Help For Complete Newbie

[coxie]

Hello everyone

firstly id like to apologise if this has been ask on here before

i have recently been given a fish tank which has 2 common gold fish and a black moor ( all about 2 inches long )
the tank in my opinion is a bit small and is also not the nicest looking of tanks so im goin to replace it with a new 3ft maybe 4ft one in the next week

my question is when i get my new tank what other fish can i put in with these 3 ( i am after some colour in the tank if there is any brightly coloured fish i can introduce and im also goin to put a light in it purely to make it look nicer )

thanks in advance and sorry for the complete novice question

John

 

[the duck]

Well, it depends on how many gallons the tank you are getting is. Before you put any fish into the new tank, you will need to cycle it, there are several stickies at the top of this forum that can help you with cycling.

 

[KittyKat]

Ditto the duck, unless you run your both, new and current, filters at the same time on the new tank for 6 weeks. Please be aware that goldfish need extra filtration because they are very messy.

Also, "common" body shaped goldfish should generally not be kept with "fancy" body shaped goldfish because the common ones will out compete the fancy for the food. It might work tho, all about your individual goldfish.

There are not really many fish you can keep with goldfish, but you can get a number of different colour morphs and shapes of goldfish, although a less well known fact is that most will start going whiteish around the age of 10-15 years. Maybe weather loaches.. have a look at them

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Coxie.
As long as the new tank, the fish and the filter all come together, your main limit on stocking the tank will be how big the tank is. Many people keep goldfish in tanks that are much smaller than they should use. Your new tank may be one of those if the people who are giving them to you do not know better. The common goldfish, called comets, can easily grow to over a foot long. A blackmoor will not get as long but will get a body size about as big. These are very big fish that we all think of as being tiny because we have seen them so often as 2 or 3 month old fish at carnivals. The recommended tank size for goldfish is at least 20 gallons for the first one and at least an added 10 gallons for each additional one. This would put you at a minimum 40 gallon tank with no added friends for them. When I look at a tiny goldfish, I have a hard time imagining that much room for them, but I have visited people with adult goldfish and the tank space looks right once they grow up.
If you do not get a working filter with your fish, then the excitement of the previous posters is entirely justified. When you get that filter , tank and fish, do not do anyone the favor of cleaning the filter until you come back and ask about proper techniques. You can ruin a perfectly good cycled filter by approaching cleaning wrong.

 

[waterdrop]

I mostly just want to "chime in" to second OM47's nice post just above, agree with all he said there. There's an argument to be made that goldfish are perhaps better suited as pond fish, but perhaps that's not fair to those who love them in big tanks.

The difficulty really comes in the huge indoor tanks and equipment needed to keep them in a healthy manner and the fact that the tank will appear to have large amounts of empty water space (because this is the needed volume and swimming space for the two or three goldfish) that can't be used for any other fish really. This empty looking space problem is compounded by the fact that they eat lots and lots of plant material (so the tear up any live plants you put in) and they create large volumes of waste that continually litters the substrate and calls for frequent cleaning.

So its a bit of a shock to some beginners who come in with goldfish in mind that they are actually a bit more difficult than tropical fish, overall, to keep. Now, that being said, if you go into it with the full understanding then there's nothing wrong with keeping them in the proper size tank! They are a colorful and friendly fish and many of the principles you learn here can be applied to giving them a good life and enjoying them. Just be prepared for the big tank size, the lack of tankmates and the large filters and frequent maintenance!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[coxie]

thanks for the advise im goin to stick with the 3 fish ive got for now then cos the tank ive got is 20 gallon then maybe when i get a bigger tank ill add some more fish

just goin to add a few ornaments until they have grown abit to stop the tank lookin empty then remove them when i need to

 

[waterdrop]

No, I think you're misunderstanding the information. The tank you have would be a minimal size for the black moor alone but its no where near big enough for the three. They will grow quickly and their organs will grow too large for their bodies, which will be stunted by the cramped space. It would not be healthy for them. I think the 3 would need a 55 US gallon (because 2 of them are common goldfish, which get quite huge) or else the 2 commons would need to be re-homed.

Re-homing may not be as hard as you think and that 20G would make quite a nice tropical community tank.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Amberleaf]

They just told you that 1 goldfish = 20-gallons of water space, each additional goldfish = 10-gallons of water space = 40-gallons for all three goldfish, but I'd say that a 55-gallon would be better. ^^;

I have a friend who keeps 2 goldfish in a 10-gallon.... I've told her time and time again not to, while she had just the one goldfish in there; she called me one night and I suggested some white cloud mountain minnows, and, oh, when she called me the next day, it was just *SOOOOO* hard to keep the disappointment out of her voice, because she went and got another goldfish.... She doesn't get the concept of tropical/coldwater & freshwater/saltwater, like, at *ALL*; she had a kissing gourami in that tank for a bit, but it died while it was cycling, and she told me that she was *so* mad at herself because, apparently, goldfish are just "freshwater" fish, and pearl gouramis are "tropical" fish.... DX I sent a *whole* email explaining all about fresh/salt water and trop/cold water tanks.... She gave no indication that she read it all, and instead asked me why I wanted a 38-gallon tank (which, later, I got a 55-gallon tank; huzzah!). >.<; She's the kind of person who wants what she wants and no-one can tell her otherwise. >.<; She keeps her Bettas in tiny little bowls, and most of them have died already because she missed the weekly cleaning twice in a row or something, ugh.... >.<; Rehome at least 2 of the goldfish, or get a bigger tank ASAP (look on buysell.com, or eBay.com; I got my 55-gallon w/ stand and gravel and lights and filter and heater and some fish for just $100 of course, we spent over $200 on a new heater, new filter, new plants, and.... yeahs ), because the goldfish will not survive in that!! ^^; Thanks for reading.