Submerged pond plants, usually anacharis, are the lifeblood of any goldfish pond. Notice I say goldfish and not koi. Koi are most efficient eating machines and will eat your anacharis and have it gone before your dinner. Then they will start on your water lilies. Remember that when you buy a koi or a friend wants to give you one.
Why can't I just get them from the swamp?
First of all, let's remember that aquatic plants are not much except weeds. Look around at most any swamp and you will see the same plants that you are buying in an aquatic plant store. Please don't gather them from the swamp. Usually they are protected by the law. If not, you must go through some pretty awful and possibly dangerous terrain to get to them. You must carry a shovel and a receptacle in which to put the gathered plants, and wear very long gloves and hip boots. Clad in that suit, fighting mosquitoes and snakes, you must gather the plants, put them in your bucket and get back to safety without falling and getting your boots full of mud, water and swamp critters. And if you do get them home, you will probably bring parasites, fish and critter eggs and who know what else along with them. I hope I have dissuaded you from wild plant gathering. Buy your plants at a reputable nursery so you can avoid quarantine for several weeks. Doesn't it just kill you to pay two dollars or more for a bunch for anacharis when you can see thousands of dollars right there in the swamp? But it is cheaper in the long run to buy the plants.
What makes these plants so important?
The submerged pond plants, mainly anacharis, are oxygenators and do exactly what their name says: They give off oxygen so the fish can breathe. They act as a filter and catch particulate matter. The goldfish waste fertilizes them so they grow fast. The goldfish also eat the plants, but not as fast as they can grow. There, isn't that a nifty cycle that works for everyone? This cycle is the reason we don't feed goldfish. If we use enough oxygenators, the water will stay crystal clear, the goldfish will stay happy. They won't get too big, nor will they get eaten by some hungry egret because they will hide from the egret instead of coming to the top when it appears thinking it is you bringing food. Didn't know you looked like an egret, did you?
Check for legality in your state
There are lots of oxygenators we can use in our ponds. I use anacharis as much as I can, but it is so invasive it is banned in many states. Always check with your local university extension service to find out if buying them is okay. Many times nurseries will neither know nor care and sell them anyway. It is your responsibility to do what is best for our waterways and ponds, so please be careful.
The most popular oxygenator in the South is anacharis (elodea canadensis). It is usually sold in a bunch of about six stems for a couple of dollars.
Cabomba is another favorite of mine. It's name sounds like some sort of dance. It is not quite as hardy as anacharis and doesn't grow as fast, but it works just as well and it is pretty.
Another and one of my favorites is parrots feather. It not only serves as an oxygenator but covers much of the top of the water, so it also acts like a floating plant adding shade to the pond.
After you have built your pond, the first plant you must put in the water is an oxygenator. You need one bunch per square foot of pond surface. You must buy them all at once, even if you have to put the water lily off for a few weeks. If you do not have enough anacharis, your fish will eat it all before it has a chance to grow and your water will turn to green pea soup because there is not enough anacharis to give you sufficient filtration.
Anacharis has one more benefit. When it blooms, it looks like someone threw popcorn all over the pond surface.
With proper amounts of submerged plants, floating plants and emergent plants, you can have a naturally balanced ecosystem needing minimal maintenance and no artificial filtration.
~Jan Goldfield
Jan Goldfield, the pondlady, owned the first pond design/build company in the Southern US. She has written extensively about ponds and water gardens for 20 years.
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