One of the most common and popular items in a goldfish tank are plants. These give your fish places to hide and browse on, create a natural setting and also help clean and oxygenate the water. Both plastic and live plants are available, but live plants are preffered for their water cleaning and natural looking qualities. Live plants don't need artificial light, but they may grow and look better with it.
-Cleaning snails
Snails are useful for cleaning the sides of the tank of algae allowing a clear view of your fish. Snails may reduce the number of fish you can keep in your tank, but not signifigantly.
-Decorations
Decorations such as driftwood, rocks and statues can create visual interest in your fishtank. All should be washed and cleaned thoroughly before being placed inside the tank, and this rule applies especially to drifwood and rocks. Both of these should only be bought from pet stores as the wrong type of rock or wood can pollute your tank with chemicals which can make your goldfish very sick. A number of novelty decorations can be bought, such as mini Atlantean monuments, UFO's, shipwrecks and mermaids.
Substrate is the ground of your fishtank, in which plants grow and decorations and equipments is settled. It also looks nice and gives your tank a natural effect.
-Get the substrate that suits you
There are many different types of substrate including;
- Small pebbles
Large pebbles
Smooth pebbles
Rough pebbles
Sand
Rock chips
If you are more daring, you can try other types of substrate, bearing in mind that very small pebbles and sand may clog up filtering equipment.
