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Goldfish and Ponds
Name: Anneke
Status: N/A
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
You can put pond weed in a goldfish tank instead of
bubbling air through the water. Can you explain why this helps the
goldfish to be more active, particularly during the day?
Replies:
Anneke
I am not familiar with your aquarium set up
But if you are getting more active fish when you add pond weed
It may just be that the green pond weed is better at oxygenating your water
Than your air pump.
Pond weed and other green plants eat (absorb) (input) sunlight and Carbon
Dioxide and
Emit (output) oxygen in the process called photosynthesis. So your pond
weed is adding oxygen to the water in your tank.
It may also be that the fish feel more at home with something natural in
their habitat, and that the pond weed gives them an opportunity to hide in
something instead of being under the glaring aquarium lights, or it may be a
combination of all three factors.
Here is an article on photosynthesis for your further information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthesis
Here is a less intimidating article:
http://www.historyforkids.org/scienceforkids/biology/cells/photosynthesis.ht
m
You can find other articles by going to
http://www.google.com
and searching for "photosynthesis"
Keep chasing your curiosity by asking questions because that is how you get
smarter.
Sincere regards,
Mike Stewart
Pond weed, like all plants, "breathes in" carbon dioxide and "breathes
out" oxygen. Without some sort of plant life in a still pond, the
water would become deoxygenated, which would make fish slow down their
activity, if not survive all together. The more oxygen available to
the fish, the more active they can become. My only guess to why it
makes them more active during the day would be that the plants
photosynthesize during the day due to the sunlight and would slow that
process down in the dark, therefore decreasing their oxygen input into
the water during the night.
Grace Fields
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Update: June 2012
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