Supergoldie

[ARG]

Hi All,

I fancied getting into the fishkeeping hobby and decided to read forums etc to get an insight as to what to do.
I bought a small tank 5 gallon with light and filter built into the hood added a pump and air stone gravel and a couple of live plants.
I ran the tank for 1 week with de chlorinated water before introducing the fish
I was told by the shop i could put 3 or 4 goldfish into the tank but decided to buy only 2.
They are now in the tank and have been for 2 weeks and seem very happy.
My interest has really taking on and i visit the forum often but i am really puzzled and confused about the different views of the members.
ie One member states that a gold fish requires 10 gallons of water and another says 250 gallons.
I have no knowledge whatsoever of fishkeeping but the following story is true and quite amazing after reading all of the readers comments.
My daughter won a gold fish at the fair, it was kept in a plastic tupperware dish until the following day and then transferred into a plastic fish bowl approx 1 to 1.5 gallon with gravel and a small ceramic bridge and an oxygen plant that floated on the surface she was ten years old.
She fed it with flake food all its life and hardly cleaned the bowl which caused massive rows between her and i when she was a teenager (15).
I would take pity on the poor wee thing because i could not see it through the mucky water,and would then clean the bowl and gravel with wait for it (soapy water) and then rinse the bowl and fill it with water straight from the tap.
My daughter left home at age 19 to move into her own flat, Supergoldie and bowl went with her and probably got cleaned out less than before.
She then got married and moved to new house with hubby.
Supergoldie and bowl went with her.
Supergoldie eventually died, i believe from old age when my daughter was (24) lived fourteen years
He always seemed happy and lively and did not seem to suffer any illness.
Amazing i know after reading forum but very very true.

 

[black angel]

If i had a quid for every fish that *survived* a bowl then i reckon i would be really rich.

Goldies are one of the most hardiest fish out there and though it existed in little more than a puddle doesnt mean it lived.

Common goldfish when small require a minimum of 20 gallons. 10 gallons is adequate for a fancy tailed fish.
As the fish grows then so does the need for space.
I bet that fish of your daughters wasnt very big. Stunting is a horrible thing for any animal to go through but fish seem to cope with it and unless it develops a bent spine then most owners arent aware of any problems.
Goldies do most of their growing in the first 3 years and at 4 years old should be around 5 inches long not including the tail. So at 19 the fish should have been at least a foot long.

I have a sarasa *basically red and white* goldie that is in my pond. I bought him around 3 months ago measuring 6 inches and he has already grown an extra 3 or so inches in that time. Luckily he is in a pond.

250 gallons is the amount a koi would need to grow well as these fish can get to at least 3 foot in length.

So for the average 7 to 9 inch goldfish you are talking a minimum of 50 maybe 60 gallons of highly filtered regularly changed water.