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Hi all,

i need some advice on how to keep my plants under the gravel?
my fish end up lifting each stem of the plants out every couple of days, and i have to push them back under the gravel.
the gravel is about 10cm (100mm) high.
what can i do to keep the plants secure??

What kind of fish do you have? This might be half the problem as some fish like cichlids are diggers and will be a pain in your butt.

Try sticking the stem plants down in the substrate at about a 45 degree angle. This way there is presure on the stem from the gravel.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

I put bigger stones round some plants, that helped yours ago when I had goldfish

and the angle thing works too.

is it some thing like hornwort? cos I can never get that stuff to root!
GFG

_______________________________________
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey S. Firestone

i have 3 fish.
- one goldfish
- one black moor
- white comet (i think, very similar to goldfish except silver)

the plant i currently have is:
Egeria Densa

What size is your tank?

The reason I am asking is because gf produce a lot of waste and grow quite large.

I'll do graffiti,
If you sing to me in French.

Tank Capacity:
Litres: 54.9
US Gal: 14.5
UK Gal: 12.1

for that size tank, could i get anymore fish?

I would not. In fact I would look to rehome your goldies.

Fancy Goldfish can reach up to 8-10 inches, while comets and common gold fish can exceed that. The amount of waste put out by these fish will exceed the bioload of a 15gal. The dimensions will prevent them from growing properly and will probably limit their longevity.

Your best option is to rehome the goldies. Their are plenty of fish that will fit in a 15gal and will not uproot your plants.

I'll do graffiti,
If you sing to me in French.

I am looking into live plants and I'm a little confused. I hear of people planting in gravel but is this the really finely ground stuff or like the multi-colored(blue, green, pink, etc.) bigger gravel?

Hi,
First, the gold fish will take regular chomps on the plants
and while holding the leaf in their mouths, jerk on the
leaf. That, along with their digging through the gravel
all the time will make plants a thing of the past. About
the only way to have plants in a goldfish tank is to pot
them in small (in the beginning) ceramic pots and increase
the pot size as the plants and fish get larger.

The fish themselves, are overloading the tank as well.
Those fish would do fine, for their lifetime in a tank
around 55G (at least) or larger.

Read the article with the star at the top of this forum.
In a planted tank the substrate should be between 3 and
4 inches thick. You can use regular aquarium gravel.
The color is up to you, but at the risk of folks throwing
darts at me, I would recommend natural gravel and not
the reds, blues, etc. that is also offered. Regular
aquarium gravel is labeled #2 or #3. That means that
the individual grains of gravel would pass through a
#2 or 3 sieve, and is 2-3mm roughly in diameter. You can
get larger, but larger leaves too much gap between grains
and allows fish waste, fish food, and decaying
plant material to get into the spaces and decay. It also
does not provide a good anchor for plants (too loose).
You can go smaller, into the "sand" category, but that
thick a bed compacts and forms anaerobic pockets of black,
toxic, waste that eliminates Hydrogen Sulfide a rotten egg
smelling gas. Additionally, the grains of sand are so
small, that there is no circulation between grains, and
all the waste material lies on the surface and eventually
even with regular cleaning, stains the white sand to some
thing other than the beautiful white that it started out
as.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Hi, another problem is your plant selection Egeria Densa usually floats in it's natural surroundings, it does root, but it will take much longer than any other plant, also, if you burry it to deep in the substrate the stems will rot and it will end up floating again. you can get some plant weights and wrap then carefully around the bottom of the stems, watching not to damage the stems, if you do, they will also die, rot and let free the rest of the stem. Burry the weights with he stem about 2cm deep, and as suggested, try to protect the base with rocks or other ornament.