Fish v. Plants battle is driving me mad.

Hi Folks

I have a 3 foot tank (with a Fluval 2 filter) containing 3 telescope
eyed black moors, some Canadian pond weed, some moss balls and half a
dozen snails. It alternates between two states:

1. The filter is clogged with vegetable matter such that the water flow
is reduced to a trickle. The fish are lethargic and spending their time
near the surface. When it gets like this I clean the filter.

2. The filter is flowing freely and the fish are spending most of their
time going around the tank shredding the plants, apparently in an effort
to block the filter. Aaargh!


I'm having to clean vegetation (and it IS shredded vegetation) out of
the filter 2 or 3 times a week and it's driving me crazy.

I feed the fish twice a day with pellet food, each time giving then as
much as they can eat in 10 minutes. I clean the filter with water
siphoned from the tank. Once a week I change about 20% of the water. I
always replace water with water that's had conditioner added and left to
stand over night.

I'd appreciate any comments and suggestions. The best I've had to date,
from other sources, a

1. Replace the plants with plastic ones.

2. Keep the plants and treat the cat to a fish supper.

3. Just accept that I have to clean the filter 3 times a week.


Can't say I'm happy about any of those. Surely there's another way?
Maybe some kind of filter that isn't such a pain in the bum to clean?


--
Andy Slater