# Plants for a cool water goldfish aquarium



## Calcimoo

I found the best article written by a man in Tokyo.

http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/4468/gf_plants.html

Probably 80% or better of the info on goldfish out there will say stay away from real plants. What do they do in China? You think they're at Petco buying plastic?

I hope this gets hits on google.

The only plant I won't try because they look way too delicate here in USA is the Mayaca fluviatilis and needs bright light. Goldfish don't like bright light, especially the blind ones. He might have better plants over there and I wonder if his banana plants are bigger.

I got a 40 gallon breeder for 3 orandas and 1 black moor, and maybe 3 gold dojos. They make excellent tank mates. The 4th gold dojo is a digger so he doesn't get to join. The tank is 36L X 18W X 16H. I think I"ll put 2 regular glass canopies together, use the hinges to join them. I'll have 2 strip lights to use, 1 uses a 36" bulb, already has a grow bulb in it. The other strip has a 24" bulb, AGA 8000k bulb. Maybe being shorter and plants in the tank the goldfish won't mind it being so bright and maybe being so bright it will reach all the plants. Can only try. Maybe I'll try that Mayaca fluviatilis anyway, it's cheap enough at aquariumplants.com. $1.89 for a bunch.

Any goldfish people hiding here? I know I'll never need to fertilize.


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## Calcimoo

*In case the link acts weird*

Plants in the Goldfish Aquarium
Greg Tong has provided the following excellent discussion of plants for goldfish aquariums. Be warned that, depending on the strength and enthusiasm of your goldfish, keeping plants may ultimately prove impossible. One clever trick is to mix plastic plants with real plants; the real plants help conceal the fact you have fake plants, while the plastic plants can endure the proclivities of your fish (and sometimes even protect the live plants). Just an idea. In reality, I just grow algae in my tanks!

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What aquatic plants can I keep with my goldfish?
Keeping aquatic plants with fish has more than aesthetic benefits and there are several kinds of aquatic plants that can survive in goldfish tanks. Unfortunately, most commonly available plants will not thrive in goldfish tank conditions because they are tropical plants.

To raise aquatic plants in a goldfish tank, you need to provide conditions that are good for the plants and the goldfish. Sometimes the two are very different. Thriving plants add beauty to a tank and can also help clean the water. Aquatic plants feed on fish wastes -- ammonia and nitrates -- removing them from the tank.

There is a risk, however, when plants don't thrive. Rotting leaves (and roots, which aren't visible) can pollute a tank quickly. Also, the plants have to contend with the goldfish's natural inclination to nibble and bulldoze anything in its way.

There is also a risk from infections brought in by new plants. For safety's sake, and because goldfish aren't known for their strong immune systems, disinfect your plants before putting them with your fish.

So what plants are safest for a goldfish tank? A short list follows. They all share the ability to resist goldfish nudges either with strong roots or by floating; and they all do well in cooler water.

Keep in mind that the suggested plants aren't likely to thrive like the ones we see in those glorious pictures in fish magazines. Under good, not even excellent, conditions, aquatic plants can grow an inch or a leaf a week, often more. In a goldfish tank, they would do well to hold their own.

Rooted plants
Anubias (various)--described as the "living plastic plant," extremely hardy and usually slow growing. Give bright light for faster growth. 
Crinum thaianum (onion plant)--looks like a leek 
Echinodorus (sword plants, various kinds)--benefits from a little soil in the root area; plant in shallow pots with soil in the bottom and a thick layer of gravel to keep the soil from spilling out. 
Elodea (anacharis)--can float or be planted in gravel 
Giant Vallisneria 
Hygrophila difformis (water wisteria)--often confused with Ceratopteris thalictroides 
Mayaca fluviatilis 
Microsorium pteropus (Java fern)--their roots attach to gravel or rocks; try tying them to a rock to give them a head start; do not bury their roots under gravel 
Nymphoides aquatica (banana plant)--push "bananas" halfway into gravel; goldfish like to eat the tender new shoots. 
Floating or rooted (goldfish will nibble at the roots or eat smaller plants)
Ceratophyllum submersum (hornwort)--a floating plant with no roots 
Ceratopteris thalictroides (water sprite)--IME, best grown floating 
Limnobium laevigatum (frogbit) 
Duck weed 
Salvinia auriculata. 
For more detailed information about raising aquatic plants, visit the Krib plants section.

