Goldfish Help

[Bluesand1313]

I'm certainly not new to fish keeping, but I've never kept goldfish before!

Here's the story; I was walking home from going to see Guardian of the Galaxy (which if you haven't seen yet, you totally should because it's amazing and also Chris Pratt.) But anyways, our local pet store is a few stores down from the movie theatre and as I was walking home, some guy came up to me and handed me a bag, said "here, take this", and then left. Me and my friend looked inside the bag to a great surprise! Three goldfish! Luckily there was a bottle of food in it, too. I used to have three, but one died the second day of being with me (I'm not sure if it was cause of me, or the stress, or maybe the guy got it like that. Pet stores don't exactly take the best care of goldfish)

Here's what I know already; Goldfish don't have stomachs and therefore it's better to feed them short feelings throughout the day instead of a full meal at night. They can and will grow up to a foot or more. They poop a lot so you need a strong filter. It's better to feed them sinking pellets than floating food cause then they ingest air.

Here's my plan; Basically keep them in my tank until I can find a nice pond for them to live in. So this is only temporary.

Here's my questions; Gravel, yes or no? Ornaments? Do they need a bubbler or is that just an option?

And anything additional would help me a lot!

 

[techen]

I'd be more questioning why he gave you the fish and walked off, I would never accept anything from random people you have no idea where they've been or how they got there.
 
With that said, you'll need some big tank and very strong filter to keep them going for awhile till you rehome them, A base empty tank would be best so they have a ton of swimming room. 

 

[Bluesand1313]

I would have given them back to him, but he had turned the corner or gone into another store or something, cause he wasn't there again when we looked up (kinda spooky!)

They're in a bucket right now as that's all ive got, though I'm getting a 48gal for them on Sunday.

 

[fluttermoth]

Don't forget, if they don't have a cycled filter, you must change nearly all the water, every day, making sure the new water is temperature matched and dechlorinated.
 
If you can get them into a larger container; a plastic storage box or something, then do that ASAP; the more water volume they have the better.
 
Goldies don't need gravel or decorations, but a few plants, or even some clean flowerpots, will make them feel more at home, if you can mange that.
 
Good luck with finding a pond for them; it really will be for the best. Oh, and do keep an eye out for that bloke; maybe tell your parents, if you haven't already, as giving fish away to people in the street is a rather strange thing to do to.

 

[Bluesand1313]

Yes, I've been changing the water everyday. Unfortunately I don't have anything bigger (if I did, trust me, they would be in it), it's just one more night before I can set up the tank.

If they were to have gravel, what kind would be the best? I think I heard something about them swallowing small ones but I'm not sure.
I'll give them a few jars in there and some potted plants maybe, or if I do put in gravel (I may put something in after they're gone so might as well get the gravel now), I'll put in some plants then too.

Any plants you suggest? I'm extremely bad at plant keeping, so any plants that don't require a whole lot of handling would be great for me, but I'd still like a diversity if possible.

I've been washing my hands after every session with them. But because they were still in their petsmart bag and even had the receipt, I have reason to believe they were just purchased and maybe he changed his mind? I don't know, it is a very strange situation and I wasn't expecting it.

Oh, and, I have a question. I didn't know goldfish could be aggressive (unless it was towards the slower, longer finned species), but the white and orange one keeps chasing around the black and orange one whenever I feed them. Lack of space maybe, I'm thinking?

The one with the smallest amount of black on its spine is the one that died. The other two are left.