Hi,would Like Advice On Coldwater Fish!

[emilythestrange]

First of all, only signed up today,
I have 5 "fancy variety Goldfish" = 4 fantailed, 1 telescopic

I have a 27 litre tetra hexagonal tank, a fluval 1 plus filter, and a tetra Air pump,
All brought cost quite alot!
I am looking for abit of advice from people more "in the know/ experienced" than me!.. Im unsure of how long to keep my Air pump and Filter on!
and Also how much/ when to replace amounts of water in the tank!

Thanks!

 

[emzyp]

First of all, only signed up today,
I have 5 "fancy variety Goldfish" = 4 fantailed, 1 telescopic

I have a 27 litre tetra hexagonal tank, a fluval 1 plus filter, and a tetra Air pump,
All brought cost quite alot!
I am looking for abit of advice from people more "in the know/ experienced" than me!.. Im unsure of how long to keep my Air pump and Filter on!
and Also how much/ when to replace amounts of water in the tank!

Thanks!

filter needs to be on all the time,air pump optional,im gonna say imo the tank is not big enough for all those fish cos they will grow bigger

 

[minxfishy]

Hi and welcome to the forum

How long has the tank been set up? Was the tank cycled before adding fish? Assuming it wasnt cycled you will need to do some 50% water changes at least once a day until the tank is cycled.

Please have a good read thru the beginners resource centre here : http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...ease-Read-Here/

This will give you topics on how to set up a tank, cycling with fish-in and many other helpful hints.

I dont own goldfish, but I believe that the tank you have is far too small for that many fish, goldfish required 20gallon plus tanks normally so with that may you may want to think about rehoming them or look into a larger tank fairly soon.

As already said, the filter must be on at all times, air pumps are optional so its up to you, some people turn them off over night.

 

[gaz gun man]

long term a 27l tank wont be enough for 1 goldfish, let alone 5.

as stated leave the filter running 24/7

can you tell us what you did prior to adding fish?

 

[emilythestrange]

First of all, only signed up today,
I have 5 "fancy variety Goldfish" = 4 fantailed, 1 telescopic

I have a 27 litre tetra hexagonal tank, a fluval 1 plus filter, and a tetra Air pump,
All brought cost quite alot!
I am looking for abit of advice from people more "in the know/ experienced" than me!.. Im unsure of how long to keep my Air pump and Filter on!
and Also how much/ when to replace amounts of water in the tank!

Thanks!

filter needs to be on all the time,air pump optional,im gonna say imo the tank is not big enough for all those fish cos they will grow bigger

Ok thanks, Thats What I have Been Doing since i have had the fish, the filter has been on, but air pump has been on only in the day, they seem very happy. They are only quite small at the moment anyway.
What about Water Changes?

thanks x

 

[gaz gun man]

First of all, only signed up today,
I have 5 "fancy variety Goldfish" = 4 fantailed, 1 telescopic

I have a 27 litre tetra hexagonal tank, a fluval 1 plus filter, and a tetra Air pump,
All brought cost quite alot!
I am looking for abit of advice from people more "in the know/ experienced" than me!.. Im unsure of how long to keep my Air pump and Filter on!
and Also how much/ when to replace amounts of water in the tank!

Thanks!

filter needs to be on all the time,air pump optional,im gonna say imo the tank is not big enough for all those fish cos they will grow bigger

Ok thanks, Thats What I have Been Doing since i have had the fish, the filter has been on, but air pump has been on only in the day, they seem very happy. They are only quite small at the moment anyway.
What about Water Changes?

thanks x

normally 20% a week, however if you just brought the tank, filled it then added fish without cycling, you'll need to do 20% probably twice a day, sometimes more.

 

[Corleone]

Fancy goldfish get quite large - generally you'll want at least 10 gallons per fish, a common recommendation is 20 for the first plus 10 for each additional one. Common, comet, and shubunkin goldfish need much more, preferably ponds for their potential size. For an idea of how big a fancy goldfish can get, find a good sized grapefruit, and imagine their fins arrayed around it.

For five fancy goldfish, a 55 gallon tank would be suitable. When it's matured (6 months after the cycle ends), with good filtration you might be able to add 1-2 more goldfish, but I'm not as comfortable or experienced overstocking large messy fish as I am with small tropical fish. With good care, though, you could have these goldfish for 20-30 years (40 isn't unheard of), and they've got very distinct personalities. They're also intelligent enough that they'll often learn to recognize the person who feeds them and will readily interact with you.

Water changes vary by the tank, but 25% per week is generally a good starting point. Overstocked tanks require more, and you may have a potential monkeywrench in your setup, if you're not familiar with cycling and water testing. Read over this thread:
http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...eady-have-fish/

With five goldfish, the tank may never actually cycle (or may cycle but not stay stable long term), as the filter may not keep up with the waste, and you'll have perpetual ammonia and nitrite readings, meaning many, many water changes and a great deal of stress and shortened lives for your fish (Being confined in a small tank also shortens their lives - they don't stop growing when they run out of space, at least not with their health intact).

