Goldfish planted tank

Planted tank for goldfish?
Yes, there's no doubt that planted tank has many advantages, it looks nice and water plants consume excess nutrients (biofiltration). But, you may not be able to keep a perfect planted tank with goldfish in it. Plants mean food for goldfish, they uproot them quite easily and when they spawn, plants get easily torn apart.

Goldfish are also food scavangers, they like to look for food in the substrate, move rocks around or repeatedly swallow gravel then spit it out again. They are looking for algae or other edibles stuck to the gravel by scraping off the algae in its mouth, and then spit out the gravel.

Goldfish feeding habits make quite a challenge for aquascape enthusiasts to keep a nice planted tank with goldfish in it for a long time.

Here are some tricks and tips :

Submersible plants

Choose water plants with broad & thick leaves (goldfish don't like this kind of leaves) and also non-root feeders thus do NOT require a substrate. Usually these plants are tied to driftwoods, rocks or decorations, therefore are not easily uprooted.

Java Fern (Microsorum pteropus) and Anubias (some varieties) are the best examples. They are hardy plants, with low light and CO2 requirements.

Riparium method

Non-aquatic plants that are intended for terrariums can be used as long as they can grow with their roots in water (they are not going to last long completely underwater in a tank).

Peace lily stems can be cut from the mother plant, with roots attached, sterilize them and plant the cuttings in small planters. Planters are clear plastic containers with strong suction cups /magnets attached to the back of the planter to hold the planter in place on the glass of an aquarium. Clay pebbles can be used for plant substrate, it help to circulate the water through the planter so that the plant gains nutrients from the water column.

You can also use foam rafts that connected to the planters, so the rafts won’t easily float away! The rafts keep the foliage of a plant above the water, while the roots trail in the aquarium water. The roots then take nutrients from the water column. The stem of a plant is put on the rafts through holes in the raft.

You can also use this magnetic terrarium planter, it is locked against aquarium  glass with strong magnetic force and can be installed or relocated in seconds!.
Actually this planter is not made for non-submerged aquatic plants, but you can modify it by making holes at the bottom of the planter for water circulation and root expansion.
It has a natural appeareance and is designed to hold a standard 4" pot, you can plant a lot of peace lilies there.

Floating plants

Anacharis (Egeria Densa /Elodea Densa) and Rigid Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) are hardy floating plants and can be placed in the gravel. They are also good nitrate & phosphate consumers, Unfortunately goldfish fond of them.

Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) is a popular houseplant (as a pot plant), an epiphyte plant which can grow to 20 m tall, with stems up to 4 cm diameter and leaves up to 10 cm long. Pothos produces trailing stems with aerial roots which hook over tree branches when it climbs up trees.

This robust plant can easily grow hydroponically from cuttings, you can let them free floating in an aquarium.

But free floating plants have some disadvantages:

• They grow fast and will block the light that needed for goldfish & other submersible plants
• They are not nice looking if free float.
• Surface flow/ agitation will easily make them float away.

You can also grow Pothos with stems (which soon grew roots) in water (to be tied to rocks or wood) and the rest of the plant in the air. They grow very well that way, getting all the nutrients (such as nitrate and phosphate) they needed from the water and at the same time getting lots of air and light from having their tops above the tank. And for some reasons goldfish do not like to eat pothos.

Pothos can grow so quickly only within one week, the roots will grow quite large and can colonize the whole tank. This can be a trouble especially for small aquariums, so you have to prune the roots regularly.

Goldfish Aquaponics

Aquaponics can be loosely described as the combination of aquaculture and hydroponics and this is where the name aqua-ponics originates.
For aquarium applications, the common method is to grow the fish in a fish tank and pump the water through a filtration system, and then into a refugium (a slightly smaller aquarium system than the main aquarium - see above-left picture) which only contains plants. Choose the aquatic plants which are fast-growing, stable and good nutrients consumers (such as Pothos, Anacharis, Rigid Hornwort or even Mangroves).

Aquaponics is an excellent way to control excess nutrients in a goldfish tank. A well running aquaponics system is based on productive systems as they are found in nature.
Unfortunately, aquaponics system need an additional space, plumbing skills, and costly. But a simple goldfish aquaponics (see above-right picture) can also help to improve the water quality. In this system, the owner use a small water pump to fill up the pot with water, once the pot is full, the bell siphon will kick in and drain the pot.

Floating planter

Barley straw has been used for hundreds of years as a natural filter to control pond algae. The picture showing an attractive, floating showcase for non-submerged aquatic plants. It's a combination between Barley straw function (as a natural algae controller) and Aquatic plants function (as an excess nutrients absorber).

How does Barley straw planter work? It works in several ways:

• First the natural decompostion of the straw in the water helps to keep water quality pristine. This is accomplished by a natural reaction between the humic acids in the straw from decompositon, sunlight and oxygen. These elements combine to create a condition which keeps water clear.
• It also promotes healthy populations of invertebrate life in the pond, these tiny creatures consume organic contaminates, unicellular algae and fillamentous algae. Invertebrates also are important for the food chain in your pond, feeding aquatic insects and your fish.
• Aquatic plants also provide an essential role in maintaining good water quality, by using nutrients such as nitrates in your pond from the bio filter, which would otherwise be utilized by algae growth.
• It equips with a hidden styrofoam ring for stability and floatation.

Can I use in my Aquarium?
Of course you can, it works to keep algae under control in your indoor aquarium.
But you should check the product dimension first, this product is quite big for a small aquarium.

Frankly speaking, there are some disappointments from users such as:

• Difficult to maintain. The planter did not stay upright (turning upside down) even after soaking it as per the instructions.
• Hole for plant was too small.
• Smells bad.

But, there are many users which find this product is as successful as they had hoped, here are some tips to overcome above problems:

• Barley straw planter should be soaked before putting it into the pond.
• It should be left in the pond about two weeks before putting the plant in. This solved the "turning over" problem because the ball was waterlogged and stayed upright. You can also put a 3" stone to the bottom of the ball to keep it from tipping, that did seem to solve the problem! Then add plant substrate and put any low growing non-submerged aquatic plant.
• Once waterlogged, you could also expand the center hole very easily by putting your thumbs in and pulling it larger.

I hope this article can help you to choose any method which is suitable for your goldfish tank.