Freshwater plants and fish

Question
I have a successful tank with both plants and fish. My main goal is to add ground coverage with either dwarf hair grass or baby tears. I started off with potted dwarf hair on 2 different occasions now and it gets eaten up. I am not quite sure who the culprit is and if I will also get the same results with baby tears but as far as fish goes, I am in a 40 gallon with silver dollars, mollies, 2 bottom feeders (otocinclus) and  Kuhli loach.

Out of all my plants (Amazon swords, spiral val,Hornwort) they all thrive. But if I put in dwarf hair, gone oh and also my Wisteria gets eaten down to a twig. Any ideas which species is taking out these plants? I just upgraded my lighting and would like to get some nice ground coverage but really don't want to invest the time and money just to be eaten. Thanks

Answer
Hi Tim,

I'm probably not the one to ask, because I have terrible luck with plants! My lighting is low (~.5 watt per gallon) but even low light plants do not do well for me. I am the fool who kills the Apongeton crispus and the Java fern - but I am upgrading my lighting soon since I got a 29 gallon tank for Christmas and plan to delve deep into the planted world!

However, your question isn't a plant question, it's more of a fish question. And I have to say that silver dollars have a reputation of being plant munchers. You can try feeding them veggies to sate their appetite for greens, which the mollies will probably pick at as well - my personal faves are cucumber, squash, zucchini, romaine lettuce. These are almost universally accepted. Tomato, green beans and blanched spinach are other choices. Your mileage may vary, but the previous four are the ones my vegetarian fish accept. The way to get the veggies to sink is to cut a slice and then clip it with a heavy clip (like a magnetic chip clip, or a plastic clamp) most of it will be gone in a couple of days. Letting it soften in the tank or blanching it in the microwave (in a little dish of water, 20 seconds or so on high...) makes it more palatable to the fish. Your oto will definitely appreciate something to nibble on!

You may already feed vegetables to your fish, so this may be redundant, but I would try it and see if it gets them to leave your plants alone. Wisteria is one of the commonly snacked on ones, vals and onion plants tend to be left intact. Hornwort and java fern seem to be inedible. I've never heard of fish eating hairgrass, but the silver dollars are where I am placing my money! Baby tears are probably yummier than hairgrass, so they probably would receive the same treatment. Try the veggies, see if it helps...

Take care! Good luck with the plants.
Nicole

P.S. If you're looking for ground cover, I've seen good results with dwarf chain swords aka pygmy chain swords. They propagate very easily. Have a read below:
http://naturalaquariums.com/plantedtank/0506.html