To plant or not to plant?

The answer is yes! While a fully planted tank, complete with CO₂ system and whatnot may be impractical for many goldfish keepers, a couple of plants in your tank are really cheap, easy to maintain and most of all they do really make a difference for your goldies.

Plants provide many benefits to you tank (and fish):

• they provide oxygen
• they absorb from water chemicals that are harmful to fish
• they outcompete algae, meaning that if your plants strive, it is less likely that algae will
• they will also protect eggs and fry if your goldies reproduce
• finally, they have a doubtless aesthetic value: a planted tank is very beautiful to see

Given so many advantages, you may wonder what is holding you back from planting your aquarium.

Well, I’ll tell you. First of all, plants are living entities: as such they need nutrients just like fish do. Root fertilizers in tablet form and liquid plant fertilizers will help them grow lushly and healthily. (A tablet will usually last for a month, so in the long run fertilizers are very cheap!).
They also need plenty of light: keep in mind how much light a certain plant needs when choosing which ones to add to your tank. Some plants need lots of light and you may have to buy a special lamp for them – some others however are hardier and simpler to maintain.

Another disadvantage is that goldfish are usually disruptive and may devour plants if they find them to their liking. However this can be controlled, as goldies seem to have a predilection for water plants with small, tender leaves while they will ignore plants with larger, tougher leaves.

I’m still experimenting with different plants in my aquarium but one plant I personally recommend with goldfish is Egeria densa (also known as Large-flowered Waterweed, Brazilian Waterweed). It is a beautiful, hardy plant that goldies do not eat. It also grows pretty fast, so in a matter of weeks you will be able to get more new plants for your tank simply by trimming the first one!

Other coldwater plants with large and/or tough leaves are suitable as well, such as Anubias or Vallisneria. (If your goldies eat any of these, don’t despair, just try with other plants then! Some goldies are more disruptive than others!)

^{Egeria densa}

On the other hand, I definitely advise you against all plants with small, tender leaves (hint: leaves that look like fennel), such as Limnophila sessiflora, Cabomba caroliana, Ceratophyllum demersum, and similar plants. They are going to be nothing but a fresh salad buffet for your goldies! (Which is not bad per se, but rather pricey!)

But in my experience there are more plants goldies do no eat than plants they eat, and the advantages of a planted aquarium outnumber those of aquarium devoid of plants.

Remember that if you are going to set up a new aquarium, it is a good idea to cover the tank bottom with a substrate material where plants will root. On the other hand, this may be impractical if you already have a functioning aquarium and you simply wish to add a few plants to it. In that case you can plant them directly in the gravel.

Remember, plants are useful to your fish and beautiful to see – live plants, that’s it! Plastic plants are of no use. Your goldies need them less than they’d need a bike. If you have plastic plants in your aquarium, just throw them away and go buy a little live plant instead!

Advertisement