The first time my son brought home a 25 cent feeder goldfish from his grade six class experiment, my reaction was Ugh! This goldfish is going to grow really big, take up tank space and destroy any plant I try to grow. Much to my surprise Mr. Tibbles, the goldfish has become one of my favorite fish and maybe the most useful fish we keep in planted aquariums.
Mr. Tibbles started his life in my son’s 5 gallon aquarium which he quickly outgrew. At that time the only other tank we had was a 10 gallon which I’d planned to try growing plants in. I set the 10 gallon tank up with plants and waited a couple months before adding the goldfish so the plants would have a chance to root. During that time the new tank also became overrun with green hair algae which was starting to kill the plants.
Not really knowing what to do and not wanting to give up on the new tank after waiting so long, I decided to move Mr. Tibbles to his new slightly bigger home (still small for a goldfish). In no time at all, Mr. Tibbles had eaten all the green hair algae, leaving behind only healthy plants. He even ate the dead parts of plants leaving behind the healthy sections to thrive. Thanks to a goldfish, my first real attempt at planted aquariums was an accidental success!
Next I tried setting up another planted aquarium with no goldfish. Again, algae set in. This time I tried the traditional ‘maintenance’ fish; Otto’s, Bristlenose Pleco’s, Siamese Algae Eaters, Nerite Snails. Nothing worked. The tank was too unbalanced for these other fish and snails to compensate for. However when the goldfish was again upgraded to this larger tank, the algae problems disappeared.
Mr. Tibbles the goldfish has since helped me freshen up a number of planted tanks. He’s bigger now, so I don’t put him with plants that have fragile root systems like small carpeting plants. But he does fine with deeply rooted plants and water column feeding plants that are floating or anchored to rocks and wood.
Benefits of keeping goldfish in planted aquariums:
- Goldfish love eating any type of algae they can manage to pull off. This includes different types of Hair Algae. Although they’re not too successful with Black Beard Algae.
- They keep the substrate clean by constantly sifting through it, eating what ever starts growing on it such as, Blue Green algae.
- They eat nuisance Duckweed, preventing it from suffocating the tank. They may eventually even remove it completely from your aquarium.
- Goldfish love to pick at plants. They do a great job of removing dead pieces of leaves which is were algae typically starts to grow.
Things to consider when keeping goldfish with plants:
- Goldfish get big, so make sure to have a suitable aquarium for them to grow into. An adult goldfish needs 40 gallons to have room to swim. Double tail varieties can get by with less since they don’t swim as fast. Young goldfish will be okay in 10 or 20 gallons, but will need to move to larger tanks as they grow up.
- Goldfish need well oxygenated water. Use an Air Pump with an Air Stone or Sponge Filter. Hang on Back Filters work as well if the water is allowed to drop into the aquarium for surface agitation. Keeping the temperature cooler allows the water to absorb more oxygen. The ideal temperature range for most varieties is 68°F to 74 °F (20°C to 23°C). Comets can go as low as 60°F (15°C).
- Plants that are ‘water column feeders’ can be anchored to rocks, driftwood, or ornaments. My favorite method of anchoring plants is with Gorilla Super Glue Gel. Use paper towel to dry off the plant base a little bit and also the object it’s getting glued to. Dab a drop of Gorilla Glue Gel on the object and place the plant base in the gel. Hold it for a minute until the glue sets. Then its ready to be placed in the aquarium. This works well for Java Fern, Anubias and different types of mosses. Even the tubers on Banana Plants can be lightly glued to a rock allowing the roots to grow into the substrate.
- When choosing plants that need to be rooted, choose plants with deep root systems. Cryptocorynes, Aponogetons, and lilies such as Dwarf Lily or Tiger Lotus are good options. Even fast growing plants like Vallisneria will probably do well.
- Place some rocks around the base of rooted plants to protect them from being uprooted. Once the roots are established the rocks may be removed.
- Rooted plants can be grown in pots in other tanks and moved into goldfish tanks once they’re established.
Successfully keeping a planted aquarium can be challenging, but I’ve found it easier to keep plants looking healthy and algae free with a goldfish around to do my gardening for me.