Just been given 2 goldfish

[Sherida]

Hi!

I've just been given 2 goldfish by a friend who can't or doesn't want to look after them any more. Being an avid animal lover he knows they will have a good home with me. The problem is, I know nothing. The tank they are in is probably about 2ftx2ftx2ft. It's old, the water is dirty even with the filtration system and there is no heater. I've been looking around this forum and reading all I can, and this seems to be an engrossing hobby!

My questions are, what size should I be looking at, do I need a heater, and can I start a freshwater aquarium with these 2 little fellas? What kind of fish go well with goldfish, and should I have real plants as opposed to plastic?

Sorry to bombard you with questions, but I'd really like to give these 2 as good a life as I can. My friend has also told me he feeds them 2 large pinches of flakes a day, is this right? It seems a little excessive! My last question is, they're both hiding at the back of the tank, is it possible they know they've been moved to another house?

I hope they'll be happy with me, and please don't flame me for not knowing about fish before I took them on. It was either that or they got flushed .

Thank you and I look forward to being much more involved in this very knowledgeable forum!

Sherida.

[thebrick]

other goldfish go well with them. cant really have tropical fish in with them. as for heater id say yes they are cheap so it shouldnt be a problem. Goldfish grow quite large so as big as you can go i say go with that Live or plastic is up to you really. Go with the silk fake plants if you go fake. They look more real and they are softer so wont hurt the fish if they happen to rub up against it.

[Puffer Pita]

Goldfish are cold water fish and do not need a heater. They can even live in frigid temps.

What kind of goldfish they are will determine how much room they will need. Fancy goldfish will need 20g each at a minimum, and if they are common, comet, koi, etc., they will need a large pond as they will get to be very large. Your tank size right now is about 59g.

Feed just enough that they will eat in about 2-3 minutes and no more. If there is any left, suction it off the gravel.

Begin doing small water changes daily. Not too big as you don't want to shock their system. Get a declorinator like Prime to remove any chlorine or chloramines in the water that will harm them. Clean out the filter by removing the inserts and rising them in fresh, clean water, then put them back in.

[thebrick]

I find goldfish are more active in heated water (76-80) In our pond they are sooo much more active in the summer and spring then fall and winter.

[Puffer Pita]

They are coldwater fish, not tropical. For optimal health and long life (which BTW is decades long), they should be in colder water. The warmest they should be in is the mid-70s but upper 60s to low 70s is good.

[Scuba Kid]

Originally Posted by thebrick

I find goldfish are more active in heated water (76-80) In our pond they are sooo much more active in the summer and spring then fall and winter.

That's because their body's metabolism naturally slows down in response to the cold weather. In the winter when the water temp goes below 53 degrees (as i recall, i may be a little off with the exact degree) the goldfish slow down and go into almost a hibernation stage until the weather starts to warm up. They also stop feeding. However, the hgih activity you see in the warmer months is normal but i doubt the water temperature is higher that the mid 70s in most cases. Just because they're active in water temps in the 70s doesnt mean that they will be even more active if the temp is raised higher.

[thebrick]

our pond in the summer months hits 75 so i dunno. just going by my first hand experience.

[Sherida]

Due to my extreme tiredness yesterday, I made an error in the tank size. It's actually 18in x10in x10in. Using an aquarium calculator I understand this is 7.79 US gallons. I am currently phoning round tank stockists to see how much larger tanks cost, and largly thanks to this website I'm interested in starting a coldwater aquarium, going on to freshwater.

Thanks to the guys (or gals) that have responded to me. I didn't understand how much care fish actually need, and looking back I'm totally ashamed at the way I treated fairground won goldfish .

Obviously I'm going to get all new equipment soon. I'm finding out as much as I can about cycling, I'll post a pic of the before and after tanks as soon as I can, however I have just one last question then I'll stop rambling! I've been told I don't need to bother with cycling if it's goldfish, just with tropical. Is this right? If so great, because I'd like to move them from the nasty little thing A.S.A.P!

Thanks for reading my essay. What a fantastic forum this is.

Sherida.

[Puffer Pita]

Don't feel bad, vast numbers of us started that way. I started a very long time ago with the same kind of carnival goldfish, aka feeder goldfish, that were a dollar a dozen. Throw them into a 10g tank, and after a week, almost all were dead. But they were only a buck a dozen, so back I'd go to get more. Every three months, put whatever fish were still alive in a bucket, completely empty the tank and sterilize it, put the fish back, repeat for about a year before I gave up. Now I know better. Live and learn.

No, you should still cycle the tank no matter what kind of livestock it has in it. If you can, look for a product called Biospira. Must be kept in the store's fridge. Don't let them talk you into Stress Zyme, Cycle, or any other crap in a bottle. ONLY Biospira has the correct LIVE bacteria, the rest contain dead bacteria that do nothing but add to the already heavy bioload. If you can find Biospira, you can add the fish right away. Otherwise, you'll need to cycle by other means.