How can I encourage aquatic plants to grow in a goldfish tank?
First, select plants that are suitable. Usually, these are plants that can hold their own in goldfish conditions, with strong root systems and temperate water requirements, versus tropical requirements.

Second, give your plants more light. The usual one- or two-lamp setups usually sold with tanks are not sufficient for plants. Consider adding one more lamp. The spectrum is not as important as the overall amount of light (lumens).

But don't keep the lights on more than 11 hours a day or overdo the lighting. More light also encourages algae growth when what you want to do is stimulate vascular plant growth so they win the competition against algae.

In addition, keep direct sunlight off the tank. Direct sunlight rapidly stimulates algae and can cause wide temperature fluctuations that stress the goldfish.

Third, fertilize lightly with trace elements but always avoid anything containing phosphates. Phosphates give algae an amazing boost. Your fish will provide an adequate amount of "macro" nutrients for the plants through their wastes. All you need to supply are "micro" nutrients.

How do I keep algae under control?
First of all, algae is a good thing. Algae indicates healthy conditions in a tank. However, algae becomes a bad thing when it runs wild.

If your algae is taking over, scrape off as much as you can before a water change. Use the water change to siphon out floating bits. Many folks let algae grow on all but the viewing side of their goldfish tanks.

Then, there are only three practical things left to do. I call them:

The "Classic Algae-Taming Techniques."
No more than 11 hours of light. No direct sunlight. If your plants need more light, give them brighter lamps (measured in lumens) not longer hours of lighting. 
Keep phosphates and nitrates at a minimum. Do this through water changes and never feed fish or fertilize plants with anything that contains phosphates. 
Don't over-fertilize plants or overfeed fish. 
(RWT: for my discussion on algae click here)

How do I disinfect plants?
To be extra safe, disinfect new plants before adding them to an established tank. There are different ways to eliminate snails, which carry pathogens, destroy algae, and remove harmful bacteria.

I suggest a maximum two-minute dip in a solution of 1 part bleach and 19 parts water. This should not harm most of the plants suitable for a goldfish tank. For tender plants, dilute the solution or remove from the solution earlier. Of course, you will want to rinse the plants very carefully afterward, and use a dechlorinator if you'd like.

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A few additional comments on the preparation of plants for the goldfish aquarium: depending on where you get the plants, they may have insect larvae, snails, and leeches and other parasites on them. They may also have been exposed to bacterial and viral fish diseases. The bleach treatment Greg describes above should help address some of the disease concerns. However, it will not even slow down things like snails and leeches. Also, tender plants like anacharis do not, in my experience, survive the rigors of a bleach treatment well.

One option is to quarantine the plants. A two week quarantine should eliminate the risk of introducing a parasite like ICH into your tank. A 48 hour dip in a solution of 1 tablespoon alum powder (from a pharmacy) per gallon of water will kill snails and their egg masses. Leeches and some insects can be killed with an organophosphate pesticide, like "Life Bearer" from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals (a several day soak at about 4X the recommended tank dosage). Air breathing insect larvae can be killed by doing the previous treatment in a zip lock bag with all the air removed.

Many people do none of these things and never have any problems ... it is up to you. At a minimum, give the plants a good rinse under a running tap!

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## tranr

When I was in high school, I had a 65 gallon tank with goldfish that I tried to introduce plants to. The ones that thrived were the hornwort, anacharis, and sword plants - everything else usually got bruised or chewed up by the fish. The hornwort and anacharis grew so densely in some areas of the tank that it was a great area for the fish to spawn -- it reduced the number of eggs that were eaten by the others.


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## overboard

I have a hard time throwing away good plants that have been crowded out of my indoor tanks, so I throw them in a half-barrel pond and a 20 gallon tank I have sitting on my patio. There are four 3-4" goldfish in the barrel, and one 2" carnival prize goldfish and some white clouds in the 20. No plants are being eaten, just mosquito larvae. I have java fern, java moss, hornwort, bacopas, brazilian pennywort, and a pot of mint. They don't even eat the duckweed, unfortunately. I don't know if they would behave differently indoors, though. Less bugs to eat...

