[milalic]

My wife has three smaill goldfish in a tank. I do not like the looks on this tank and would like to make it a low light planted tank. The tank is a 20G tank.

I know the goldfish might outgrow it but try explaining it to my wife.

What plants you suggest I use?

Thanks!

 

[Hypancistrus]

In mine, I do the following without issue. Keep in mind I have "egg shaped" goldfish, which are a lot less agressive with plants.

Cryptocoryne
Echinodorus
Aponogeton
Vallisneria spiralis
Anubias
Cabomba pulcherrima
Egeria
Alternanthera
Lysimachia

 

[mr.gaboozlebag]

In "smaill", you mean small, not snail, right?

 

[mrbelvedere]

Off topic, but why would anyone keep goldfish? They are hideous. Hideous caricatures of selective breeding, I mean. With their short bodies, googly eyes (my scientific term), gelatinous bags under their eyes, weird red cap thingy, errrrr. They are messy and annoying. I despise goldfish.

On another note, I believe anacharis is the old standard for goldfish tanks. Easy, hardy, likes low temps, etc. Personally I don't like the look of anacharis, so if I for whatever reason had a goldfish tank I'd do E. najas. Just as easy, and looks much better.

Ok, someone here will debate my loathing for selectively bred fish. Okay, fine, I do keep some animals that are selectively bred. Cherry shrimp, halfmoon plakat betta, A few snakeskin guppies. Fine, but those do not deviate nearly as much from the original animal as much as goldfish do. Has anyone here seen a carp? You look at a carp and a Ryukin goldfish and then dispute me.

Sorry for the rant, Milalic. I had that one brewing for a while. Also, I was thinking you might like L. sessiflora. My favorite plant, I recommend it for every setup. Fast growing, super simple, and even though it won't put up with a goldfish's foraging, it will grow back so quickly you will hardly notice. Also, it loves all light levels.

 

[Stealthy Ninja]

Off topic, but why would anyone keep goldfish? They are hideous. Hideous caricatures of selective breeding, I mean. With their short bodies, googly eyes (my scientific term), gelatinous bags under their eyes, weird red cap thingy, errrrr. They are messy and annoying. I despise goldfish.

On another note, I believe anacharis is the old standard for goldfish tanks. Easy, hardy, likes low temps, etc. Personally I don't like the look of anacharis, so if I for whatever reason had a goldfish tank I'd do E. najas. Just as easy, and looks much better.

I'd have to agree, I really don't like fancy (inbred) goldfish. I think it is sort of cruel. Koi are cool because they are big sorta natural fish (colours selectively bred is ok, but not deformations). That said a lot of people like them, and that is OK...so long as they look after them and I think the really deformed ones need more looking after as they drag their huge sacks - or whatever they've had bred into them - around the tank.

 

[RamPuppy]

My wife loves them, i hate them.

must be a female thing.

poop machines, prone to intestinal problems, swim bladder problems... couldn't swim away from a predator to save their lives.

 

[Hypancistrus]

 

[RamPuppy]

ok, you just might have converted me over to goldfish.

 

[Stealthy Ninja]

Nice looking tank, pity about the deformed fish...LOL just kidding.

See what I mean though, if you look after them they look nice. Just a lot of people don't look after the poor fellas (BTW I still don't really like them that much personally, just they can look OK in the right hands). But it really is a personal thing you know.

 

[awrieger]

If people find bulldogs, persian cats, albino mice and canaries hideous and offensive because of artificial breeding, there's nothing I can really say to change their opioions. So rather than address those views, I'm going to try and post something educational instead.

When most people discuss goldfish they are usually referring to baby goldfish no more than a few months old. And a recent study showed the average lifespan of a goldfish after purchase from an lfs is approximately three days. Considering their natural lifespan is 10-20 years, this means the majority never make it past the first day to get to this average. So very few people have ever seen a full grown goldfish in a tank. A full grown Koi in a pond maybe, but not a full grown fancy goldfish in an aquarium tank.

It's such a rarity in fact that I believe more people in the world would have seen dolphins, sharks or even whales in an aquarium (even just if it's in a photo) than a fully grown fancy goldfish.

This is an image I lifted from a goldfish video DVD I have (originally broadcast on Japanese NHK TV) of a full grown Oranda fancy goldfish from the Tung Hoi goldfish farm in China. The 4" fish in front of it would normally be considered a large 'adult' Oranda goldfish by most people.

The reason goldfish get sick and die and rarely achieve full size is not because they are deformed or bloated or funny-shaped. It's because people just don't know about goldfish. Too many people simply don't even know the fish they buy are pure infants which grow to the same length and 3x the body mass of an Oscar. Simply put, goldfish are only difficult to keep and get sick and have bladder problems because people insist on keeping them into too-small tanks well below what is required for something as basic as the body mass / water volume ratio.

