Plant cuttings aren't planting/keep getting disturbed. Should I remove them?

[Davala]

I recently bought three bunches of aquarium plant cuttings, but am having difficulty getting them to grow. 1 of the bunches has been completely destroyed by the goldfish, and the other two are going the same way. The problem is that I cannot get the cuttings to stay in a stable position within the gravel (they either get pulled out or just rise up). The cuttings still have the sponge and metal weight around them as this is the only way I can get them to sink, I've tried jamming them under things, but they do not grow. Should I take them out to make maintenance easier? What do you think?

 

[Mattyfelts]

as far as i know goldish and plants dont mix to well..

 

[Davala]

as far as i know goldish and plants dont mix to well..

Absolutely not.

 

[Mebbid]

They don't, but there are some plants that work with goodies. I'm not sure what they are because I'm not to familiar with gold fish but a little bit of digging can bring up some plant species that work.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

...but they do not grow.

We should examine "why" they won't grow. Can you tell us what plant species they are, your lighting, tank dimensions, and fertilizer regimen?

I've also read that goldies don't get along with most planted tanks. They'll just munch on them or something.

 

[Davala]

I'm unable to recall their names, but one was sold as "the most common oxygenating aquarium plant, with light green stems and dark green leaves". Another was of a red/Brown colour with thin spiked leaves, a feeder plant. I was also told that these were very easy to plant, and needed little extra supplements. So as such I use no artificial lighting (pure summer light), or specialist plant nutrients or co2.

The tank is 30 gallons in volume.

I also often see the fish dragging the stems out on a regular basis. So I'm getting the opinion that I may as well remove them, do you agree?

 

[Fishperson]

You might as well. At this point letting them for would be bad for the water.

For future reference the first one sounds like elodea.

 

[Davala]

You might as well. At this point letting them for would be bad for the water.

For future reference the first one sounds like elodea.

I just googled elodea and I'm pretty sure that's one of the bunches, much appreciated.

The annoying thing is that the cuttings do seem to grow the beginnings of new branches, but at too slow a rate so that they are losing more leaves, and being ripped around so much, etc, at an overwhelming pace. The chances of them growing roots would be a miracle.

 

[Fishperson]

Try floating the elodea. Trim the leaves that are clearly dead or severely ripped.

 

[Davala]

Try floating the elodea. Trim the leaves that are clearly dead or severely ripped.

What do you mean by 'floating'? Are you saying to just let the elodea free as a floating plant? What benefit would that have:?

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

FYI, "pure summer light" tends to lead to algae. Are you getting algae in this tank?

 

[Davala]

I should have mentioned that the tank is not in direct sunlight, but the tank gets plenty of light due to the summer. As such algae is not much of a problem.

 

[Fishperson]

They tend to grow better just free floating on the surface.

 

[Davala]

Ah right, I'll give it a try. Thanks.

 

[Mebbid]

Take a look at this video

 

[Chaik]

If you're looking for a plant that grows well with goldfish try java fern they seem to not like the way it tastes and its very easy to grow. Basically it just needs water and light


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[Davala]

I will, thanks.
My error was probably choosing small leaves plants rather than larger leaves/more passive plants!

 

[Brookster123]

Sounds like, from your description, those plants are not fully aquatic, not growing may be further proof of this. Elodea will most likely get chomped by the goldies, you could try anubias and java fern, pretty sure they taste aweful to fish..

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