And actually, you may need to fertilize. Nitrates in both containers are zero. I don't do water changes, just top offs. With water-change water from inside, nitrates usually 15-20 ppm. Go figure...


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## chagovatoloco

*Re: In case the link acts weird*

" The spectrum is not as important as the overall amount of light (lumens)."

This is a very good write up but I"m not sure that a agree with this part, I have a few low light tanks with african chiclids. I find that having the right spectrum light really helps, other wise the light is feeding the algae more that the plants.


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## crystalview

I will have to try these plants. I have anubias and it does fine. The wisteria I put in got bruised really bad. There is not a lot of info out there for planted goldfish tanks so thanks


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## Calcimoo

I looked for almost 2 years for anything about goldfish and plants. Seems like it would be the most natural thing to do but instead you find pictures of them in glass boxes going to shows. 

I'm giving the goldfish a 65 gallon tank instead, another wide one, open top with shop lights. 

That link must have been cached on Google and would only work from the google search page, sorry. It looked alot better on the real page than with c&p. 

I have onion plants in another tank but I don't think the goldfish would leave them alone, they look too much like toys made to play with. They're hard enough to keep down. I don't think wisteria or water sprite would stand up to them either. I'm glad the order I had made went south on me and I spent more time thinking about an order I placed elsewhere. That giant Vallisneria, woah, too big for me. I couldn't get frogbit but I did get one big lettuce plant and anacharis, lots of swords and Anubias, and something grassy for them to swim thru to tickle their sides, Chilensis. I'm not at all familiar with that one, hope it works. I couldn't get any vals. And some chain sword for the gold dojo female who lives with them. Gold dojos and goldfish buddy up like you wouldn't believe. I have 2 young calico orandas with 2 male dojos. One of those males curls himself right around the one calico and they sleep like that. I have a bigger male dojo who lives with 2 orange telescopes, a small female and a gargantuan male. They lay lined up together in a plastic ferret or guinea pig plastic house thing you see in Petco. I cut the doors bigger and hold it down with clear round flat glass stones. It's really cool. 

I hope to put all these goldfish together in the 65 gal. eventually. I know the blind ones aren't supposed to be together with the others but seems like that should be enough room and extra food will feed the plants and not the filters. It has to be so much healthier than plastic world.


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## Fishtory

Hi Calcimoo!:wave:

I had goldfish in a planted tank for 4 years or so, until last summer when I stuck rocks (that tested okay) from a river in NC in the tank and everybody died. 

Plant wise, I just stuck with the thick-leaved varieties like anubias, swords, plus tons of java moss. I didn't have problems with them eating anything, although once in awhile they dug up stuff. Now that I have a lot more plants, I would probly just try different ones and not worry about it; if they eat it, there's plenty more. Do you feed yours veggies? Mine got plenty of peas n stuff, which might help with the plant-nibbling.

Glad you got them ~~ I've been drooling over some orandas at the lfs. Spouse says no room. I think there's always room for more fish, right?

Sorry I haven't pm'd you. My shoulder was frozen once before for a year, and it suddenly seems to be going that way again...makes it hard to type.


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## Calcimoo

Your shoulder was frozen for an entire YEAR?! OMG! My right one froze for over a week recently, couldn't do anything, had almost quit smoking, pain and frustration had me back to being a smokestack.

I ordered *Traumeel* from GNC, pills and cream, they got me thru it and back to work.