The recent increase in the popularity of Bettas is a most excellent thing I believe as they are slowly replacing goldfish for the 'let's get a colourful fish in a small bowl/tank' market. The Bettas are bought as full grown adults as opposed to the two month old baby goldfish usually sold which quickly outgrow their environment and get sick and die. And then get blamed for their own deaths. Oh, they're just too messy, they're genetically deformed...

 

[awrieger]

Anyway, to get back to the original topic, as Hypancistrus says if the fish are fancy egg-shape types then most plants should do okay. It's really more the stronger and faster single-tail slim goldfish which destroy plants.

If you have the slimmer type fish, then go for the tougher-leafed plants like Swords and java Ferns and even Anubias. Stem plants and Vals will get torn to pieces.

Even if your goldies leave the plants alone, the major problem you will have anyway is in controlling algae. The food consumption and waste production from your goldies means it will be very difficult to maintain a proper and consistent NO3 to PO4 ratio to keep algae in check. Your PO4 will always be too high. It can be done though, but with great difficulty!

 

[Livebearer101]

Hypancistrus how big is that tank?

Iv been thinking about doing a goldfish tank for a while but im not sure.

 

[Mori]

I love goldfish--but not the deformed ones. I just feel bad for those. Long fins and weird color are fine--common goldfish actually revert back to their natural coloration after a few generations. There's still alot of fish left in them.

I think that you should use this opportunity to get a larger tank for the goldfish. Set it up, get the plants going, and then introduce the fish. Do a good job because properly cared for goldfish should last at least 20 years.

 

[Hypancistrus]

Hypancistrus how big is that tank?

It's Oceanic's 42 gallon hexagon.

 

[CardBoardBoxProcessor]

Fine, but those do not deviate nearly as much from the original animal as much as goldfish do. Has anyone here seen a carp? You look at a carp and a Ryukin goldfish and then dispute me.QUOTE]

I know this is an old thread but fancy goldfish at not Karp at all. :icon_roll While a fancy goldfish can breed with a karp/koi, they are different species all together and the result of their breeding is nothing more then a hybrid like a blood parrot cichlid.

anyway, since fancy goldfish are not carp.. what are they? to answer that they where selectivly breed from Carassius auratus, or Giebel, or Silberkarausche. if you look at these fish, they really do not vary from the orginal too much.

 

[Mori]

Goldfish are carp. "Carp" doesn't refer to a single species; rather it refers to a whole group of species. Carassius auratus is most definitely a carp! Just not the particular carp people think of when they talk about carp. And a pearlscale pompom is pretty darn different from a wildtype goldfish...

 

[danepatrick]

i know this sounds maybe "immature", but how can you be so harsh to a living thing? i know trees, ants, mosquitos, things we all kill everyday are living too, but something more intelligent, more beautiful (in MY eyes at least), like goldfish shouldn't be downtalked and bashed because YOU don't like them. if you don't have something good to say about it, then just shut up and keep it to yourself. what if you came out of your mother and she looked at you and said, "ew. hidious. get rid of it!" think about it. rather than being someone who critisizes something so many people enjoy, how about just biting your tongue?

 

[CardBoardBoxProcessor]

if you ask me a glowlight tetra is dumber then my goldfish haha.. they don't knwo there is food till they see it.. no begging thus.. they can't associate me to food likea goldfish tank.

 

[relaxing]

i know this sounds maybe "immature", but how can you be so harsh to a living thing? i know trees, ants, mosquitos, things we all kill everyday are living too, but something more intelligent, more beautiful (in MY eyes at least), like goldfish shouldn't be downtalked and bashed because YOU don't like them. if you don't have something good to say about it, then just shut up and keep it to yourself. what if you came out of your mother and she looked at you and said, "ew. hidious. get rid of it!" think about it. rather than being someone who critisizes something so many people enjoy, how about just biting your tongue?

What you need to understand is it's not an attack on the fish, it's an attack on the breeders who have created them. Unlike the ants and mosquitos, your pet goldfish would never exist in nature. For those who agree, the harshness is necessary to discourage people from buying, which will discourage breeders from inbreeding.

 

[crazy loaches]

Not to stir the pot, but I pick goldfish based on looks and could really care less about what goes on behind the scenes, as long as its not utterly cruel to the fish like injecting dye or something that would impact thier well being. That being said I dont personally care for the looks of the wierd deformed ones. I do however really like shubunkins, infact like thier appearence more than most fw fish IMO, and second would be the fan-tails with the same coloring like the shubunkins (sorry dont know if they have a specific name or not). I was debating on doing a large plant tank with shubunkins, but havent researched yet if they will tear up plants. I typically keep a good size bunch of anacharis in the tank (to shallow though to plant - so I just toss it in) and they have completely left it alone. The tank only gets a small amount of natural light so it doesnt last very long - a few months perhaps.