Finding floaters goldfish won't eat?

I have a 40gal with 3, soon to be 4 juvie goldfish (and yes, I do have another 40gal to move 2 of them into when they get older, but 2 are presumed to be less than a year old, and the third is a stunted somewhat-rescue), and they eat the roots of every floater I put in with them! They can clear a tank of duckweed in 2 days, ans are slowly killing my water lettuce. I would LOVE to add floatig plants to their current Val and Sword kingdom, but which ones? Any species they won't eat?

 

If I recall my goldfish didn't eat my frogbit. . . but it's been a while, could be misremembering.

 

Well, I can try that! The main problem is that they eat the roots of bigger plants. Goldfish are so greedy

 

You could keep a small nursery tank for floaters and use it to replenish your fish tank when the goldfish get too greedy.

 

You could keep a small nursery tank for floaters and use it to replenish your fish tank when the goldfish get too greedy.

Yes, this. Instead of always paying for it, grow and farm it yourself for your tanks especially if they are just gonna tear it up and eat it. buy it the one time give them the extras as it grows. Depending on weather where you are, you can probably keep it outside with some guppies or something to eat mosquitos and not have to do much at all except harvest.

 

I wouldn't put much hope into frogbit, since my barbs that aren't nearly as voracious as goldfish really love snacking on their roots (not enough to kill them, but enough to keep them trim and short ). Of course, it's a matter of personal taste of the fish, so of course it's worth trying if you can get some cheap. Have you tried hornswort? Some goldfish eat it, some don't, and it doesn't have roots as such, so you might try it.