Goldfish Aquascape

[Henry Grimard]

Soplanted tanks for goldfish? Of course it can be done; it just takes a little trial and error. This article is written from personal experience and my own opinions; other people will agree/disagree so use this as part of your research into finding the best planted set-up for you and your goldfish.

When designing your set-up be realistic in your expectations. Those amazing aquascapes in the magazines and websites are beautiful but are not likely to last against a tank of goldfish. Consider the maintenance of the tank; goldfish tanks need to be robust and easy to maintain. Goldfish make a mess, they eat a lot and they produce a lot of waste so their tanks need to be easy to clean. Robust plants are a better choice than delicate frondy ones. Consider too that their ancestors came from rivers; these would have had a gravelly bottom rather than a fine carpet of delicate grass-like plants.

If you are just starting out and have not yet set up your tank and added your fish it is a good idea to get the plants in first so they can establish their roots whilst you are doing your fishless cycle.

If your fish are in the tank already and you are looking for ideas to re-vamp their tank you may need to take extra measures to help keep the plants in place while they establish. It is a good idea to put some heavier stones or terracotta planting weights around the base of new plants in tanks which already have fish living in them. This will stop the fish from getting close to the roots when they are digging and help weigh down stems against being pulled up.

It will more than likely be a case of trial and error before you find the right plants for your particular goldfish. Some goldfish destroy certain plants while others leave those same plants well alone. I have used the following plants with varying degrees of success:

Amazon sword (Echinodorus amazonicus): These have large, tough leaves and can generally hold their own against most goldfish. There are a variety of species including A. bleheri and A. ocelot which are also suitable. You can get smaller dwarf swords such as Echinodorus tenellus, these are also good as they still have the same tough leaves. Amazon swords sometimes prefer warmer water to goldfish but it might be worth trying one or two and seeing how they get on.

Onion plant (Crinum thaianum): Onion plants can grow large but can be cut back to keep them in check if need be. They have long leaves similar to giant vallis which can look rather attractive going along the top of the water. They have bulbs which root from the bottom. I found them a little tricky to get them to establish as they are a little buoyant but a bit of planting sponge wrapped loosely round the top of the bulb with some planting lead loosely wrapped round that helps hold them down until they get a grip with their roots. They should be planted with just their roots under the substrate, keep the bulb above it otherwise it rots.

The only plants I keep bunched are elodea and hornwort. If anything else comes wrapped in sponge and lead strips remove these and separate out the plants. Stems should be individually pushed into the gravel. If you have bought potted and/or rooted plants you should remove the rockwool and plastic pot then push the roots gently into the gravel. Vallis needs to be planted so the top of the roots are level with the top of the gravel, do not cover the stems with gravel. You may need to protect the area around the roots if you have fish in the tank.

As well as planting directly into the gravel you can set-up containers such as terracotta plant pots with planting substrate and a gravel top layer to put your plants in. These can be arranged on the bottom of the tank and removed for cleaning or if you need to catch the fish for any reason (trying to catch a fish in a heavily planted tank can be quite a mission!). You can also use plastic containers as plant pots but these must be food grade so they do not leach anything into the water.

Plants such as elodea can be kept in a tub in the garden during the warmer months of the year. Kept in a sunny spot it will grow quite nicely, especially if you add some of your tank water from your weekly water change as the nitrates will act as food for the elodea. This will help some straggly bits recover, as well as providing a source of replacement plants for when the ones in the tank get a little threadbare.

Goldfish are generally good eaters and need to be kept well fed. Many people are warned of the dangers of over-feeding and in their attempts not to they actually end up under-feeding. Feeding lightly is advocated more for the purposes of keeping the waste products to a minimum and so keeping the water quality under control in aquaria that are often too small, overstocked and under-filtered. With a correctly sized, correctly stocked and correctly filtered tank this should not be a concern. Feed your fish well and they may be less inclined to munch on your plants.

