Clown loachs eating plants

[dpstark2]

I have some clown loaches in my 125g planted tank. One has made a habit of eating Amazon Swords since I got it a couple of years ago. It eats new growth, and I didn't really care much because it left everything else alone. However, it seems this one fish has now convinced at least one other clown loach to start eating not only the swords, but new growth on Anubias. In addition, I recently dropped in some dwarf sagittaria from another tank, and they ate that. And I have directly observed it, so while other fish may be aiding... it's the clown loaches that seem to make sport of tearing up new Anubias leaves.

I assumed the sword thing was a one-off issue. But now, with them eating other plants... I'd like to see if anyone has ideas to stop it. Is this a dietary issue? I feed a wide variety of food including frozen blood worms 1-2x a week, vibra bites, flake, and Xtreme pellets of various sizes. I recently started dropping in some mini algae wafers to see if that would help, but it hasn't been very long.

Thanks!

[TheSwissAquarist]

Maybe try overfeeding for a while or adding some plastic plants to camouflage the real ones. I remember that worked for someone with herbivorous piranhas…

[anewbie]

Well they do need some green and you could try adding more greens to the aquarium. I feed mine some soilent stuff and they really go after it. I do have some plants being nibbled on but not sure if it is the clown loaches or festum (both willl eat plants if they feel like it). Long term those clown loaches will get very large and have big appetities. Mine are 4 years old (well i've had the oldest ones 4 years - probably 6 or 7 in total years) and they are already more than 6 inches.... 

[dpstark2]

These are great ideas. Thanks. I will definitely try try feeding some greens.