Iwannagetsomerealplants 4myBelovedFish ..need help

[tinylittledice]

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
i wonder will my *agressive chinese golden algea eater will attack my new water plants... i have a CGAE, 3 tiger barbs, 2 green tiger barbs, 2 sunset platy and 3 other fish look like blind tetra but i m sure that they have eyes n not blind they r one! pink, one blue, one yellow. (what r they n e ways!?!?!??) they all live in a 10 gallon fish tank wiz 3 plastic plants, little tiny rocks at the bottom and 3 bigger rocks... i wanna "byebye" the plastic plants n get some REAL ONES instead, but dunno how should i do it, n what kind of plants i should add in... plzplzplpzllzz give me some idea *:'( oh yea, n i wanna get some more other fish for eating algae... what should i get american flagfish? sunset platy???? will it be TOOO crowd??? if yes, what should i do?!
??? ??? ???

[SegaDojo]

there's a slight problem...

well two..

first problem, is that the CAE will eventually outgrow your tank size, and also CAE's are known to develop quite a bad temperament.  One other point is that the CAE's aren't effective algae eaters.  I'd go for otocinclus for the soft brown algae, and a small SAE for BBA, and "green fuzz" algae.. but the SAE will eventually outgrow your tank as well.

second problem is that Tiger barbs will eat your real plants should you decide to grow them.

Two options in fixing this problem... get rid of your tiger barbs, or stick with some fish-proof plants like swords, anubias, or perhaps vallisneria.

i don't think you should add anymore fishes to your existing tank... its already overstocked.

[ryanp15]

Yes you do have a problem. In my opinion you should get rid of some of your fish. The GCAE should be gotten rid of as well as the tiger barbs. Then you should get some real plants if you like. The tetras and the platys should be fine in there though. Maybe you lfs will take them back for you or find a friend to take them. Then you must get your lighting right. Then get the plants. If you do end up getting the plants then go with some easily grown ones. Like java fern and Java moss. Or a crypt or some vals. You can do CO2 injections too if you like and you can redo your substrate to fit your plants needs. Just remember you should get rid of the fish to do this. If you don't want to get rid of them then consider getting a bigger tank. ;D

[scrimman]

Ditto on the CAE (chinese alge eater).  He may be fun right now, but 2 or 3 months from now he'll be killing your other fish by sucking the slime coat off 'em.
As for the barbs, I'd heard that Java Moss and Java
Fern weren't tasty at all to even hungry barbs.  I've never seen any damage on the Java Ferns in my dad's aquarium.  He not only had tigers, but tin foils to boot! ('course, they're dead now.  They were in the tank that blew out)
Can anyone confirm a Java eating barb?

[Matt Nace]

Well, I have the fish from hell with plants...Java moss the rosys and Rubys pull at, nobody touches the Java fern or swords. They have been good with ambulia for some reason lately, but tore apart hornwort, and foxtails..and any Hygro species is history in a day.

I dont think they would bother wendtii though, if mine get a little bigger, I will check it out.