Lupin
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- Sep 21, 2006
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- Paul
I never had my water lettuce destroyed by any fish at all. The roots seem too prickly for most fish to eat otherwise they simply use it as refuge rather than salad.
Plants for Goldfish Tank
- Thread starter dhanks
- Start date
I sold some moss balls to someone a few months back, not knowing they were going in a goldy tank. The person came home to a couple of nicely shredded and partially consumed marimo balls 
The frogbit, baby tears, and bacopa (my mollies DESTROYED a large bunch within minutes, apparently bacopa is tasty) are probably going to become goldy salad
Kristina
The frogbit, baby tears, and bacopa (my mollies DESTROYED a large bunch within minutes, apparently bacopa is tasty) are probably going to become goldy salad
Kristina
I'm testing plants with my big fat singletails right now. The biggest, healthiest anubias I have found were demolished in a couple of days, but even with regular attacks the java ferns have done quite well.
Well this bodes well for my future planting project: The goldies were persistent enough to remove most of the prickly root system from my water lettuce. Seems like I'm asking for trouble if I give them plants that are actually tasty.
Mine just don't destroy the plants. I think the major reason for that is I feed a homemade gel food that has a lot of vegetable matter in it. They don't crave the plants because they get their veggies elsewhere. Other than that, I have no explanation.
Kristina
Kristina
I'm not sure that it has much to do with cravings. I also feed a homemade gel right now, and in the past I've fed Mazuri Aquatic Omnivore, OmegaOne pellets, frozen bloodworms... it doesn't seem to matter what I feed, they still demolish all edible plant life.
I think the major factor is whether or not the goldfish learned to eat plants early in life or not. For example, my goldfish didn't grow up with plants. So when I added them after they were adults, they immediately went to investigate (with their mouths) and discovered plants are delicious. But goldfish raised with plants seem to regard them as part of the environment and not food. This is just my own theory, I have only anecdotal evidence, but it's held true for me so far.
I think the major factor is whether or not the goldfish learned to eat plants early in life or not. For example, my goldfish didn't grow up with plants. So when I added them after they were adults, they immediately went to investigate (with their mouths) and discovered plants are delicious. But goldfish raised with plants seem to regard them as part of the environment and not food. This is just my own theory, I have only anecdotal evidence, but it's held true for me so far.
Hmmmm, I know mine were not raised with plants (at least the larger ones) so I really don't know on that one. I DO know that feeding a gel food, especially a homemade one that lacks "fillers," has a huge impact on the amount of waste that goldfish produce. I digress from the original topic, but it is an observation that I feel is important. The better quality the food, the more they use of it and the less that passes through to become a mess to clean up later on, lol.
Kristina
Kristina
My goldfish have done quite well with amazon sword, java fern and some random sword. They were never around plants before, but here's something interesting... they were munching on the swords a lot(3 big plants, all the same kind) until I grouped them together and moved them to a back corner. Now the fish hang out under and in them, but have stopped eating them. I don't have many plants in there now(I removed a banana plant they were going to TOWN on) so they really aren't eating ANY plants... at least nothing terribly noticeable.
