i need some help with goldfish.

[K-TRAIN]

my friend, who as i said in another thread, gave me a tank, etc. well, with it all i ended up with three goldfish. two of them have already died. i have taken the last one and put it in a anole tank (it was a beginner type setup from petco.) that is supposed to be a 7.5 gallon tank. the fish is about 2 inches. in the tank i have a small ten gallon filter and a betta plant.

i have no clue about goldfish, but i learned enough in the litttle while ive had it to keep it alive. i know there like the iguanas of the fish world. (said to be easy to keep but arnt)

does anyone have any good advice about keeping them?
i'd take this to a fish forum, but i have yet to find a good one.

also, my goldfish seems to like moving the betta plant around. no matter how many times i put it in the gravel, it still pulls the plant out and puts it on the filter. is that normal?

i feed him/her three pellets of food in the morning, and then a few bloodworms after school. is that too much? or not enough?

 

[ChondroGirl]

When I had a goldfish tank, they moved the plants around a lot, so that is normal. I kept them in a large tank, because they poop more than tropicals and can make their water very acidic, and fill the water with ammonia quickly. Every tank has to "cycle" where the water fills with ammonia, then the ammonia is converted to nitrite, then the nitrite is converted to nitrate. During this initial cycling time, many weaker fish die due to the ammonia or nitrites. You may also be overfeeding. During an initial tank set up, only feed every other day. The fish won't starve. Also, 7 gallons is pretty small. Does your filter have carbon? With a tank that small, you may need to do frequent partial water changes, and only keep one fish in it. That should help.

 

[AneesasMuse]

Well... I've had the same two goldies for about 10 years now and they are fat, sassy, and very healthy

Goldfish are one of the exceptions to the "fish rule: 'inch per gallon' " and they actually need about 10 gallons per fish, period.... more being better, always. They are also gluttonous fish and very messy... they will eat just about anything you put near their mouths and they will poop and poop and poop ..and redecorate the entire tank, daily. Live plants will be eaten.. fake ones will be thrashed and tossed about, to suit them. This being said, they need an exceptional filtering system and regular water maintenance.

Wilbur and Dorothy live in a 40g with an HOB filter that is meant for a 75g and I do weekly water changes. I gave up on plants.. even the fake ones... long ago, so they have a slate tunnel that I constructed myself and some shells (and one little castle lookin' thingy that gets dragged and bumped, tossed all over the tank LOL).

The other thing is, feeding them... don't overfeed them EVER! I only feed these guys every other day.. once a day! I feed a high quality sinking food.. about 20 pellets per fish (they are both in the 8" range now, with girths of 2" or more). About once a week, I will give them a whole "bunch" of Anacharis ..an aquatic plant at your LFS for about $3 or so. They LOVE it!! We call it "goldie salad" around here. They will also eat peas, carrots, corn, lettuce, grapes, feeders (guppies, crickets, mealies, roaches, etc.), squash, cucumber.. you name it.. they will eat it, or at least, TRY!


Just remember larger tank, good filter, no overfeeding, and frequent water changes... this should help you have a healthy fish for a very long time.

Btw, my two started out as 2" or 3" fish... feeders, actually... and now they're monsters that throw water if we don't share snacks with them!!

 

[K-TRAIN]

When I had a goldfish tank, they moved the plants around a lot, so that is normal. I kept them in a large tank, because they poop more than tropicals and can make their water very acidic, and fill the water with ammonia quickly. Every tank has to "cycle" where the water fills with ammonia, then the ammonia is converted to nitrite, then the nitrite is converted to nitrate. During this initial cycling time, many weaker fish die due to the ammonia or nitrites. You may also be overfeeding. During an initial tank set up, only feed every other day. The fish won't starve. Also, 7 gallons is pretty small. Does your filter have carbon? With a tank that small, you may need to do frequent partial water changes, and only keep one fish in it. That should help.

thanks. my filter does have carbon in it.
how much water should be taken out during water changes?
i was taking out about 3 inches of water out of the tank.

Well... I've had the same two goldies for about 10 years now and they are fat, sassy, and very healthy

Goldfish are one of the exceptions to the "fish rule: 'inch per gallon' " and they actually need about 10 gallons per fish, period.... more being better, always. They are also gluttonous fish and very messy... they will eat just about anything you put near their mouths and they will poop and poop and poop ..and redecorate the entire tank, daily. Live plants will be eaten.. fake ones will be thrashed and tossed about, to suit them. This being said, they need an exceptional filtering system and regular water maintenance.

Wilbur and Dorothy live in a 40g with an HOB filter that is meant for a 75g and I do weekly water changes. I gave up on plants.. even the fake ones... long ago, so they have a slate tunnel that I constructed myself and some shells (and one little castle lookin' thingy that gets dragged and bumped, tossed all over the tank LOL).

