Beginners Questions for Gold Fish Keeping in Aquarium! Please Help!

liamtech

Hi Guys

So im totally new to this area of Boards! Havent had a fish tank since i was 10 and therefore need some advice! thanks in advance

So i managed to acquire a Fish Tank for free from a friend, and my 8YO Daughter is anxious that we get ourselves some fish. Her friend has several in a bowl, which tbh seems a wee bit cruel if im honest. My basic understanding is the bigger the better when it comes to water/space! Basic Info - we are going to go with Gold Fish, which are obviously fresh cold water, removing the need for a heater - that and Gold Fish are my daughters favorite so! -

Model of Tank: AA550HGC 21.6Litre - See Picture

So basic Questions - apologies for my ignorance, and all help GREATLY appreciated -

FILTER! - Does this tank require a Filter? I seem to remember my long gone aquarium that we did have a filter but it was rather noisy. Some googling indicates that modern ones are quite silent, but is it necessary for a tank this size (21.6Litre)



Pump - Pretty much same question as above, does a tank this size require a pump for keeping goldfish? Would a pump/filter combo work? or one or the other?

Im aware from googling that this tank came with a pump/filter (which i didnt get as apparently it was disposed of), but i have to be honest and say im on a fairly tight budget at present. I am decent at DIY so i have no issue fitting a generic one, and perhaps holding it in place with cable ties - thats if said equipment is required!

Water - Chlorine This is something fairly new to me. Is DE-chlorination required for Goldfish? I know for a fact it wasnt when i was a kid but thats 30+ years ago. How can this be accomplished?

Lighting - assuming you can see the picture, you may notice that the previous light supply was from an overhead source which the previous owner apparently botched - therefore i plan on lighting this tank with external powered LED's - therefore they need not have any contact with the tank/water itself - the LEDs will simply be placed on the wall which is aprox 3 Inches away from the back of the Tank - just wanted to check if there are any drawbacks to this

Any other issues to be aware of please let me know!

My daughter has wanted Gold Fish for quite some time, but as i said earlier, i am reluctant to get a gold fish bowl - tends to be quite small, and i couldnt see the fish lasting - im on a FAIRLY TIGHT BUDGET but i think with this tank, and some DIY/IMPROV (and your help/advice thanks in advance) we can definitely do better than a bowl!

Thanks

EDIT - quantity of fish - thinking about 5-6? Depending on the requirements but happy to reduce the number if its problematic!

Picture of tank
https://ibb.co/hWmFw8

AfterLife

liamtech wrote: »

Hi Guys

So im totally new to this area of Boards! Havent had a fish tank since i was 10 and therefore need some advice! thanks in advance

So i managed to acquire a Fish Tank for free from a friend, and my 8YO Daughter is anxious that we get ourselves some fish. Her friend has several in a bowl, which tbh seems a wee bit cruel if im honest. My basic understanding is the bigger the better when it comes to water/space! Basic Info - we are going to go with Gold Fish, which are obviously fresh cold water, removing the need for a heater - that and Gold Fish are my daughters favorite so! -

Model of Tank: AA550HGC 21.6Litre - See Picture

So basic Questions - apologies for my ignorance, and all help GREATLY appreciated -

FILTER! - Does this tank require a Filter? I seem to remember my long gone aquarium that we did have a filter but it was rather noisy. Some googling indicates that modern ones are quite silent, but is it necessary for a tank this size (21.6Litre)



Pump - Pretty much same question as above, does a tank this size require a pump for keeping goldfish? Would a pump/filter combo work? or one or the other?

Im aware from googling that this tank came with a pump/filter (which i didnt get as apparently it was disposed of), but i have to be honest and say im on a fairly tight budget at present. I am decent at DIY so i have no issue fitting a general one, and perhaps holding it inplace with cable ties - thats if said equipment is required!

You need a filter for keeping fish. This will have a sponge inside which will house your bacteria. Fish produce ammonia which will kill them if it is not removed from the water. Bacteria colonises the sponge and turns the ammonia in to nitrate. You change 20% of the water every week to keep the nitrates at a safe level.

liamtech wrote: »

Water - Chlorine This is something fairly new to me. Is DE-chlorination required for Goldfish? I know for a fact it wasnt when i was a kid but thats 30+ years ago. How can this be accomplished?

You can remove the chlorine from the water by using a dechlorinator from your pet shop or let the water sit over night and the chlorine will dissipate naturally. If you add chlorinated water to your tank you are in danger of killing your filter.

