Cold Water Planted Tank...

[HiJaC]

Hi,

I'm thinking of axeing my cockoo breeding tank and turning it into a cold water tank to save that bit more on energy bills (the credit crunch and all that).

Plant geek isnt working atm, so can anyone tell me if there is a nice range of low light, cold water plants i could use?

Beyond that would i be able to put anything but white cloud minnows in? (goldfish would eat the plants).

I'm actually thinking it would be quite nice to do the fast moving mountain stream thing... ive got the oversized filter for it.

Thanks,

Jac

[theotheragentm]

How large is the tank? Weaether Loaches might work.

If you do the stream thing, Hillstream Loaches go lower on the range of temperature, down to the high 60's.

[HiJaC]

it's a 20G not the long type thou, which would have been nice.

[jsoong]

How cold are your planning to be? At low 70's I can grow pretty much all the standard "easy" plants (although I am not having much luck with crypts - the exception being C balinesae, which is growing nicely).

I have not try growing plants at lower temps than 70 - although hornworts will likely do fine down to 50's (they do in ponds outside).

BTW - yoiu can put goldies in a planted tank ... you just have to choose the plants (& the fish) wisely. Single tailed golds will eat most anything, but so far, I've not have any problems with my double tailed fancies (I have Ryukins, Ranchus, Orandas, Moors & pearlscales). My goldies like their veggies cooked & won't touch anything raw. (YMMV!)

If you want to try goldies with plants, there are 2 approaches: get tough, unpalatable plants (anubias, Java ferns, hornworts), or fast growers (eg hygros) that won't suffer from the occassional nibble.