They work so good I just ordered more, you have to get them online. If you get the Gold Card you get 20% off the first week of each month and use it for their sales and all that. I take the Triple strength fish oil and Women's Ultra Active vitamins. When that surgeon gave me that medicine from hell I told you about, both my shoulders froze solid for 3 weeks. I found out all people use GNC to heal back from that stuff. Different stuff for different stages. Last summer it was knots in all my muscles, could barely walk, charlie horses and plum sized knots from my ankles to way up the sides of my knees and from my wrists up over the backs of my shoulders. I used valerian root and horse tail root for that, worked right away. I bruise just from letting the back of my leg rest against a chair. The vacuum cleaner handle fell on my foot this spring and my foot swelled up like a football and turned all black for over a month, very light handle too. I haven't figued out what to do about the bruising. I must have used a gallon of arnica gel this past year for muscles but the Traumeel does joint pain, get it, you'll see it works immediately. Those little Traumeel pills, you let one dissolve in your mouth, you can feel the pain lesson just as fast. They work on inflammation. This stuff isn't cheap but compare it to a worthless visit to a doctor and what they would charge for prescription meds that have nasty side affects. Those things will eat your insides out.


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## Fishtory

Yes, it was actually frozen for 1 yr 4 months. Did not play my violin during that time. (Usually I'm doing gigs and teaching lessons all the time)

I will def take your medical advice!!! This is making me heartsick to think it might be freezing again. I just took a 1-mile walk, the shoulder hurts like heck, then warms up and is okay for a short while....but when I cool back down it gets stiff again. It is sending spasms up my neck. 

Sorry to hijack your thread, hey let's talk about goldfish!


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## Calcimoo

Don't forget the vitamins. 

I get this picture of you playing your fiddle to your fish and them all dancing in their wonderful worlds of plants. 

When I was a kid, the German millionaire who owned the huge zoological game farm my stepfather worked at stocked several ponds he had made with fish from all over the US. One pond had real catfish in it, I hooked one when I was 10 yrs. old and it pulled me and my pole right off a 4 ft. bank. I wouldn't let go and my grandfather knew I wouldn't and jumped in right after me and made me let go. Well, anyway, one big pond had a road running thru it everyone would park on at just before dark. Two of the guys who played harmonica and a fiddle would row out on the bigger side and start playing. Those big bass would start jumping and putting on acts like trained dolphins to that music.
Everybody would start pulling in fish like crazy but me, they wouldn't let me fish anymore. Made me madder than heck just sitting there gettin' eatin' by those monster mountain sqeeters. :mad2:

Your shoulder will get better with the Traumeel, I quarantee it. I went right back to lugging around heavy milkers and having to plug them in the pipeline way over my head and all that stuff. Usually I can't raise my arms over my head, been that way since last fall, but now I can. In fact I can even sleep again for the first time in about 8 months but with a 3" ventilated foam pad on top of an already padded bed. Was only getting short naps and having to sleep sitting up because of my shoulders and like you say all the pain up into the neck. Those neck pains cause awful headaches too. I studied up online how to rub which part of the neck pain for which kind of headache. Back of the neck means lightly massage that part and right up under your hair, massage your whole scalp. Sides of neck do circular, gently as can be up to your temples and barely breathe across your forehead. Otherwise, it just all gets worse. And worse and worse etc etc

Shoulders don't have room for that inflammation, it all works against itself, all those little bones in those tight little places. You'll be ok. I dig garden, it's the raking I get carried away with and hurt myself. So now I don't do that. It's just getting that inflammation to go down, that's all you need. 

Ok, talking goldfish. Let's see, my daughter shouldn't even be allowed to have a plastic goldfish. There should be warning posters for all goldfish to read telling them of people like her. She even messed up a beta in a 20 gal. tank with a Fluval 305, UGF, Penguin PH/reverse flow adapter, HOB fostersmith filter, rena pump and 2 rena stones. Pretty good, huh? She thinks because she can get on the Dean's list she is above such menial things as washing a dish or cleaning a tank. She's so bad I told her to stay out of my life til I quit smoking. :lalala: Well, I still haven't quit, just smoke cheaper ones and play with E-Cigs. 

I'm on a role. :biggrin: I'm tired and Farm just told me I don't have to chop today, I run the chopper for the haylage, he runs wagons back and forth to unload in the silo. Talk about a stiff neck from looking back for hours on end. Pop another Traumeel, all better now.


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## Fishtory

That story cracks me up. The bettas in the office definitely hear the music. They all come to the front of their tanks and watch.

Daughters and goldfish? How bout one that turned up the heater and *BOILED ALL THE FISH.* It was so disgusting I just took the tank down.

