New to plants: Goldfish friendly plants?

[splatt3]

I'm new at this and I hope I posted this in the right forum.
I just got a 10g tank with 2 little goldfish fantail. I am wondering what kind of plants are good for goldfishes cuz i've read that goldfish nibbles alot and eats the plants in the aquarium.
In addition, I've read that Java fern, java moss and anubas (spelling?) are good but I don't want to be stuck with just those 2-3 kinds of plants in my aquarium. i want my tank to look natural full of different variety of plants.
I already placed a driftwood with java moss in my tank that i got from the lfs and attached a little java fern on one end of the wood. my substrate is this blue gravel that my friend got for me with the tank. I don't even know if plants will grow on that kind of gravel. I can't do a gravel change b/c my tank is already established and it might be rude for me to change the prefered gravel she gave me. hehe.
I appreciate any idea that you guys can give me. thanks a bunch.

 

[fishcatch22]

FYI, your goldfish will grow to be 8" long. they will need a 40-55G tank for life and will live for 20-30 years.

any plant with fairly hard leaves should make it.

 

[splatt3]

Hard leaf plants. I'll keep an eye on those kinds of plants. Are there any other plants out there that have hard leaves other than Java fern, anubas? I don't really know much about aquarium plants. I usually just go to the lfs and point at what I like.
I am in the process of changing to a bigger tank. Still working on money for 55g with stand but they are so expensive at the store. On a student budget so I'm broke all the time. lol. Been looking at craigslist once in a while. For the meantime, I'm stuck with the 10g for now. I know I won't abuse my little fishes and leave them in a 10g tank. When i get the money I'll move them to a bigger tank. Thanks for the note though.

 

[fishcatch22]

Hard leaf plants. I'll keep an eye on those kinds of plants. Are there any other plants out there that have hard leaves other than Java fern, anubas? I don't really know much about aquarium plants. I usually just go to the lfs and point at what I like.
I am in the process of changing to a bigger tank. Still working on money for 55g with stand but they are so expensive at the store. On a student budget so I'm broke all the time. lol. Been looking at craigslist once in a while. For the meantime, I'm stuck with the 10g for now. I know I won't abuse my little fishes and leave them in a 10g tank. When i get the money I'll move them to a bigger tank. Thanks for the note though.

the ones you just listed are the only really common hard leaved plants that will fit in a 10G. they are also the easiest to care for.

how many watts per gallon do you have?

 

[splatt3]

the tank hood came with these 2-15 watts orange incandesent bulbs but i replaced both bulbs with 2-13 watts clear white bulbs that was laying around my place. I also didn't like how that orange light looked at my tank.
Isn't there a rule of 2 watts per gallon on tank lights? does 2-13watt bulbs sufficient enough cuz if you add it up that would be 26w or that's not how it goes? those two energy saving bulbs are suppose to be replacements for 60 watt regular bulbs. Java Moss, fern, and anubas doesn't really require that much light doesn't it?
As you can see i'm still new at these aquarium stuff. I didn't even know I'm suppose to "cycle" my tank before putting fishes in. I didn't really have a choice on that one cuz i got the tank and fishes on my bday. All these things are new to me but i'm enjoying looking at my fishes a lot and i'm beginning to love aquariums. i didn't know its very addicting.

 

[fishcatch22]

you must have flourescent lighting if you want live plants.

 

[WyldFya]

you must have flourescent lighting if you want live plants.

That is a false statement. You can run florescent tubes, compact florescents, HO T5, Metal Halides, or even LED. The lights you have just put in are not the right type. They will not be of the right spectrum, nor the right temp for plants. You should switch to a plant light of 6700K.

Anubias are a good plant to start with. There are few plants with as hard a leaf, or as easy a maintenance. Stick to that mainly for now. Although it is only one genus, there are several within the genus. There are several varieties of barteri, and then there are: nana, frazeri, afzelii, congensis, emerald heart, gigantea, gillettii, gracilis, heterophylla, minima, pygmy, pynaertii, and spade leaf. There are also several ferns you could keep, any of the bolbitis species, java ferns (also several different types), and mosses (many types).

 

[splatt3]

Sweet! Thanks for the great info both of you gave me a lot of things to know about planted aquarium. I'm definately going to move on to a bigger tank and really start on my aquarium planting but for now i'm going to stick with my itty bitty 10g cuz of my budget. i guess i'll stay with my java ferns and moss for now cuz of lighting issues. definately going to move them when i get a new tank. as for those other plants Wyldfya said, i'll keep a note on them that way i can research more info about them and what they look like. thanks a bunch guys!

 

[fishcatch22]

That is a false statement. You can run florescent tubes, compact florescents, HO T5, Metal Halides, or even LED. The lights you have just put in are not the right type. They will not be of the right spectrum, nor the right temp for plants. You should switch to a plant light of 6700K.

I meant to say that they can't run on incandescent lighting, and that flourescent is best. you're right about that. I have an actinic on my 10G. (at least I think it is based on pictures.)

I reccomend you go to your local pet store and buy two 10 watt compact flourescent bulbs. they shouldn't cost more than a few dollars each, and you don't need to buy a whole new hood. that will give you 2 WPG, enough light ot grow any of the 3 plants you want for your tank.

 

[splatt3]

i actually went to the lfs this morning and tried to get those 10watt compact flourescent bulbs. I told them about my little light situation. The owner of the shop actually told me that I already got enough light on my tank using the current 2-13watt white bulbs that i have. i checked the ones on the store and they have the same ones that i have except that i only have the 800k on each bulb. i hope that lfs owner isn't wrong b/c he wouldn't be owning a fish store if he is pulling things out his arch.