Goldfish & anchoring plants

[saltydog]

All of my plants have been uprooted in my outdoor tank. I notice that my goldfish pick up gravel in their mouth & spit it out. What are they doing? Are they eating the algae off of it? Are they looking for fry to eat?

How can I keep the plants in the substrate? Does anyone have experience with those lead twist ties?

Thanks for your input.

[BigDaddy]

If you do have to resort to lead weights, two things to keep in mind

1)  Only employ them until such time as you have a decent enough root mass which can anchor the plant

2)  Do not crimp down on the stems, leave room for growth, otherwise the weight will end up cutting into the plant causing damage.

I've had to use weights on some light stem plants in the past... but they have never stayed on very long if I could help it.

[lcoates]

I am assuming you are talking about a pond. What I do with mine is plant the plants in the pond using soil mostly clay and pile rocks all around the roots, I have one Comet who is at least 12 inches long, as well as approx. 30 other comets various sizes from 1inch to 8inches , they do not touch them. The algae grows on my river river which line the pond, maybe that's what you need as well. Hope this helps!

[manytanks]

Hey Salty!

I think we donated those 6 goldfish to your outdor tank, and I can tell you that they love to uproot stuff and gum the gravel. Used to have to re-plant the plastic plants in their tank all the time...until, as lcoates mentions, I got smart and piled some rocks around the bases. No problems after that.

As to their trick with the gravel, I just assumed they were always hungry - or maybe bored! Never seemed to do them any harm, though.

//Manytanks