The Bully Problem

So ... you know how it goes when you have this idea and a preconceived vision of how things are supposed to go?  Well, the next issue to confront me is the fact that Bully is a Goldfish and Goldfish are omnivores.  Yeppers.  They eat plants.  LOL!  So ... what to do?  Is my idea of a planted aquarium for my Mom's Fantail a no-go from the get-go?

Then I started thinking about what I was doing ... am I creating a habitat for Bully?  Or do I want to create an aquascaped aquarium in which Bully merely resides?  Goldfish are a pain in the butt!

You know what's great about the internet?  You realize that you're never alone.  Many others have faced the problems you're currently facing before.  They've dealt with the issues and you can learn from them.  So I googled the search term:  Goldfish Planted Aquarium.  The results led me to this wonderful site:

Goldfish and Plants: The Low-Tech Approach

Fantastic!  Tried and tested results!  So I googled each of the plants listed to see what they look like to start planning what I wanted in my tank ... I mean Bully's new home.  Hehehe!  So that's a start.  So then the question was where would I get the plants?

I went into a big-chain pet store (won't mention the name of it so I won't get sued) and thought, "Hmmmm ... I won't be getting plants here!"  In one tank, there was a Tiger Barb dead amidst some of the plants.  In another, the bamboo was covered in algae.  In another, dead Angelfish floating in the foliage.  How I wished I was close to Subscape!

So then I thought about ordering online.  Things that you learn ... there is a place in Ohio that had most of the plants that I wanted, but then California has some pretty strict agriculture laws and quite a few of them couldn't be shipped.  Then I thought, OK, let's search for places in California to order from.  And wouldn't you know it ... there's a place not too far away that is San Francisco's version of Subscape!

Aqua Forest Aquarium

It's just down the road from St. Mary's Cathedral, in Japantown. Really cool website.  I'll probably swing by there tomorrow.  Want to see the range of plants and all that to get the broad idea.  Perhaps you'll remember this about me ... I'm not an impulse shopper.  I go to a store a minimum of three times to look around before I actually make a purchase.

This planted aquarium challenge has been truly that thus far!

[btw, yes, that really is Bully above!  I'm really pleased with the Sony Alpha camera my Sisters and Mother got me for my birthday!  I can use all the lenses I had from my Minolta Maxxum system (Sony bought out Minolta and all the lenses and accessories are compatible), so all these pics have been with the new camera!]