[lizam]

Hi, I'm new to planted tanks but have 3 going right now - 20 gallon mixed tropical and heavily planted, 8 gallon dwarf pea puffer (this I refer to as my nano nightmare), and a 5.5 gallon betta tank. I am really enjoying all the learning and even some of the frustrations!

In the next couple of months I am going to be setting up a 45 gallon fancy goldfish tank. I really, really want to try have it planted. :bounce: ...at least as much as possible. I want to try some jungle val, water wisteria, bacopa, and pygmy chain sword and...see how it goes. My question is what kind of substrate should I use??? I have been researching fancy goldfish care and sand seems to be the best substrate...but what other options? And if it's sand, which is the best brand? I'm in a small town in Canada and would have to order it online most likely.

Thanks for your help and suggestions :icon_smil

 

[nayr]

i use small rock aquarium gravel, you need to feed them sinking food and they will graze around, they suck the rocks up but spit em right back out..

soft leaf plants they will graze constantly on, anything without a thick blade will need to grow fast if your going to have alot of goldfish in there.

they like ripping plants up so you need something that holds the plants well until they are firmly rooted, Ive got two very large fancy's and I am considering partitioning my 55g in half, this way I can plant one half and give it a few weeks to establish its self before releasing the cows from the barn.

Ive got an auto feeder setup to feed them a little bit several times a day, this tends to keep them cleaning rocks under the feeder instead of chewing on plants all day..

The sub-tropical temps also tend to make the plants grow slower; I can move a plant to my low-tech tropical tank to get refuge from the goldfish and it'll grow back much faster.

Ive got mine mated up with a small school of golden white cloud minows, a pair of swordtails and a bristlenose, they all get along really well at room temperature.. Low tech, sparsely planted didnt work out so well, the growth was too slow and everything got grazed to death eventually.. I am going to add some co2 and bump it up to medium lighting with ability to go high and hope they help prune the growth back slower than they grow.

 

[lizam]

i use small rock aquarium gravel, you need to feed them sinking food and they will graze around, they suck the rocks up but spit em right back out..

soft leaf plants they will graze constantly on, anything without a thick blade will need to grow fast if your going to have alot of goldfish in there.

they like ripping plants up so you need something that holds the plants well until they are firmly rooted, Ive got two very large fancy's and I am considering partitioning my 55g in half, this way I can plant one half and give it a few weeks to establish its self before releasing the cows from the barn.

Ive got an auto feeder setup to feed them a little bit several times a day, this tends to keep them cleaning rocks under the feeder instead of chewing on plants all day..

The sub-tropical temps also tend to make the plants grow slower; I can move a plant to my low-tech tropical tank to get refuge from the goldfish and it'll grow back much faster.

Ive got mine mated up with a small school of golden white cloud minows, a pair of swordtails and a bristlenose, they all get along really well at room temperature.. Low tech, sparsely planted didnt work out so well, the growth was too slow and everything got grazed to death eventually.. I am going to add some co2 and bump it up to medium lighting with ability to go high and hope they help prune the growth back slower than they grow.

Your tank sounds great In my 20 g I added seachem fluorite black on top of my regular gravel. The plants seem to be doing really well. The fluorite seems fairly small. Do you think that would work? I heard that goldfish can get the regular gravel stuck in their mouths.
I forgot about temp for plants...I'm thinking maybe my 20g can help supply some of the plants for my goldfish tank.
I was wondering about the minnows. I heard it can work. I'm glad it works for you. I'm sure it adds more interest.

 

[amcoffeegirl]

Sand is the best- they can sometimes choke on gravel- it's frightening to watch.
I've seen tanks with big river rocks also.

 

[lizam]

Thanks, I would hate for a poor goldfish to choke. :icon_sad: That would be scary! Sand is probably what I will end up using. Just wondering what brand would be best? I would prefer it to be black.

 

[nayr]

get some sandblasting media if you want nice black sand..

Ive not had any problems with gravel, but I got them when they were small enough they couldn't ingest any of it.. now they are big enough can suck a pebble up but they spit it right back out, given there behavior I presume every pebble near the surface has been in there mouth by now.. I could see a potential problem with a large goldfish that grew up in a sand tank being introduced to gravel... I nearly did my tank in black sand but I dont like cleaning it and waiting for it all to re-settle.

 

[lizam]

thanks nayr. I checked out your tank and your goldies are great, as is your tank