The Fiish Lady - Tips and Tails

  As many of you know there are many ways to keep fancy goldfish. My personal preferences and th temperaments of my fish have come into play here. Some people keep bare bottom tanks as its easier to keep clean. My personal choice is to have gravel and plants for my fish to rummage through. Admittedly it is more time consuming.  It is messy when it comes time to clean the tank - and at times requires regular tidying between tank cleans. My tank substrate in the big planted goldfish tank is a mix of Seachem Fluorite Black and a natural gold gravel. I don't recall the exact ratio but its mostly gold gravel. To begin with the fluorite was in one section however the tank has been up and running for a while. Between the gravel vac when cleaning and goldies rummaging, the fluorite has spread out and mixed through the whole tank. In terms of plant choices, I'm just sharing what I found worked for my fish. Hopefully my experience may save you some money on plants.  I've slowly wor...

  Have you ever gone into a pet store and asked what plants you can put with goldfish?  I have done this on a regular basis and the result is generally the same. A distinct snort and facial expression that I must be new and not know anything about goldfish. "Goldfish eat everything and you're wasting your money." This is the standard response. I have studied animal care and studied to become a zoo keeper. I feel all animals deserve enrichment while there are different points of view on the matter. I am just here to say it is possible to keep plants with goldfish if you have patience and are happy to steadily work through what works in your tank and with your fish. Here is a photo of my big 4x2x2ft planted goldfish tank. Several months on and it's still looking good though is having minor modifications regularly. To make it easier to move them around and clean the gravel around them. The plants for them to rummage through and look pretty are confined to one half of the...