The other thing is, feeding them... don't overfeed them EVER! I only feed these guys every other day.. once a day! I feed a high quality sinking food.. about 20 pellets per fish (they are both in the 8" range now, with girths of 2" or more). About once a week, I will give them a whole "bunch" of Anacharis ..an aquatic plant at your LFS for about $3 or so. They LOVE it!! We call it "goldie salad" around here. They will also eat peas, carrots, corn, lettuce, grapes, feeders (guppies, crickets, mealies, roaches, etc.), squash, cucumber.. you name it.. they will eat it, or at least, TRY!


Just remember larger tank, good filter, no overfeeding, and frequent water changes... this should help you have a healthy fish for a very long time.

Btw, my two started out as 2" or 3" fish... feeders, actually... and now they're monsters that throw water if we don't share snacks with them!!

so would bloodworms be a good alternate food? and would a ten gallon tank be alright for him/her. and what size should he be before i move him to a bigger cage?

 

[AneesasMuse]

Goldfish are omnivorous, so bloodworms on occasion would not be a bad thing, but they need some vegetation also.

I fed my two on O.S.I. Goldfish Flakes (as a staple) and occasional bloodworms, feeder bugs, veggies, etc. ..as treats... for years. Just recently, I changed to the sinking pellets cuz Wilbur has some cataracts developing and can't really see the floating food (or get to it before Miss Gluttony... err, Dorothy ...gets it all). They still get all the "treats" with the staple of pellets.

If you can get the little one into a 10g by himself now, I would... but I really suggest putting him in a 20g. Putting him in the larger tank will allow for some extra growing before you have to upgrade tanks again. Bigger is always better with these guys. (I'm working on a pond for my two, now)

 

[K-TRAIN]

Goldfish are omnivorous, so bloodworms on occasion would not be a bad thing, but they need some vegetation also.

I fed my two on O.S.I. Goldfish Flakes (as a staple) and occasional bloodworms, feeder bugs, veggies, etc. ..as treats... for years. Just recently, I changed to the sinking pellets cuz Wilbur has some cataracts developing and can't really see the floating food (or get to it before Miss Gluttony... err, Dorothy ...gets it all). They still get all the "treats" with the staple of pellets.

If you can get the little one into a 10g by himself now, I would... but I really suggest putting him in a 20g. Putting him in the larger tank will allow for some extra growing before you have to upgrade tanks again. Bigger is always better with these guys. (I'm working on a pond for my two, now)

ok. so a twenty would be good i guess?
the filter is all i have in the cage for mantenance. do i need more for it if i use a twenty gallon tank? (i assumed that the 7.5 would work as a mini ecosystem due to its size with the bettaplant, fish, etc.)

 

[AneesasMuse]

If you're going to go with a 20g, then definitely get a filter that is at least suitable for a 60g aquarium. You need the extra turnover... so instead of pushing 20gph, you would be tripling that and getting a much better effect for your fish. Goldies are nasty little poopin' machines..

 

[K-TRAIN]

If you're going to go with a 20g, then definitely get a filter that is at least suitable for a 60g aquarium. You need the extra turnover... so instead of pushing 20gph, you would be tripling that and getting a much better effect for your fish. Goldies are nasty little poopin' machines..

i was just cleaning the filter for him/her and thought of something.

the tank my friend gave me with the fish. its a 29 high aquarium. could i put it in that and just get rid of the heater in it? i have a 75 gallon filter in that tank.

 

[AneesasMuse]

You could do that!

 

[verry_sweet]

AneesasMuse has you totally covered :clap: One treat mine really go crazy for are oranges just slice it and throw it in the tank.

Here is a really good gold fish forum I use to frequent a lot and learned a ton from there.

http://thegab.org/forum/index.php

 

[K-TRAIN]

You could do that!

thanks. im sure my fish will live a long and happy life.

AneesasMuse has you totally covered :clap: One treat mine really go crazy for are oranges just slice it and throw it in the tank.

Here is a really good gold fish forum I use to frequent a lot and learned a ton from there.

http://thegab.org/forum/index.php

thanks. ive been looking for a forum and couldnt find any good ones. i guess i overlooked this one. lol

 

[Elapid]

goldfish have a very short, straight digestive tract and do NOT digest proteins well. they are herbivores by design, but very opportunistic feeders. the undigested protiens will foul the water *very* quickly.

because of the short digestive tract, they will starve to death if not fed for as short as 4 days. that being the case, they should be fed 2-3x a day the amount of food that they can fully consume in about 2 minutes. any uneaten food should be siphoned off after that time.

goldfish thrive in cold water.

HTH!
rob

 

[RhettusMaximus]

goldfish

Def. do a water change at least once every other week. Gold fish give off alot of ammonia esp. in their feces. Make sure you have a good filter (pref. charcoal filter). Don't over feed the fish, they will eat as much food as you give them, buy special goldfish flakes. That's all the advice I have.