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I want to put live plants in my new cichlid tank (55 G), Which do you suggest2007-11-24 23:36:52Answers:

Most of the living plants I've tried to keep with them were also eaten, but I've found one that they leave alone: jungle val (Vallisneria spiralis). One side of the tank has a thick stand of val planted in individual clay flower pots.

I found it absolutely necessary to pot the plants. If the plants were not potted, they were uprooted on a continuous basis. I use small (three or four inch diameter) red clay pots (they are available everywhere). A pebble is jammed into the pot's drainage hole to keep everything from falling out the bottom. I then put in an inch of peat moss mixed with a pinch of "micronized iron" (very fine iron filings). The pot is then filled with normal aquarium gravel. The val is planted quite thickly (it doesn't seem to mind crowding) because if any bare gravel were visible in the pots, the Pseudotropheus would pick at it until the plants were uprooted.

FROM http://www.thekrib.com/plants/plants/cic.

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Green plants would look nice.

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I would get just one plant, and a very inexpensive one, and put it in the tank. See if your fish are going to eat it. If it makes it through a week, then consider getting more. I bought a few plants to put in with my african ciclids, and they were all eaten up within a few days. And my dad, the fish guru, says that live plants tend to dirty up the water much fater.

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If you have oscars, you're going to have a tough time with plants, because they love to uproot them.