so I had java moss that was in q and today I finally put it in my 55...well any of you who know a goldfish by nature knows what is to be expected as I know this too but it was only 2$ so I thought i would give it a whirl....I am glad to say they are true to their nature and they have had a wonderful afternoon of ripping it ..eating it ..spitting it ..then eating it again ..pooping it ..and eating that ..and maybe once again..they nestled in it.. uprooted it ..watched me plant it twice .hid in it ..maybe slept in it (which was really nice ) ..it was the best 2$ I ever spent !! I enjoyed watching them being goldfish......sorry I didn't intend to make this sound like a poem it just fell into place that way ...LOL

I bet it was cute. All my fish ever do is uproot it. They don't even eat it! Good luck with any other plants!

LOL..yah if their gonna uproot it at least eat it !!!I know I am going to wake up to little plant stumps.

would love to see pics of that.

lol thats cute, my 2 fantails have completely destroyed my anacharis but i wasnt so happy about that lol

Congrats on going planted. By nature goldfish are inquisitive and like plants so the combination is a sure winner. All of our tanks have live plants so it makes for quite an adventure. Enjoy!

LOL thanks guys Ill get pics real soon ..somthing tells me this may be an everyday activity..oh and I made a mistake on the type of plant ..it is watersprite(i know very different ..it's been a long day) so I hope it will endure their antics ..I heard watersprite is easy to take care of ..is that true?

Hmmmm never tried water sprite but my guys love anything green. Cant wait to see the pics.

ggrrrrr I tried but batteries are dead in the camera I will post pics soon

I woke up with plants still in their potts I am proud of my fishies ...

I tried the watersprite, but it didn't do well for me at all. Java fern generally does really well since the leaves are too tough for the goldies to eat. I keep Anacharis for them to eat. It makes a mess, but helps keep the fish healthy. Cardinal plants do extremely well. I've had some success with sword plants. Anubias is a great plant. I also like the Wendtii plants. I have both the green and the red, but the red seems to do best. Ludwigia is also doing extremely well in my tank. I even have a couple of lace leaf plants that aren't doing too badly. They are expensive, but beautiful. Aquarium plants are definitely my weakness. I love "decorating" my tank with plants. I have learned to stay away from anything with a fine, thin leaf. (except for the anacharis that I intend for them to eat) Otherwise, my goldies just gobble up my investment.

Ok reading stuff like this makes me want to try plants! I'm going to have to do some reading up on them more but I think my new 25 gal is going to have a plant or two! Need to read on quarantining em.

yep !! my watersprite is GONE !! they enjoyed it while it lasted !!! they were soo cute with their butts up in the air ripping out my plants stem by stem so I have the bug for plants for sure (I figure it keeps me from buying more fish )so I am going to try java fern and anubias and THIS TIME I will put my foot down ...like they will listen .

Watersprite is an appetizer for my goldies. It doesn't last long. Java Ferns are great however brown algae gravitates to it like a moth to a flame. Unfortunately I have had poor luck with anubias. The ones I purchased were too small & my fish made it a game to uproot them over & over again.

I got the plant bug 4 years ago and learned early that live plants = food. Their is a way to get them Goldfish to leave the plants alone just long enough for them to root though.

Get a ping pong ball that has NO holes in it. Make sure it is brightly colored and can be bumped around the tank with no obstructions. Then when you feed your Goldfish feed them blood worms and try and get them to stick to the ping pong ball. It is easier if you use frozen blood worms than freeze dried and let them warm up and melt and poor the goo over the ping pong ball. The Goldfish will play with the ball and chase it around hoping to get a little extra food.

In the mean time your plants get a break. But ONLY temporarily. Make sure you plant MANY plants not just 1 or 2. IMO you must plant at least 1 plant per gallon to out compete the Goldfish. The exception to this rule is 3 plants per gallon of fast growers. That works for me then you can get others and the Goldfish seam to not care as much for the plants.

At least that worked for me.

James

Ha ha that must be cute! My plant experiment ended when the plants were just floating helplessly. but hey.... they LOVED it!

I do use food grade plant anchors and they REALLY help keep the plants down too. I have 1 stem plant floating now. I had recently cut and thrown the bottoms away as the tops look best and that is the bigest uproot time's I have. After about a week they have roots and don't come up easily.

Here is a link to a company that sells the same type of anchors I use and actually the same one I have purchased well over 80 anchors from.

http://www.aquariumplants.com/Professional...29_p/pr1325.htm

And have about 8 packs sitting around un-opened so when my plants mature I can make sure they are planted correctly.

James

EDIT: I really need to get an updated photo of my tank.

Haha! that is so cute! especially since they slept in them. I agree, I would have loved to see a video or something

hilarious

I do not have a tank, but the one plant in my pond (that would be suitable for a tank) that my goldfish do not seem to bother, is hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum). It is not a terribly attractive plant, but it grows like wildfire, and as stated, the goldfish do not touch it.