bottom rooted surface plants…

[Magnum Man32 147]

curios if any of you have tried plants like this in your pools or slower moving tanks??? plants like water lilies… when I 1st started my tanks back up, several years ago. I wanted a tank with koi and water lilies… with root tabs, and normal LED aquarium lights they grew well… however the stems to the leaves kept growing with the current created by the hang on back filter I was using, and they kept getting all tangled up, and I never ended up getting any blooms…

thinking along the same lines of starting over with only sponge filters to keep the surface water flow, more manageable…

there are all kinds, sizes, and colors of water lilies, and I came across mosaic plants, that are similar to the water lilies…

thinking I may add a cattle tank by the front door next summer, with koi and those kinds of plants…

mosaic plants, may live all year in a tropical aquarium, or could be potted, and over winter in your tropical tank( they are actually listed as zone 9, to over winter )

anyone play???

 

[GaryE]

I had a sponge filtered tank with tropical water lilies a few years ago. They came back a few times, but the nutrition was a problem over time. The tank looked very cool. I had them with altums for a while.

The tank was 24 inches (60cm) deep. That seemed important. My lighting back then was 4 pendant lamps above the tank with old school compact fluorescent bulbs. Very, umm, high tech.

A few of the easy floating plants are classified as dangerously invasive up here.

 

[TwoTankAmin27]

What do you do in the winter when the tank will be frozen? For koi to over winter in an outdoor pond it needs to be a lot deeper than a cattle trough.

In my early fish years I hung out in a forum chat that is long gone. But it had some major names there. One of the members was a gal from Canada who did goldies in her outdoor ponds and she let them overwinter there. But the ponds were pretty deep. They got a thick ice slab on top and the fish hung out very deep. Otherwise she would have had to bring them indoors for the winter.


Goldfish do not hibernate in the true mammalian sense, but they enter a similar semi-dormant resting state called torpor or brumation when outdoor water temperatures drop consistently below 50°F to 55°F (10°C to 13°C).

What Happens During Torpor

• Slowed Metabolism: Their body functions and movements slow down drastically to conserve energy.
• Bottom Sitting: They move to the deepest part of the pond or tank where the water is warmest and most stable, often hovering just above the floor with minimal fin movement.
• Deceptive Appearance: As users on Fish Lore agree, they can look completely lifeless or dead, which often panics owners who find them rigid at the bottom.

Important Winter Care Rules

• Stop Feeding: When water falls below 50°F, stop feeding your goldfish entirely. Their digestive tracts effectively shut down in the cold, and any food they consume will rot inside them and cause fatal illness.
• Ensure Adequate Depth: Outdoor ponds need to be at least 2 to 3 feet deep so the bottom water doesn't freeze solid.
• (The Canadian gal had ponds a few feet deeper than 3 feet)
• Maintain Gas Exchange: Keep a small area of the surface thawed (using a pond de-icer or aerator) so toxic gases can escape and oxygen can enter the water.