Who has been eating my java fern?

I have had a java fern in my tank from the start....I have also had white cloud minnows and a couple ramshorn snails from the start....



I have recently added cherry shrimp, ghost shrimp, a molly and a half-beak to my tank.



Which one do you think might be the culprit who chewed big holes in my fern?



[just wondering]

Who has been eating my java fern?
Since it's Java Fern having the problem, you can almost entirely eliminate poor lighting, fertilization, or CO2 as the culprit. It is very unlikely that the White Clouds or Celebes Halfbeak would do that, and it is certainly not the Ghost Shrimp. It could very easily be the snails, as they are notorious for eating plants. My RCS don't bother even the tenderest of my plants, so I'd eliminate them as well. Watch either the snails or the Mollies, as they are the two most likely candidates.
Reply:If it ain't the Molly Which they do their plant eating in the dark .. How old is the tank water more than a year old I hope



You may have a sick plant and it is rotting Don't shake your head no way



To test it out take a little nursing net I call them



that is one of those little 8x10 inch size net or something like that you hang on the top of the tank to keep new fish or what ever isolated from the mother tank



Put a little piece in it And see what happens to it.



If it does rot cut down the tanks light time.
Reply:A little more info would be nice. Do you have any other live plants? What is your bedding like? C02? How long has your tank been running. These questions need to be answered because your tank might not be ready for plants yet. I waited till i had a ton of fertilizer on the bottom and mine grow great. But if i had to make an educated guess I would say your cherry shrimp are the most likely culprit
Reply:my money goes to the molly. Thats exactly what my mollies do when I try and keep any broad leafed plant in the tank with them.



Something Ive found that helps (it helps the to keep the snails from eating it too) is to put some kind of fresh veggie in the tank 2-3 days a week (every molly will have different prefrences. Mine seem to prefer yellow squash with the seeds cut out)

And Ive also found that keeping java moss in the tank helps. Java moss is soft and easy to eat (and apparently delicious, bcause they love it), so they would much rather go after the moss than any other plants.



Java moss is easy to grow to. I keep a bit of it in a fish bowl that sits in a window (no fish in it, just water and moss). It grows fairly quickly, so just every so often I add a bit more to the tank by wrapping it around a bit of driftwood or stuffing it in to a hole in one of the decorations.
Reply:hmm... I don't think any of those fish would be chewing holes in your java fern. Check your water conditions, chlorine levels, and fertalizer levels. Sounds like an unhealthy plant. Java Fern is one of those plants that nothing really likes to eat because they're really tough and they taste bad.



If there is an inhabitant doing that to your plants, it's most likely the molly. Second most likely is the ramshorn snail. Both are long shots.