Self-cleaning fish?

Foggster

Please dont cycle with live fish - sorry Mel2 but the poor fishkies will probably die or will suffer from all the spikes.

Personally, I have always found tropical easier to keep then cold water fish. (although they dont like it cold!). I dont like bio orbs but I know they are very fashionable.

Fishkeeping forums are great but can be scary places. I would go to a local fishkeeping shop and get some sound advice. Tell them what you want and they should be able to help. Avoid the "chains" until you are more experienced in fish keeping.

They are hard work, I have kept a 180ltr and 140ltr tank of cold and tropical fish and they consumed at least 2 hours a week to keep clean and healthy.

CFC

tankgirl1 wrote: »

Sounds ace CFC!

But as a failed goldfish owner-they all died despite my best efforts They are not easy to keep!

And given OP's circumstances, I think professional help is needed - and at the least a fishy forums' opinion!

goldies are more difficult to keep. I did have 2 small goldies in a fairly large tank and they still needed weekly cleaning and partial water change. Goldies are a fair amount of work to keep them clean and healthy, although they are pretty to look at. They poo a lot more than many other kinds of fish and thats why it's harder to keep the water quality good.

Again I would argue for cloud minnows - I even cycled my bio orb with 3 fish in it. They are such small fish and quite tolerant. The pump off overnight in that volume of water compared to their size would not cause an issue, and they don't need a heater.

There are good reasons for having a bigger tank if you want to get into fishkeeping (that's why I now have a pond as well as my bio orb lol), but the orbs are very user friendly and easy to buy stuff for, you don't need any specialist knowledge as everything is branded 'Bio orb'. You just change the filter with a filter pack, vacuum the gravel and do a partial water change when it looks filthy, you don't need to test the water, all you need is the dechlorinator to put in the fish water. They are ideal for little work for the carers.

The only drawback is that the minnows are very small so the resident may not be that interested, it depends. And if he is interested after that then you could get a bigger tank and all the gubbins but you will have the confidence of knowing that he is willing to look after them.

Froglet

Mel2 wrote: »

No matter what tank you get it will need filtration and that means that you need to keep it turned on all the time. If it gets turned off overnight and the water is not flowing through the filter media then the good bacteria will die and your water quality will suffer, killing your fish eventually.
Biorbs aren't great for fish. A traditional shaped tank is much better. Bear in mind that when you get the tank you will need to cycle it with just 1 or 2 small fish before you introduce anymore and this takes 6 - 8 weeks. Weekly maintenence would involve vacuuming the gravel, cleaning the insides of the glass, cleaning the filter sponges (this must be done in old tank water and not water straight from thehttp://forum.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/ tap or you will kill all the good bacteria which keep your tank cycled!) and a 20-30% water change. You must never do a 100% water change in a tank. You must also always use dechlorinator.
Keeping fish healthy, especially goldfish really isn't a doddle as a lot of people seem to think.

Mel you are spot on with all your advice,except the part about cycling.It is now accepted that it is paramount to being cruel to use live fish to cycle a tank.It can be done,in less time, with the addition of ammonia and once the tests show that all is as it should be,then and only then should you begin,slowly to add your fish.There is lots of advice about how to do this on here


http://forum.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/

Otherwise you could end up making the fish suffer as they go through the ammonia spikes,which burn a fishes gills and poisons them unneccessarily.

To the poster asking advice about whether to keep fish.It is admirable to want to help the person asking to keep fish but it is hard enough for someone who DOES have the time and patience and is willing to learn how to do it properly,never mind someone who you know will not keep up the maintenance required.Goldfish are nowhere near as easy to look after properly,as several have mentioned.Yes you could get a company in,and so long as you can guarantee that the power won't be switched off,or the fish being overfed ,however kindly meant,then you may be ok but the risk of the tank being interfered with does sound rather great i have to admit and i don't mean to be unkind.I just think it is a great idea in theory but not in practice.