Oh, and not sure if that was just a mis-statement but coldwater aquariums are freshwater aquariums. There's just a differentiation between coldwater aquariums and tropical aquariums, where tropical employ warmer temperatures.

BTW, welcome!

Oh, and a final general rule, very, very few store clerks have any idea how to properly take care of fish, so they rarely know what they are talking about. Relying on any advice they give is usually not a good idea. Researching and asking those with experience is your best bet.

[Sherida]

Originally Posted by Boxermom

Oh, and not sure if that was just a mis-statement but coldwater aquariums are freshwater aquariums. There's just a differentiation between coldwater aquariums and tropical aquariums, where tropical employ warmer temperatures.

Haha! The girl on the phone did make it sound like coldwater and freshwater were 2 different things! Wow....do I feel stupid!

[Puffer Pita]

Don't feel stupid, you can't be expected to know what you don't know. There are two big categories, freshwater and saltwater (brackish falls in between as having some marine salt but not fully saltwater). Freshwater has two general categories of coldwater and tropical.

[Damon]

Goldfish are coolwater fish. Not tropicals, not cold water. They can survive in 50 degree temps but as stated above, they go into a stasis like coma. They do need temps in the low 70's to properly metabolize food for nutrients. Keeping them in higher temps for long periods of time will shorten their lifespan.

[Buggy]

Hey, at least you started small and asked for advice. My first attempt at fish keeping (many MANY years ago) I filled up the tank, plugged in the filter, threw in the gravel, ran to WalMart and bought a mish-mash of tropical fish, came home and dumped them in the tank, fed them too much....then wondered why a few days later they were all dead. ROFL

Yep, as boxer mom said....live and learn.

[SueM]

Sherida, one way to help kick start your new "bigger" aquarium is to use the filter media from the old tank. DO NOT rinse it in tap water, use either old tank water, or clean water that is aprox the same temp and declorinated. Save any old gravel, and the same with that, use old tank water to rinse it. Gravel, old plants, decor of any kind is going to have Bio on it, it doesnt just grow in the filter. .... you see something slimey....... use it

[Sable]

Bio-Spira can also be bought online. Just make sure it's cool when it arrives.

I'm not sure if anyone said this, but yes, you're right, your friend was over-feeding the goldies. They should only be fed a pinch (or as much as they can eat in 2 minutes) once daily - some owners feed them only every other day.

Best of luck!!!

[Sherida]

Thank you all so much for the excellent advice! You've saved me making some mistakes, like washing the decorations before I put them in a new tank. The only thing I won't be doing is using the old filter, it's really, really old and I've just seen it's held together with tape (my friend installed it for me so I haven't really seen how everything works)! I'm going to look at new tanks tomorrow and I can't wait to start. My husband is wondering quite what's come over me since I didn't even want fish to begin with, and now I'm trying to have a conversation with him about how much personal space a goldfish needs, whether a betta sometime in future would be good, and while I'm at it I wonder what Nan did with her old 6ft tank........

Thank you all again, hopefully the next time you hear from me will be with photos of my new hobby. It's so exciting to discover something like this!

Sherida.

[Sable]

It really is a fantastic hobby! Hope Nan still has a 6 footer... those would be too happy fishies.

If the fish continue to skirt away from you, you may want to give them some extra hours of "night." They may be distressed by the condition of their water; in that case your small daily water changes (maybe 10% per day - take out 10% of the water [a little less than a gallon in this case] and add the same amount back into the tank - dechlorinated and not freezing cold or boiling hot, of course). When they're in their nice new clean, bigger tank, though, you'll want to make sure you hang out near it as much as possible so they get used to being scared at. Soon they'll be rushing to the glass for food and to show off whenever they see you!

Keep us posted.

[Sherida]

I went to my local fish store (is this what people mean when they say LFS?) and got a really nice deal on an Eheim tank, filter, heater, hood, light and thermometer all included. The lady working there keeps fish, and is genuinely interested in the wellbeing of the fish. She actually refused to sell me something that wouldn't thrive in my tank. The shop is also against dyeing and they really know their stuff. I bought some sand, a few live plants and it looks really good. The tank is cycling at the moment, and she's offered to do a free water check for me.

Thanks to those who suggested a small daily water change, the fish have so much more life now! They're so inquisitive. I can't wait to get them into their new tank. Just one more question for now, if I may. Stewie seems to be missing a few scales, and they've both got patches that are paler than the rest of them. Is this normal?

Thanks for reading!
Sherida.

[railinsp]

Sherida
I had gold fish for4 years and they are great but in my 46 gal tank all I kept was five GF fancy tail have a ten gal rule and comets have a 20 gal . They are messy fish and I vac and water change once a week. I have now changed over to trops less messy and have more in my tank. gave my 5 gf fish to a friend back in may he has them in a pond doing good

[Puffer Pita]

Hmm... I would have to disagree with that. Twenty gallons is the minimum normally recommended for fancy goldfish, whereas comets get to be a foot long and really aren't suitable for anything but very large tanks or preferably ponds.