How DO you keep Goldfish?

KevH

Question:
Does anyone know the secret of keeping goldfish, I have to be a Goldfish Serial Killer at this stage......I have asked in many pet shops who all give me a range of potions to treat the water in the bowl....1 or 2 weeks later....FLOATING FISH...!!!
We have a normal glass bowl and I have added a nice wee filter that keeps the water moving, I add "Tap Safe" to treat the water and in go the fish.....
My newest recruits have just taken to the water tonight so we'll see how they go....I'm too scared to name them yet in case they die.....!!!

Any views?????

PinkTulips

one thing i have been told is that the tank needs to be filled and allowed to mature for a fair while before introducig fish, microorganisms need to build up in the tank and other sciency things.

one shortcut i have heard of is to take a cup of water from someone elses established tank and add it to your own and simply leave for a week as opposed to several weeks before adding fish.

i'd leave off putting too many chemicals in the water, if you have a filter and an oxygenator... either mechanical or plant.... then you really shouldn't need any chemical water treatments.

all that said my fish lived for 7 years, i had no filter, my oxygen thingy broke and he ate all the plants i put in for him, he hated the tank being cleaned so i usually only did half water changes except for very rare occasions and he didn't get fed every day! he was attacked by no less than 5 differant cats, moved house 6 times (usually by simply removing all his decorations and only leaving him 2 inches of water.. some of these moves were 5 hour drives and my parents once brought him from cork to dublin for me and forgot he was in the boot, he was there for 12 hours in total. i also once went abroad and left him in the capable hands of my housemates for 2 months... came back to find they'd forgotton about him and he was down to about 3 inches of algae choked water!

he finally died last year after having being sick on and off for a few months.

JessieJames

i can only share my own experiences with this, this had been happening to my mams tank for the past year, only now has she seemed to get the balance right.. the thing that was affecting her tank was water temperature. at first she thought they were dying because they were fairly near the rad but it turned out the light that was built into the top of the tank was heating the water and killing them poor things.. maybe check the temp?

another then that maybe its the pet shop. i know a lot of dirty pet shops that keep there fish tanks under the birds rabbits ect.. the birds seed would fall into the tank so maybe there destined for fishy heaven even before you buy them pet shops cannot be trusted they sold my mam a whole load of unnecessary potions to treat the water..

The_Conductor

We've a tank in the living room- some of the fish are almost 20 years of age (so we must be doing something ok).

1. A goldfish bowl is a bad idea- if at all possible, get a tank, even a small tank.
2. You do need to 'mature' the tank- running it for a few weeks before introducing tenants.
3. I'm a big fan of minimal amount of additives to the water.
4. You will need aeration- a small airpump and airstone are very reasonably priced.
5. Overhead lighting and plantlife is not necessary- but your goldfish will happily munch on any plantlife you grow in there. I find adding an armfull of elodea dendrans from the canal every few weeks useful. Note: rinse it in salt water before putting it in the tank to remove water snails.
6. You do need a filtration system. It doesn't have to be anything elaborate, extravagant or expensive. I've jerry rigged a 500ltr pump into a regular filter which then use marine grade cotton as a filtrate material.
7. Fish have to be introduced to the tank properly. Only buy fish from a reputable dealer- most of the petshops around Dublin should be shut down- I'm not going to do a name and shame here- but it has been discussed in this forum- do a hunt. Adding healthy fish to the tank- allowing the fish to aclimatise over several hours, is the way to go.
8. The water will get dirty, accept it. I find gel based food for pondfish (as opposed to tropical or goldfish food) to be a good direction to go. I get it in from Tetra in Germany (I'm not aware of anywhere here that stocks it- and even if they did- it would probably be a rip off......)
9. You need to change a portion of the water periodically. My regime is a 50% change every 2-3 weeks.
10. You can get chemicals for controlling algae etc- don't go near them.
11. If you do decide to start chemical warfare- educate yourself first. There are whole new generations of tank and pond chemicals that do not cause trouble with fish (or other creatures). An example of this is some of the new Nutrafin stuff. Personally I would be far more inclined to try to control algae or other problems naturally.
12. There are lots of very helpful additives that you *can* use. Stresscoat can be bought by the gallon. If you'veany sick fish- a reasonable dallop of stresscoat can work miracles. Its almost pure aloevera- and is quite viscous- it helps fish to generate a healthy mucuous around their scales.
13. Do not use weekend food blocks or holiday food that is based on blocks that dissolve. It screws up the water and makes it horribly alkaline. It also makes it a bitch to clean the tank.
14. The worst thing you can do with fish is overfeed them. Fish can and will eat whatever you give them. Do not assume because they are hungry that they need to be fed. They don't.
15. There are ultrasonic devices for controlling rodents and other vermin. Do not use them in the same room as your fish.

There are all sorts of 'Cycle' products- that advertise they artificially age tanks, are full of good bacteria that will clean up fish waste etc- avoid them- they aren't worth it.