If you are going on holiday it is possible to leave your fish unfed for up to two weeks if they have been well-fed beforehand. However, in the absence of their daily rations they will turn to their plants when they want a snack. If you are going on holiday it is a good idea to buy a few extra bunches of elodea and put them in the tank before you go. This should help minimise damage to other plants. If the fish are nibbling at the plants more you may find the filter becomes clogged more quickly; make sure the filter is cleaned before you go on holiday and then give it a clean when you come home.

For years I had wanted to keep fancy goldfish, but the lack of quality specimens from local suppliers left me believing that one had to live in Japan or China to get the good ones with any consistency. It had been a few years since I researched modern availability, so I decided to look for sources online. Surely there would be some exclusive breeders or dedicated sites out there offering quality fish free of disease and parasites.

It was a great thrill to finally find such a source, and the fact that the exact fish displayed was the one you were ordering made it almost too good to be true. To get a fish directly from the breeder would have obvious advantages over fish that had been shipped thousands of miles while changing hands, water quality, and diet multiple times before finally arriving in my tank. Fancy goldfish in particular had always seemed like a fish that would have an exceptionally hard time enduring standard livestock shipping conditions.

From an aquascaping standpoint, I faced the question of what sort of look to go for with the fish. My initial idea was to limit the varieties of goldfish to two, maybe three at the most, and try to harmonize them more closely with the rocks and overall feel of the hardscape. But the lure of all the different types and the newfound opportunity to get quality, healthy specimens proved too much. It quickly became something of an obsession, and my first online shopping spree left me with way more fish in my virtual cart than were going to fit in my 90-gallon tank. I realized I had some serious cutting to do!

Fortunately, the simplicity of the hardscape would create a nice, neutral backdrop for the eventual cast of characters. I honestly could not remember the last time I was this excited about receiving a shipment of fish. I attributed it mostly to the fact that while I had always appreciated fancy goldfish, I never kept them personally.

In my many years working in all aspects of the aquarium industry, I certainly dealt with goldfish in a variety of situations, and every instance seemed to involve an inordinate amount of disease treatment and managing periodic episodes of constipation, swim bladder disorders, and other problems. The idea that this time would be different had me really looking forward to working with these fish.

Serious breeders use precise jargon to describe, evaluate, and identify the different types of goldfish, but we can certainly enjoy their efforts without getting bogged down in the terminology. I created this group from normal-bodied as well as egg-shaped fish, including orandas with their fleshy head growths; the similar but dorsal-less lionheads; telescope eyes with flowing tails and bulbous eyes; pompoms with color-contrasting nasal ornaments; pearlscales with each scale raised and shiny; and ryukins with their steeply sloping backs.

The decision to have many different varieties of fancy goldfish together set against a fairly consistent, simple arrangement of stones seemed to work. My eyes went straight to the fish, following one for a few moments, then the next. Each fish was different and had a distinctive personality that made the aquarium, well, fun! The fish moved about, interacting and playing their role in a way unique among all the fish I had kept before.

The fish seemed to get along perfectly, even the large ryukin, which generally can be a bit more aggressive. I realized how important it is to check the size very closely when ordering online. In photos and even video, the size of the fish could not always be precisely determined.

I actually had not intended to order such a large fish, though I was not necessarily trying to get fish all of the exact same size either. But perhaps because the fish were all introduced at the same time, there was not a single incidence of aggression. In time I would expect a natural social order of some sort to emerge, but for the most part all the fish have done great with one another despite some real size differences.

Most hobbyists will tell you that goldfish should be kept in filtered tanks, not plain glass bowls. Experienced goldfish keepers, drawing on the example of Oriental breeders, who have perfected their craft over centuries of maintaining fancy goldfish varieties, provide extremely large volumes of water with powerful filtration and frequent water changes.

These animals do not require inordinate care, but they cannot tolerate neglect. If your only experience with goldfish was with a county fair prize housed in a bowl, perhaps this aquascaping adventure will prompt you to give these regal fish another chance. With proper setup and care, they can prove wonderful aquarium inhabitants, as well as interesting and interactive pets.

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