I am interested in getting a bubble wall for my goldies but am wondering how they get the air through the tubing. Do you need to have an air pump attached to them in order to make them work? Is that the idea?

Yuppers on the air pump. Depending on what size
wall you get, will determine how big an air pump you
will need. Most of the bigger pumps have two outlets,
so you can run multiple walls/stones/figurines.

On my bigger tanks(55 & 75) I've got one for each
side of the tank. One 12" wall and two small stones.
While my smaller tanks (20 & 10) have only one pump
for either a wall or two stones.

Mine love their bubble wall - they play in the bubbles and it keeps them (and us) entertained

Great! Now I know what I need. I wasn't sure if they were self contained or if they needed a separate pump. I would really like to have one that goes along the back of the tank. Thank you!!