Plecco 1 Posted June 20, 2012 I added salvinia and duckweed in my new tank about 3 weeks ago (tank is 2 months old). The Goldie's gorge on it so much that they don't have much of an appetite for the spectrum goldfish formula pellets any more. If I fertilize the water weekly will the floating plants absorb enough nutrients to help my young ryukin/oranda goldfish grow and be healthy? Particularly that they only eat a few pellets each and are about 3-4" nose to tail? The growth of the plants is sufficient to keep an inexhaustible supply of it. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dnalex 13,633 Posted June 20, 2012 How awesome is this! May we see your entire set up, please? As for their diet, goldfish are true omnivores, and so having a good chunk of their diet coming plant matters is fantastic. Instead of pellets or similar food, I would go with frozen blood worms and brine shrimp several times during the week. I think that would round out their diet perfectly 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ShawneeRiver 2,720 Posted June 20, 2012 The growth of the plants is sufficient to keep an inexhaustible supply of it. This made me chuckle. Last night I put quite a bit of duckweed in my tank. This morning, every bit of it was gone. As they grow, your supply might not be so inexhaustible. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Plecco 1 Posted June 20, 2012 I've got my timers set up to run 2 t5s for 8 hours and the other two for a couple hours at midday. If need be I'll crank up the timers more... I like that they are always so satiated! If there's one thing about Goldie ownership i didnt like- it's the inherent guilt that I was starving them no matter how much or how often I fed them! :-P 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ShawneeRiver 2,720 Posted June 20, 2012 If there's one thing about Goldie ownership i didnt like- it's the inherent guilt that I was starving them no matter how much or how often I fed them! :-P True!! 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Plecco 1 Posted June 20, 2012 What you can't see is the Eclipse t5 light (eBay), the eheim 2217, or the small pleco:) 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Plecco 1 Posted June 20, 2012 Oops posted in wrong section - can the mods move this to the general forum? Thanks. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
number20121 2,663 Posted June 20, 2012 Awesome, I wish my plants would grow like that! 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Evening 102 Posted June 20, 2012 Guh. Tell me your secrets! I can barely keep myself in duckweed even with it growing in two seperate places! As for their diet, eating a great deal of duckweed and other water plants is probably as natural as can be for goldfish, so there's nothing wrong with them eating quite a bit of it. Round out their diet maybe once a week with some bloodworms or other animal food and I'd say you're golden. Expect a lot of jealousy for your self-renewing food supply. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Plecco 1 Posted June 20, 2012 Ill take pics of the fertilizer when I get home. Yeah we'll see as they get bigger if the food supply sustains itself and they continue to eat only the salvinia/duckweed. When I first set it up I didn't have salvinia. They devoured all the duckweed quickly. Now they are bigger and eating more of the salvinia and the duckweed looks to be proliferating well. I was away for a few days recently and had a room mate keeping an eye on the tank/feeding who has a community tank himself. When I got home all but the big oranda were gasping moderately but consistently at the surface. Closer inspection showed some uneaten freeze dried krill and a half dozen soggy pellets. Ammonia was .25 and Nitrites elevated mildly. So yeah they love the live plants. Just glad they leave the red Lilly and whatever that weed like plant is I have wrapped around the driftwood. I also have that tall grass/seaweed looking stuff - doesn't look great in the tank and they won't touch it (that ive noticed) so it's more for the heck of it at this point. Substrate is a mix of Eco-complete and aquatic soil. (although most of the plants are not planted). 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Evening 102 Posted June 20, 2012 Sooo it's fertilized and dirted. Well there's my hopes out the window. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tithra 4,917 Posted June 20, 2012 I'm so jealous of your duckweed! 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Golden fishy 10 Posted June 20, 2012 That's is some duckweed! 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Plecco 1 Posted June 22, 2012 So the plant fertilizer i use is called amazingly enough "Aquacare: Plant Nutrition Liquid" by Tropica. I believe its a german product and i was told by a sales rep at BigAlsOnline that its what the guys who grow plants for wholesale use. 10 mL treats 26.5 gallons and it comes in a 500 mL bottle with one of those dosing tops that fill when you squeeze the bottle. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