Water chemistry can go haywire- if you have ample plantlife in there it mitigates the possibility of this happening. Fish shop people will happily sell you all sorts of water testing kits. In general you do *not* need these. Water is normally slightly acidic- this is entirely normal. I've heard all sorts of stories about collecting and reusing rain water for fish etc. I've not seen it as necessary- and my fish certainl don't mind.

My big tip- is ample amounts of elodea dendrans and other water weeds- you can buy them in the fishshop- but you can also source them elsewhere. Keep in mind that you do not want to introduce water snails to your tank if you can avoid it at all possible.

I always go 'arrrrgghhhhhh' whenever anyone mentions a fish 'bowl'. Don't go down that route if possible.......

Wolfsberg

JessieJames wrote: »

another then that maybe its the pet shop. i know a lot of dirty pet shops that keep there fish tanks under the birds rabbits ect.. the birds seed would fall into the tank so maybe there destined for fishy heaven even before you buy them pet shops cannot be trusted they sold my mam a whole load of unnecessary potions to treat the water..

Did every petshop in Ireland sell your mother a whole load of unnecessary potions?

jennie23

I have had fish for a few years on and off and everytime the pet shop tells you to add this, that and the other and when we do the fish die. So the last time i got fish i put nothing in only tap water and the were fine and lived alot longer.

Wolfsberg

The only thing you need to add to the water is a dechlorinator... there are loads of brands. This is not a magic potion, it is a chemical that breaks down chlorine and chloramines that your local authority adds to tapwater to kill bacteria. Chlorine will kill fish. Follow the directions closely, not a few drops here and there. If you are mean with this product it turns out to be false economy because not using enough is the same as using none.
You may also choose to use a cycling product that will promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in your filter when you are starting off the tank.
Proper water changes (25% once a week) are also vital. Never do a full water change.

Feed your fish what they can consume inside about 1 to 2 mins, once a day, 6 days out of seven.

99% of the time, the reason why goldfish die is because the owner has done no research ("ah sure it's only a goldfish they are easy to keep":rolleyes:) and therefore does not know how to properly look after the fish. Go and do some research on the "Nitrogen Cycle" in aquaria and you will better understand why fish die so much.

Generally, goldfish die from...
1) No partial water changes
2) A full water change only once in a blue moon
3) Not using a dechlorinator
4) being overfed/ uneaten waste food contaminating the water

And the big final tip that you really need to take note of is...GET RID OF THAT FISH BOWL!... Get yourself a nice rectangular tank of at least 30 or 40 litres for 3 or 4 goldfish.

I hope this helps too

PS... from what I am reading above it seems that people have this attitude that keeping a goldfish is a test of how long you can prevent it from dying, not how long you can keep it healthy and alive for. There is absolutely no reason why a goldfish shouldn't live for 20 to 30 years if properly cared for.

CathyMoran

Another small thing (well at least with our fish), they love attention - we are always going up to the glass and they come over to us, they also "nibble" my husband's fingers. They are much loved pets and should be treated as such.

anniehoo

PinkTulips wrote: »

all that said my fish lived for 7 years,
he finally died last year after having being sick on and off for a few months.

Your story made me laugh...he sounded like the MacGyver of the goldfish world with all the dodgy situations he ended up in

PinkTulips

he was so much fun, he would eat from my hand and if you cleaned out his tank he'd spend 2 days rearranging every pebble back to where he wanted it. he went through a phase of entertaining himself by picking up a pebble in his mouth, swimming to the top and droppping it and diving down after it to catch it again. loved that fish, have been too upset since he died to get another.

tried desperately to get him well, found him floating on his side so many times in the last few months and managed to get him better every time but sadly came down one morning just before christmas and he was already gone

JessieJames

Wolfsberg wrote: »

Did every petshop in Ireland sell your mother a whole load of unnecessary potions?

my apologies i should have said she went to a few different pet shops around Dublin city center and they sold her a load of useless crap potions for the water which i can only imagine they did more bad then good..

The_Conductor

Koko's goldfish page might be of interest to you?

http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/forum/index.php?

KevH

Lads & Lassies,

Thanks for your kind advice.....
SAD NEWS for you all though......The scabbiest of the two goldfish commited suicide last night....found him lying on the kitchen worktop this morning stiff as a board....really sad!
I'm all the more determined to get this right now before introducing any more goldfish....
I took on what you said about the bowl...thanks....no more fish going in the bowl.
I've definately been going wrong with the water changes.......and I've been using "TAP SAFE" although I must check to see if this is a de-chlorinator!
I'll keep y'all informed......the local pet shop said she would test our water and the bowl water with Ph strips to see if there is anything strange there!!!

Thanks again

Kev

The_Conductor

Hmmm- obviously you don't have a cover on the bowl....... idiot fish love jumping- obviously yours was a little overly energetic. Sorry to hear about the fish.

Keep an eye out on Freecycle, Adverts Freebies and Jumbletown- you might be surprised- but people do give away tanks all the time!

S.