Semi-Responsible Goldfish Caretaking?

Question

I recently picked up a modest tank, and five feeder goldfish to stock it.. then found out about their space requirements, a total shock. I'm planning on buying a 20-gallon tank to complement the 10-gallon one, but in the interim, my question is:

I have a 40-gallon rated air pump, a hob power filter, a few fake plants and hiding rocks, gravel, and do 10% water changes twice a day (once off the top, once off the gravel with a vac tube). I'm careful to feed them twice a day and remove excess after a few minutes.

What are some things I can do to make their stay more comfortable, or speed up the cycling process of the tank? I don't want to put any of them down, and giving them back to PetCo would certainly result in their quick deaths.

Answer 1

It sounds like you are very dedicated to keeping these fish alive, which is fantastic. Very few people care about the lives of fish.

Anyway, I would definitely invest in at least a 30-gallon, if not a 55-gallon tank instead of the 20-gallon. In the long run, you will have happier, healthier fish.

As for speeding up the cycling process, do you mean in the new tank or the old one that already contains the fish?

The new tank needs to be filled with water with the filter running for at least 24 hours after dechlorinating and, if you want to put some Cycle in it (which adds good nitrifying bacteria in the tank) that might not be a bad idea. Put 3 of the fish in the 20 gallon and keep 2 in the 10 for now. Soon you will need bigger tanks, like i mentioned earlier. After 24 hours, you can add the three fish, and see how they do. The actual cycling process doesn't start until you add fish, because there is no ammonia or nitrogen to start the nitrogen cycle, but you need to regulate the water temperature and the chemicals in those first 24 hours.

Your fish will probably be fine in the combined thirty gallons of water that you have now, as long as you keep up with your daily water changes. I may even go as far to say that the 10% off the top of the water may be unnecessary. Keep vacuuming the gravel once a day, only 10%, and you should be in good shape.

Add 1.5 teaspoons per gallon of uniodized salt (aquarium salt) to the goldfish tanks. It keeps away parasites and diseases and, in goldfish, swimbladder problems, which can be fatal.

So keep taking good care of your fish, and let me know how it goes!

Answer 2

Cut down on the feeding, you can go every other day. Also cut down on the water changes.

There's a product called Bio-Spira, will instantly cycle your tank. I know it used to be hard to find and was expensive(needs to be kept refrigerated), a smaller pet store would most likely have it over a chain store. Don't waste money on stress zyme or Cycle, the bacteria is usually dead already in those.

Here's a link for a forum. Do a search on cycling a fish tank with fish. It'll tell you how often to do the water changes. I can't say for sure, you have a lot of fish in there, water changes kinda prolong the cycle, but they'll need to be done if you want to keep the fish. But 2 a day seems a bit much.

One last thing, if you're planning on also buying a 20 gallon, buy a little mesh bag from the pet store, and pick up some small bio balls or something that will "house" the bacteria. Put those in the bag, and just float the bag in the fish tank. When you do buy the 20 gallon and put the fish in, put that bag in. It will have some of the bacteria on it and will give it a jumpstart on the cycle. I've done that for all my tanks when I moved, all my tanks were pretty much instantly cycled because of that.

Also, you could try a product called Prime by Seachem. It removes chlorine from the tap water, but it detoxifies the ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates, without removing them allowing the cycle to continue.

http://cats.about.com/sitesearch.htm?terms=cycling%20a%20fish%20tank%20with%20fish&SUName=cats&TopNode=3042&type=1

http://www.aquariacentral.com/

http://www.aquariumboard.com/forums/home.php

I've got 5 feeder fish that I've had for about 4-5 years, that are about 8 inches now, they are fairly hardy fish, and as stated very forgiving. And also, the beneficial bacteria isn't in the water you're changing, it grows on the filter, filter media, gravel, decorations etc. So water changes don't affect that.

Answer 3

Is there anyway you can buy a tank bigger than 20 gallons? How about a big rubbermaid container instead? You can look on places like http://www.freecycle.org/ and http://www.craigslist.org/ for a cheap or free tank too.

If you have a test kit test the water everyday to make sure your ammonia and nitrite never get higher then 1ppm. If it does then you will have to take out more water each change, once you start to see nitrAte then the cycle is almost done. Sometimes you may have to change even more then 50% which is fine just don't clean the filter media. If you do need to clean it then just rinse it in the water that you are removing from the tank, the chlorine in the tap will kill the beneficial bacteria (which cycles the tank and keeps it cycled) that live on it. Almost all the beneficial bacteria live on the filter media, you can add some ceramic rings (or other things like them) to have even more room for the bacteria to colonize.

Take a look at http://kokosgoldfish.com/
There has been a few people that have been in the same situation as you and have come up with different ways to make it better for the fish.

Answer 4

well, you don't need to be doing a 10% water change twice a day. Everytime you are removing water, you are removing the beneficial bacteria you WANT to get established.
5 fish should never be added to a ten gallon to start, but since it is already done, your best bet would be to add a bacteria boost( like Cycle), get an amonia and nitrate test kit(s) and monitor these levels closely. If they began to get to the "unsafe" level, THEN syphon out 10 to 20 % of your water.
If you watch your levels daily, and don't overfeed ( as it sounds you are doing great on that) and watch them for any signs of disease( ie loss of appetite, clamped fins, gasping for breath) it is likely they will be ok, and will be happy until they outgrow your tank.
Just remember 10 inches of fish is the MAX for a 10 gallon tank.

Answer 5

Goldfish are very forgiving fish. They could probably survive for awhile in a mud puddle if they had to (not that you should keep them in one!). Chances are, if you bought feeders, they will be fine how they are for awhile. I put feeders in my 40-50gal pond two springs ago and by the first fall they were about 3" long. But in a pond, there is almost an endless food supply (algae, bugs, etc, plus food). Most of them are now about 8" long.

As long as you keep the water clean and clear, they can survive in less than the ideal space... but of course the more space the better. Consider moving a few of them to an outside mini-pond if you have a patio or yard where you live. Decorative ponds are very relaxing to go sit by (even if they're tiny) and a couple fish can live in even a small one very happily.

If you find your fish still outgrowing your set-up... you can always give them away to other fish people. People like big fish. Once they're bigger, people will be likely to give them good homes in their pond or other fish tank where they're big enough to hold their own.

Answer 6

To be brutally honest, feeder goldfish are just that and don't have a good chance at living.

You might be able to add some microbes to get that balance going faster but I'm not sure.