Off to pop vitamins and make a trip to GNC.


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## Calcimoo

Update. Plants came from liveaquaria.com right on time. Really nice plants, big! Both tanks had been ready for some time, wasn't any oxygen left in that soil. Nobody in the barb/silver dollar/etc tank bothering with any plants at all. 

Only have one goldfish pulling up plants. She was one of my kid's, from back when she wouldn't take a pinch to feed, was shaking the container over the tank and dropped it in the water. Then wouldn't tell me because she kept insisting she would take care of the tank herself. OMG When I finally got in there it was beyond cleaning without taking the whole thing apart. Under the undergravel filter a pearlscale egg had hatched, made it thru the sponge and down the tube, grown and a 1 1/2 inch baby fish came swimming out. So maybe it was good she had a spazz. 

One fish never got over that mess and never grew. She's 2 1/2 years old and just having a hard time of it. I keep thinking about ending her misery, she looks so sad. She's the one who keeps getting tangled in plants so firmly planted down and fights and fights til the plants come up. Every single time I've gone in there I've had to replant something. I finally took her out and put her in a tank with the 3 dojo males. gosh

None of the golfish are eating at the plants at all. I saw the black moor taste a few and go yuck. 

I made sure they have lots of swimming room around thru the plants. At night the gold dojo female sales from one end to the other, 4 feet by 18" wide. The calicos are happy as can be. The huge panda oranda says this is definelty cool. The big orange telscope male has no problems with anything. I thought they would nibble at the weird floating lettuce plant roots but I don't think they know what to make of it anymore than I do. Except for that little telescope who has touble wherever she is, everybody is cool, plants are great. I have a Fluval 405 on each end of the tank, all kinds of water movement. Two 6" rena air stones stuck up high for the moment. 

swords, anubias, narrow leaf chain sword, water lettuce, Chilensis(awesome thick strong ) and Anacharis 

I think it's going to work just fine.


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## Fishtory

Sounds nice! Post pics......


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## Calcimoo

*update*: telescope developed a taste for the narrow leaf chain sword, moved it all to other tank. Everything has taken root now, no more floaters, anacharis putting up new stems. Added frogbit, nobody touches it. Tried adding duckweed but it disappeared over night. Too yummy.


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## barbarossa4122

I have anubias, java, hornwort, anacharis, wisteria, swords, cabombas, banana plant, ludwigia in my goldfish tanks and they seem to live the plants alone. Lol, a few weeks ago I added about $10.00 worth of duck weed and it was gone in 2 hrs.


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## Diana K

So I should set up a goldfish tank in the house to get rid of duckweed? I am throwing it into the pond, but it is so cold out there the golds are hibernating.


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## barbarossa4122

Diana K said:


> So I should set up a goldfish tank in the house to get rid of duckweed? I am throwing it into the pond, but it is so cold out there the golds are hibernating.


Yep, they love duck weed.


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## Cliff Mayes

Goldfish do not hibernate. Goldfish are essentially cold-blooded. Fish noted cruising around under clear ice are probably looking for food.

Duckweed stops growing quite as fast when the temp is lower even though the fish will try to eat whenever food is available that they recognize.

Bacteria both good and bad do not work at lower temps so most pond folk do not feed when the temp gets under 55 degrees f or thereabouts. When the temp gets under a certain level the Bacteria in the fishes innards do not work even though the fish will eat; this creates all sorts of medical problems for the fish when the outer temp warms up and the bacteria start working again.

Normal winter fasting accomplishes many things. First of all survival of the fittest is a consideration. Slimmer fish are better breeders in the spring when it is the time to reproduce. The unavailability of food when the fish cannot digest it is also a natural, good thing although pond keepers are very prone to feed fish who are begging for food. Cheerios and watermelon are both very good late and early foods to give fish. During cold weather, of course, do not put anything edible in the container for the fish.

There are stories about fish being frozen solid in ice and surviving but I have never experienced this.


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## goddessjen

Duckweed makes a good goldy snack...


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## Cliff Mayes

I have a question. What types of Goldfish are naturally blind?


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