Question: Do Guppies and Swords Eat Plants?
Answer: In answer to the reader question:
"I have a ten gallon tank with a small power filter. I have six small water sprite growing, and one penny wort. Considering the live plants, will guppies or swordtails eat the plants? Thank you for your time,"
Guppies will nibble on some species of plants which adds to the variety in their diet. Fortunately, they don't seem to eat enough to affect the plants, but they will however eat certain algae as well.
Swordtails will nip some of the fine leaf plants, usually restricted to a plant like Rotala Wallichi which is a very fine leaf plant, but will also eat the dreaded black brush algae and string algae. Neither species will nibble enough on aquarium plants to do any real damage to the plants.
Regards, Don Matakis
Don is an Aquatic Grower & Senior Aquaculturist for Freshwater Aquarium Plants, a division of Aquatic Scapes.
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