Goldfish And Plants! My Personal Battle.

[denis coghlan]

This tank has been a thorn in my side and a hole in my pocket for nearly a year now. But I have finally gotten my hands on the tweezers and thread.

Initially I purchased this tank to house two goldfish that where being harassed in my large coldwater setup. But there is not much point in just having a tank with nothing but fish in it so I decided that I would try a couple of plants, “and the battle beganâ€￾.

As many of you area aware, goldfish like to eat plants and these guys where no exception. I have tried numerous species of plants, some worked and some got eaten.

Initially every thing that I put in the tank was uprooted or eaten on a daily basis and I began to get disheartened. But after viewing some of the planted tanks in this section I thought I would stick with it and keep feeding the very vegetarian fish.

So my new game plane was in order to get the plants to sustain the constant assault from the fish they needed to be encourage to increase growth so I added a couple of odds and ends to the run-of-the-mill Juwel record 70. But by adding these odds and ends I increased the level of hair algae in the tank immensely.

A little detail about the tank.

70 liter
Standard juwel internal filter
2 *15W Arcadia plant pro bulbs (both fitted with reflectors)
DIY Co2 Yeast/Sugar/Water mix
5W mini pad heater (the type for betta bowls)
Substrate is plain small grade gravel

Fertilizer
Root tabs for the larger stem plant
Kent- Freshwater plant liquid fert (Macro)
Kent- Freshwater plant pro (Micro)

Fish
1 x Ranchu (hybrid)
2 x Black moores

Water
On average the temperature of the tank sits at about 21-23C.
The pH is static at about 6.8

The plants that I found out to be most appetizing for the fish where, elodea densea, cabomba, creeping jenny, straight vallis, crockscrew vallis. And nearly all of the other plants that I have added to date but the damage hadn’t been as severe.

The plants that I have in the tank at the moment that are growing well are as follws: Althernanthera Reinechii, hygrophila guianensis, microsorum pteropus, utricularia graminifolia, two types of sword (very small and large) and two plants I cant find the name of, a tall single stemmed plant and the large plant beside the filter. All the plants grow well and fast enough to sustain the appetite of the fish and keep the hair algae under control.

At present I am please with the way the tank looks but I will most likely remove one of the large swords when the stricta along the back left begins to take hold.

Comments and suggestions are very welcome. In fact I’m looking for suggestions!!!

Can anyone identify this plant for me please, its the tall broadleafed plant in the back right beside the filter box?

Can anyone identify this plant for me please, its the thin one with the two leaves at each whorl?

Thought I would take the pictures in black and white!! Think they look quite well!

But here is a colour photo

 

[ksam]

I've found cryptocoryne pontederiifolia does really well in with my goldfish, my blackmoor is a big lad who doesn't quit until he's eaten a full plant if he can. Even with my low light set up it still grows really strong I place peddles around them so the goldfish can't get at the base to pull them up aswell.

 

[denis coghlan]

Howdy, took another couple of snaps of my last remaining tank before it gets taken apart. Think it looks ok, although it has no structure in comparison to the "well planned and thought out tanks"

 

[SnBMeg]

But there is not much point in just having a tank with nothing but fish in it

First, excellent quote! And kudos to you for even trying plants with goldfish, not to mention keeping at it.

There are a few things I've learned from keeping plants with my goldfish:
- some goldfish don't care, some like a snack, and some will eat anything
- the larger the root system, the better
- broad, tough leaves are a must to deter nibblers
- tender, young leaves will usually be, at the very least, shredded, and at worst, mowed down to the substrate

The plant that I have had by far the best luck with in my goldfish tanks is Amazon Sword. It grows really differently depending on its environment so it can sometimes be a little tricky to get the exact look you want. The ones I've got in mid-to-high light tanks grow long stems and broad leaves that are pretty well goldfish proof. While the ones in my low light tank have no visible stems and grow very long, narrow leaves that look more like Java Fern (that tank has sight-deficient fish who leave all the plants alone.)

I also find it's best to grow the plants out a bit before adding them to the tank. This will allow them to develop larger roots and their leaves will toughen. Once a goldie learns that a particular plant is tasty, it may well go after it even once it's toughened up and would otherwise be more trouble that it's worth.

Personally, although the really planned out and sculpted tanks look very nice, I also really like the jungle look.