"liamtech wrote: »

Lighting - assuming you can see the picture, you may notice that the previous light supply was from an overhead source which the previous owner apparently botched - therefore i plan on lighting this tank with external powered LED's - therefore they need not have any contact with the tank/water itself - the LEDs will simply be placed on the wall which is aprox 3 Inches away from the back of the Tank - just wanted to check if there are any drawbacks to this

No problems there at all.

liamtech wrote: »

Any other issues to be aware of please let me know!

My daughter has wanted Gold Fish for quite some time, but as i said earlier, i am reluctant to get a gold fish bowl - tends to be quite small, and i couldnt see the fish lasting - im on a FAIRLY TIGHT BUDGET but i think with this tank, and some DIY/IMPROV (and your help/advice thanks in advance) we can definitely do better than a bowl!

Thanks

Picture of tank
https://ibb.co/hWmFw8

Unfortunately the tank is nowhere near big enough to accommodate a goldfish, not even 1,never mind 5-6 which is why I imagine its vacant now. Other than the fact that goldfish get quite large the bacterial load will be far too much for any filter suitable for a tank that size. You will constantly lose fish to ammonia and mainly nitrite poisoning.

If I was is in your position I would pick up a heater when you go to buy your filter and add some guppies or other small fish.

Research the nitrogen cycle before buying any fish and get a shop to test your water during your cycle.

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liamtech

AfterLife wrote: »

You need a filter for keeping fish. This will have a sponge inside which will house your bacteria. Fish produce ammonia which will kill them if it is not removed from the water. Bacteria colonises the sponge and turns the ammonia in to nitrate. You change 20% of the water every week to keep the nitrates at a safe level.




You can remove the chlorine from the water by using a dechlorinator from your pet shop or let the water sit over night and the chlorine will dissipate naturally. If you add chlorinated water to your tank you are in danger of killing your filter.



No problems there at all.




Unfortunately the tank is nowhere near big enough to accommodate a goldfish which is why I imagine its vacant now. Other than the fact that goldfish get quite large the bacterial load will be far too much for any filter suitable for a tank that size. You will constantly lose fish to ammonia and mainly nitrite poisoning.

If I was is in your position I would pick up a heater when you go to buy your filter and add some guppies or other small fish.

Research the nitrogen cycle before buying any fish and get a shop to test your water during your cycle.

Thanks for your swift reply! Its appreciated.

SO as for the chlorination/de-chlorination i will fill the tank 2 days before the fish are going in and if i am reading you correctly this will dissipate the chlorine! I will then, have a jug of water left over night to DE-chlorinate before swapping it out, once a week as specified? good?

Filter - you didnt mention a pump so i will assume a filter would be fine on its own - would you be able to recommend one/type? -

Goldfish This is where i have to admit you have lost me! lol.. is the Tank too big or too small for Goldfish? I know from visiting her friends house that her gold fish seem very content in a bowl which is no bigger than a glorified jug! i cannot see gold fish growing in the bowl! if they did they would have little or NO space in no time!

Genuinely appreciate your help Afterlife - as to getting a heater i kinda dont think its a runner for me - My daughter has her heart set on gold fish, but maybe we can do something differently! if its a question of the tank being too big then would reducing the water level help? although perhaps counter productive i know - thanks in advance again

liamtech

apologies i see that you have recommended a filter - thanks!

AfterLife

liamtech wrote: »

Thanks for your swift reply! Its appreciated.

SO as for the chlorination/de-chlorination i will fill the tank 2 days before the fish are going in and if i am reading you correctly this will dissipate the chlorine! I will then, have a jug of water left over night to DE-chlorinate before swapping it out, once a week as specified? good?

Read this regarding the nitrogen cycle

https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

Once the filter is turned on you will be waiting anywhere from 2-8 weeks before the fish can be added. You need to have the water tested. Put them in too soon and they will die.

liamtech wrote: »

Filter - you didnt mention a pump so i will assume a filter would be fine on its own - would you be able to recommend one/type? -

I added a link to a good filter in the post above. The filter has an inbuilt pump.

liamtech wrote: »

Goldfish This is where i have to admit you have lost me! lol.. is the Tank too big or too small for Goldfish? I know from visiting her friends house that her gold fish seem very content in a bowl which is no bigger than a glorified jug! i cannot see gold fish growing in the bowl! if they did they would have little or NO space in no time!

Genuinely appreciate your help Afterlife - as to getting a heater i kinda dont think its a runner for me - My daughter has her heart set on gold fish, but maybe we can do something differently! if its a question of the tank being too big then would reducing the water level help? although perhaps counter productive i know - thanks in advance again

Goldfish are a large fish. Really only suitable for ponds or very big aquariums.

