate level are used as plant pots; cut the upper part of the “pot” into petals and weigh them down with stones. Ventilation holes need to be burned into them with a heated nail.
The plant roots or the lower part of the stem curled into a ring are placed on a 1-1.5 cm layer of substrate, then more substrate is added and firmly packed down with a finger. High bowls or pots protruding above the substrate need to be surrounded by stones heavy enough for the fish so that they do not spoil the general appearance of the aquarium. The simplest way is to surround the plant roots with stones. If this is not enough, you can cut a piece of about 15-25 cm from construction plaster mesh, make a hole in the middle, and extend the cut so that the roots can be inserted without damaging them. You insert the roots (Echinodorus, Nymphaea, Cryptocoryne), place them on fine substrate, and top with more substrate and stones. A plastic skewer bent into a hook over a lighter flame can also help press the plants down into the substrate until they take root. A few sticks tied together like a tripod and stuck around the root can help protect the plant while it roots.
Another method: plastic shelves with substrate are suspended near the surface, in which long-stemmed grasses (Hygrophila, Cabomba, Ludwigia) are planted, and the stems of these plants are located in the water. And yet another method: the same plants are secured on a floating Styrofoam raft with holes. In the latter two cases, it is difficult for cichlids to break flexible, freely hanging stems; it is more convenient for them to torment rooted plants.
Selecting plants for a cichlid aquarium.
When choosing aquarium plants, one must certainly take into account that the conditions in the aquarium should, as far as possible, correspond to natural conditions. In addition to the features of the cichlid diet discussed above, another problem becomes obvious – the suitability of habitat conditions for aquatic plants in terms of water mineralization (especially hardness) and pH. It is known that water in the African Great Lakes is slightly alkaline – pH 7.6-9.0. Inhabitants of the Amazon and Orinoco basins, as well as the rivers of the western coast of equatorial Africa, prefer slightly acidic water with pH 5.5-7.0. It is desirable to create similar conditions in the aquarium.
However, reference books on aquatic plants usually indicate that pH 7.5 is almost the upper limit of active reaction for their normal growth. At higher pH values, it is very difficult to provide a sufficient level of carbon dioxide in the water, which is necessary for the assimilation and growth of aquatic vegetation.
Every aquatic plant lover faces a problem: how to combine completely different hydrophytes in one aquarium? Many plant species have a great ability to adapt to environmental conditions, and the parameters given in literature serve as a guideline for optimal parameters. It becomes clear that Malawian water is not very suitable for aquatic plants – does that mean we need to train the fish? Not at all. The experience of growing aquatic plants suggests that it is easier to train the plants themselves to such a hydrochemical regime. As for an aquarium with Tanganyikan cichlids, experience shows that highly mineralized water and an alkaline reaction are not at all an obstacle to the growth of most popular aquatic plants.
Regarding lighting, problems usually do not arise, as both fish and plants love bright daylight. Experience shows that commercially available metal halide lamps with natural color rendering are best suited for this. However, regular fluorescent daylight tubes will also suit fish and plants just fine, as long as the fish look beautiful and the plants get enough lamp brightness.
Years of experience have shown that Hygrophila is a key plant in cichlid aquariums. Fish really like it, as it probably contains many beneficial substances. With a wide variety of species and forms, these plants are also a wonderful decoration for the aquarium. In deep aquariums, it is possible to cultivate various species of Nymphaea, ferns, Hygrophila, Myriophyllum, giant Vallisneria, and Gymnocoronis with greater or lesser success. The beautiful leaves of giant Vallisneria (Vallisneria gigantea) can trail along the surface even in very high aquariums and, unfortunately, block the light. To prevent this, they have to be regularly trimmed with sharp scissors.
Plants such as: Cryptocoryne griffithii, yellow, pontederifolia, kindred; all Vallisneria species; all Echinodorus species, except Echinodorus tenellus, parviflorus, and cordifolius; as well as Aponogeton ulvaceus will do. You can acquire any floating plant, as cichlids cause no harm to floating plants. It is better to plant species with a strong root system, because cichlids really like to dig in the substrate and unearth plants.
In aquariums with relatively hard water, the following have proven themselves as neighbors for cichlids: •— Sturdy ones with a good root system: Echinodorus; tiger Nymphaea; giant, common, and spiral Vallisneria; Cryptocoryne can also be classified as hardy plants; Anubias nana tied to a stone is also quite suitable for cichlid tanks; •— Among ground covers, dwarf Sagittaria has stood the test of time – a remarkably unpretentious plant with good roots. It sometimes happens that during food foraging, an especially hungry fish will occasionally pull up a weakly rooted shoot, but overall it withstands the onslaught of cichlids quite well; •— Among fast-growing and easily recovering ones: Hygrophila polysperma and salicifolia; Limnophila ambulia; Myriophyllum: Brazilian and Monosolenium.
Dominance in a cichlid school. The dominance factor.
Keeping cichlids together with live plants. 
