Gold Fish

Molly41

Hello x
What are your experiences of caring for Gold Fish?

I have "inherited" 3 of my Dad's above named fish as he has had to go into a care home as he has dementia. In one of his lucid moments he mentioned that said fish will live to 15 years old:eek::eek::eek:

They are very well cared for and now wag their tails and behave like their throat has been cut every time we walk past their tank. Honestly I never knew they could live that long!

Fosterdog

They actually live longer, more around the 30 years mark and I believe the oldest known goldfish was around 42 years old.

Most goldfish never make it to anywhere near that because they are kept in bowls where their bodied don't have room to grow but their organs continue to and they die very young because of it. Also they are one of the biggest producers of waste for their size of any fish so their tank needs a lot of care and maintenance to keep the water in good condition and the fish healthy.

It is absolutely essential that they are never put in fresh tap water, they need to have water conditioner added first to take out the chlorine and other things added to tap water, they need very good filtration and the filter should always be cleaned in tank water and never in tap water.

What size tank/aquarium are they currently in? For three common goldfish you would need at least a four foot tank, some varieties need bigger and some fancy varieties can get away with a bit smaller.

How old/big are they now? They will eventually outgrow most indoor tanks and need the extra space of a good sized pond.

Have a look here http://forum.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk for help with all things fishy

atrixblue.-MFR-.

Gold fish will beg for food as soon you get near the tank, because usually the only time someone goes near the tank is to feed them!.


depending on size of gold fish, I would using a pellet rather than flake, maybe a better solution to limiting water quality issues. I woud use medium pellets for a gold fish about 4 inches and above.


The tank what size tank do you currently have now, if its a small 2 foot tank, the tank is at its limits for 3 goldfish.


what filtration does it have?


liks said above you need to use a de-chlorantor solution to add to the water if filling it from a tap.


whats the condition of the tank inside is there algea in there and things look generally old and worn out?


always clean the filter sponges in tank water (put some tank water in a bucket---unless you have water issues like bacteria bloom, high nitrite and ammonia levels) about 1 litre of tank water in a bucket swill the sponges in it (yes it will look and smell digusting) get the karge lumps of grim off the sponge and then refit to pump and back into tank asap, the aim of the game is to clean the sponge but not loose the good bacteria that is converting nitrite and ammonia in to low levels of nitrates that are safe for fish.