You are right, they won't grow in a bowl because they will be dead before they get a chance. In your friends case the fish are constantly being poisoned by their own waste/ammonia. They will not live long.

In your case if you add goldfish to a tank that size your filter will convert some of the ammonia that it can handle in to nitrite and because of the excessive bio-load it will not be able to convert that in to nitrate. Your fish will die overnight when this happens. And it will definitely happen.

If you insist on putting goldfish in it you must be prepared to deal with the dead fish. It will be constant if you are replacing them before your daughter notices.

Again, you can get small colourful tropical fish that will live happily in a tank that size.

liamtech

ok well that definitely puts the breaks on things - thanks for the info

Iv been googling again and yes it does seem that they recommend a FAR BIGGER tank for gold fish - which i find shocking considering the preponderance of gold fish bowls on sale - dont know what to tell my neighbor

In terms of what to do, i honestly dont know now? My 8yo is adamant she wants Gold fish. You recommend tropical, but is there not the danger of the fish dying in case of a power cut? less a problem at the moment (says liam drinking a fifth pint of ice water) but if winter is as severe as summer, and the power goes, those fish wont last long sure?

Are there any simple-to-keep cold water fish (as simple as i would have thought goldfish were until now - lol, how little i knew!)?

Can i ask you, as a novice, it seems incredibly complicated - far more so than when i did it as a kid, and those fish lasted many years in a smaller tank - pretty sure it was no bigger than a 17" laptop screen in terms of height and length, with width being roughly equiv to height.. is their any longevity to keeping fish in a small tank at all? If bowls 'seem to work' i assumed this, which is quite a bit bigger, would be great! guess not

and i really do appreciate your help btw - iv learned more about fish tanks in the last few hours than i did as a kid! thats for sure!

Green_Martian

AfterLife wrote: »

You are right, they won't grow in a bowl because they will be dead before they get a chance. In your friends case the fish are constantly being poisoned by their own waste/ammonia. They will not live long.

In your case if you add goldfish to a tank that size your filter will convert some of the ammonia that it can handle in to nitrite and because of the excessive bio-load it will not be able to convert that in to nitrate. Your fish will die overnight when this happens. And it will definitely happen.

If you insist on putting goldfish in it you must be prepared to deal with the dead fish. It will be constant if you are replacing them before your daughter notices.

I'm sorry but I have to disagree with you here, regarding the whole "they will die in a bowl"

1) A friend of mine has had the same goldfish for over 10 Years in just a basic Goldfish Bowl, and yes its the same one.

2) I have had a Goldfish in a goldfish bowl for over a year now and no issues, and it actually did grow in size with in the last year, which is why I am currently looking to get a bigger bowl/tank for him. The bigger the bowl/tank the more the fish will grow.

I don't agree with have more than one in a bowl, shops should not be allowed sell more than one when buying the bowl

Gold fish are very hardy fish and can last a long time once cared for, regular water changes, not over feeding etc.

Sleepy

One goldfish, requires a three hundred litre tank (yes 300[/] litres), will grow to over a foot in length and live to about 30 if correctly kept. You and your friend are abusing your pets. "Goldfish" bowls are actually illegal in much of Scandinavia for this reason. They're pond fish that have been abused for centuries because the first European visitors to Japan didn't realise that the display bowls their Japanese hosts used to show off their fish at table were only used for short-term display rather than the fishes habitat.

In times past, goldfish were much hardier than modern stock and more able to deal with this mistreatment: simply put their popularity as disposable pets has meant they've been badly bred for decades.

liamtech - if you wanted to avoid a heater you could look at the likes of maybe 4 to 5 White Mountain Cloud Minnows:


Or a couple of Zebra Danios:
.

A cheap heater would expand your options to a single male Betta (Fighter Fish) which have beautiful fins but not a lot of movement or about 3 Mollies / Guppies or other Livebearers.

Power outages tend to be short enough in Ireland that the temperature drop doesn't tend to wipe out fish (my own tank is a marine reef system with about a thousand euro worth of fish, corals etc. and I don't have a UPS in place).

kylith

This is a goldfish. The same type of goldfish you get in shops.

At this stage he was 8" long, 10 years old, and touched front and back of that 180L tank when he turned around. I rehomed him to a pond soon after this.

Sure, you can keep a goldfish in a bowl, if you want a stunted, miserable, pet who is forced to swim around in it's own waste all day.