 

[emilythestrange]

Ok, The Tank has only been set up fairly recently, treated the water, put the filter in, had to put 1 fish in pretty much straight away ( I had him from a old friend! he was only a a small goldfish bowl which was cruel and I couldnt put up with it any longer, he was upside down alot and looked dead, now he is absolutly great! Very very happy! swimming lots! and never seen belly up. It all down to the air pump i believe and the new space ) since getting a summer job i brought everything he needed, including more fish!

they are in my room which is always a good temperature, I have brought Daphnia and Bloodworms for them today, the Telescopic really likes them
Love looking at them swimming and looking happy

 

[gaz gun man]

Ok, The Tank has only been set up fairly recently, treated the water, put the filter in, had to put 1 fish in pretty much straight away ( I had him from a old friend! he was only a a small goldfish bowl which was cruel and I couldnt put up with it any longer, he was upside down alot and looked dead, now he is absolutly great! Very very happy! swimming lots! and never seen belly up. It all down to the air pump i believe and the new space ) since getting a summer job i brought everything he needed, including more fish!

they are in my room which is always a good temperature, I have brought Daphnia and Bloodworms for them today, the Telescopic really likes them
Love looking at them swimming and looking happy

as already stated you need atleast 50gal to home 5 goldfish, thats 250 Litres.


How long has it been set up exactly?

 

[emilythestrange]

Ok, The Tank has only been set up fairly recently, treated the water, put the filter in, had to put 1 fish in pretty much straight away ( I had him from a old friend! he was only a a small goldfish bowl which was cruel and I couldnt put up with it any longer, he was upside down alot and looked dead, now he is absolutly great! Very very happy! swimming lots! and never seen belly up. It all down to the air pump i believe and the new space ) since getting a summer job i brought everything he needed, including more fish!

they are in my room which is always a good temperature, I have brought Daphnia and Bloodworms for them today, the Telescopic really likes them
Love looking at them swimming and looking happy

as already stated you need atleast 50gal to home 5 goldfish, thats 250 Litres.


How long has it been set up exactly?

With reading other forums dont want people to argue or anything with me!
but ill be Very honest.
About a week ago i brought the tank.
Straightaway put air pump in, water treatment, gravel... then The 1 Old Fish because i couldnt go with watching him like he was before any longer. I saw a dramatic improvement in him.
Then Brought Filter and 2 artificial ferns

around 2 days later brought 2 fish ...(floated them was Very careful!)
Seemed Great, not being bullied or anything!

Everything seeming great I then brought two more goldfish the telescopic and 1 fancy..
The second lot of Fish were brought yesterday morning

 

[gaz gun man]

you need a read through this thread; http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...shless-Cycling/

Ideally you should take the fish back to the shop at start again, with that thread.


If you do want to keep the fish you have then you'll need to get a liquid test kit (either API or Nutrafin are pretty good)

and test for ammonia and nitrite, which need to be a 0.

a reading from either would need to be fixed with a water change, and retested, then another waterchange untill its a 0

 

[Corleone]

Sounds like the tank will be in a cycle. The fish is in a much improved situation, at least - the filter'll be the part that's helping him the most, as an unfiltered bowl gets fouled fairly quickly, even with smaller fish, even an uncycled tank is an improvement in space and water quality. The improvement likely won't be permanent, with the tank size, however.

Nobody's arguing with you, but we're trying to help you with exactly what you said you want to do, give him everything he needs. You will find forums out there where people won't call you for keeping goldfish in tiny tanks, however, as you said, you want to do what the fish need, and this forum has a lot of people who hold fish in quite high regard.

 

[emilythestrange]

Thanks, I already knew about the nitrate tests and Ammonia from fish waste.
I will change water tonight,
I refuse to listen to my dad who keeps saying that he had 5 goldfish (regular i believe) on a window sill and they lasted years in a goldfish bowl! and the fact he says the filter shouldnt be on 24/7
I have it on im scared not to!... anyway doesnt make a sound so its good!

When i brought the fish last.. The pets at home assistant said i should buy a test for my tank in 3 days..

 

[gaz gun man]

ignore advice from P@H, they rarely get it right.

You need a test kit ASAP, I had one before I even had fish, as did alot of people on here

 

[Corleone]

ignore advice from P@H, they rarely get it right.

You need a test kit ASAP, I had one before I even had fish, as did alot of people on here

Yep, and unfortunately, many who didn't ended up regretting it. (I do hope that doesn't sound like a threat - it isn't meant to).

Many people in the hobby has a love-hate relationship with fish and pet stores. While on one hand we depend on them for our fish and equipment and keep them in business, on the other hand, nearly all of them do a poor job getting people started in the hobby. Particularly, don't trust them to do water testing, unless you get actual numbers from them (which you can run by the forum if you're not sure how to interpret them). There's two points I make with regards to LFS advice:

1. As a business in a capitalist society, not only are they forced to do whatever it takes to stay afloat, if they give good advice and their bottom line drops because of it (which it will - they make a lot of money selling snake oil bottled cycle products, unnecessary aquarium salt, and so forth), their creditors may actually have recourse against the business for them damaging the investment.
2. Responsibility starts at home.

As for your dad... Goldfish *can* live for years like that. However, they can't live decades, which their lifespan is measured in.