Plants for koi?

[Golfnut]

HI,

I have a couple of 8" Koi that just recently moved into their new 50 gallon aquarium. I never put in any decorations/drift wood before, etc, but I think there is enough room now.

Anyone have any experience with plants and Koi? I was thinking of tying some java fern (I just got last night at the auction) to some drift wood.

The two fish are like vacumes and suck up most stuff, so I don't know if they'll suck up the plants too...?

THANKS!

Andrew

[Garhan]

It sounds like a good diet or supplemental food for the Koi. My experience with Koi has been that they will eat just about any plant most of the time. Once you think you have a plant they wont eat or have left alone for sometime, they just fool you and turn onto the salad. They do like duckweed a bunch. Sorry for the bad news, but maybe some of the other members have a plant that they are aware of that koi wont eat. They dont seem to be to big on Northern Rush, or Bull Rush. These are good if you have an open top tank and can pot your Rush.

Garhan

[Ryan]

Horntwort works good we use it in our pond and the koi like to swim through it. Then there is another plant feather something i cant rememebr the name but it gets planted on land then grows over top of the water. Combomba works good too. THe trick is not to ever due the plants. Also remeber that koi will stir up the gravel in the tank so put wieghts on the plants or put the plants in pots. :thumbs:

[IronDogg]

Two plants work very well with my 7 inch Comet Goldfish, so they may be "compatible" with some Koi too. Try Anubias nana (either tied to a rock, or stapled to some driftwood), or Valisneria species. I have these plants with my Comet, some convicts and Jack Dempsey, with some Firemouths too, so I think they might survive the Koi... Worth a try anyway...