how do u take care of a goldfish?

Question

how do u take care of an oranda or a calico fantail fish? wat do they eat, is it okay if the oranda goes on a 1 gallon tank,wat does an airpump do for the fish, wat will get rid of cloudy water, is it okay if fishes are in cloudy water.SERIOUS ANSWERS PLEASE!! IF U DONT KNOW THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION....THEN DONT ANSWER IT..GOT IT!?

Answer 1

Here is a link to some basic info on goldfish care, http://kokosgoldfish.com/tensteps.html

Check out the rest of the site for more info and join the message board too.

Answer 2

Let me start with basic's that are generally overlooked:

Tank
1. You need a good filter.
2. You to have at least 10 to 20 gals of water per fish you plan on keeping.
3. You need to have a big surface area for gas exchange.
4. You need to have a tank with a light. (on for at least 8 hours a day)
5. Make sure that the rocks are either big enough that the goldfish cant pick up or small enough that they cant get them stuck in there throat.

A comment on the size of the tank for Goldfish, I have a lot of people tell me that the goldfish can live in 5 gals for one goldfish. I personally dont think so. Goldfish are very dirty fish. Goldfish dont have a stomach and so they cant digest food like you or I it takes about 5 mins for there food to come out the other end. So when you think of this the waste is right there. So unless you plan on changing the water 10% of it every day. I suggest that you have a 10 gal tank for one goldfish. Fancy Goldfish also get big, they can grow to 6" so even if you buy a baby goldfish and put him/her in a 5 gal tank they will out grow it and not live the life they should. Goldfish also can live 10-20 years old. So I don't mean to sound mad but if you went to the pound and bought a kitten and expect the kitten to stay a kitten, then that's the same thing you are doing to a goldfish when you expect them to live in a bowl or a small tank or a tank with out a filter. Goldfish Get Big!

Water Changes......
I have found over the years that changing 35%-40% of the water every week is very important, because of the large amount of waste they produce and the oxygen they use. When replacing the water it should have been let to stand over night for the release of toxins in the water (lead, Chlorine, ect..). You should also add Nova-Aqua once a week to help replace the electrolytes. Next a detoxifier should be added every time you change the water. I highly recommend 'Amquel', it gets rid of toxins and also doesn't turn the chlorine to ammonia.

Feeding......
There are many foods for the fancy goldfish. The best food I have found is Pro Gold, the reasons for that is:

1. Flake food: The fish go to the top to gather the food which creates air in their swim bladder (which could cause swimming bladder disease (floating).
2. Pellets: There are two kinds, one is sinking which isn't to bad, but they have been known for mistaking rocks for the food.
3. Floating food and we run in to the same problem as the flakes.
Even though goldfish love to eat they really should only be feed once a day or once every two days. The reason is the food is digested very fast which means more waste in the tank and more clean up for you.

If you have to feed them flake or any other pellet foods besides Pro Gold Please soak the food for at least one min. That way some of the food has absorbed some water and will not expand in the goldfish.

Goldfish love all types of food besides the ones that the pet stores carry:

Fresh foods: Romaine lettuce, Peas cooked, earthworms, eggs, cucumber, insect larvae, grapes,oranges, and spinach.

Dried Foods: Flake, Pellet, Tubiflex, Krill, Plankton, Brine shrimp, Blood Worms, Spirulina, and Daphnia

Disease......
There are a lot of diseases they can get, but the most common would be 'Ick' (small white spots). Ick is always in your tank but the fish only get it when they're stressed out or when tank conditions are poor. Ick is treatable and most of the time you can get rid of it quickly. I always have 'Ick Nox' on hand for emergencies. The second most common is swim bladder disease caused from too much air in the food and high Nitrates in the water. This can be a big problem if not caught in time. There are no medications for this. The best thing to do is not to feed for three days and then to feed just peas for three days (nothing but peas for three days!), reduce the amount of food you are giving to them and make sure that you soak their food if your using any other kind of pellet food or flake besides *ProGold. If you need any more help with finding what you goldfish might have you can write me back.

Answer 3

okay, i have 3 goldfish in a hex 5 aquarium that i got at wallmart at 30 bucks, i have an oranda, and 2 fantails, and they are all happy in just a five gallon. I dont buy them that fancy goldfish food that is like 6 bucks, i get them the blue bottled stuff from target that they are starting to get at target, not the giant bottle, i feed them twice a day and i give them all about one big pinch. I don't have an airpump but they say it helps goldfish get more oksygen but i don't see a difference. The hexagon aquarium will stop the cloudy water with the filter, which is so easy to set up, and easy to care for, and unless you don't already have the fish, i highly recomend getting your fish from wallmart.

Answer 4

Baby-juvenile fancy goldfish need 10 gallons PER fish. (ryukins, fantails, moors, orandas ect)
Baby-juvenile long bodied goldfish need 20 gallons PER fish. (comets, commons, shubunkins, feeder goldfish)
Adults need 50 gallons PER fish. They need ALOT of filtration because they are extremely dirty fish and they need regular partial waterchanges where you vacume the gravel thoroughly with a siphon making sure not to go past 50 percent and making sure the new water is dechlorinated and same temp as the water thats in the tank. NO IT IS NOT OK THAT THE ORANDA GOES IN A 1 GALLON TANK!!!!!!!! An air pump is NOT a filter. An air pump connected to an air stone will help agitate the water wich increases the dissolved oxygen. A filter helps clean the water and also provides aeration.

They need a varied diet. With fancy goldfish because of the selective breeding their body is deformed and they are prone to swim bladder problems. Ways to prevent swim bladder problems is to soak the flake food or pellets in a bit of the tank water for a couple minutes so the fish doesnt gulp air. Feeding shelled green peas regularly will help prevent it and will cure swim bladder problems. Make sure the peas are fresh or frozen. Canned peas has preservatives and salt in them wich isnt good for the fish. Goldfish also benefit from and love romaine lettuce, broccoli, cucumbers, zuccini, frozen bloodworms, and aquatic plants such as duckweed. They are well known to eating any live aquatic plant placed in their tank. Only feed goldfish once a day as much as they can eat in 3 minutes. Overfeeding will foul the water more quickly and kill the fish.

Goldfish go throw the gravel looking for food and its not uncommon for a fish to swallow a piece of gravel and get it stuck in their throat wich will need manual removel. Ive seen some nice looking goldfish tanks with no gravel at all. I have no gravel in my native tank and its a breeze to thoroughly clean. If you do go with gravel go with river rock too big for the goldfish to swallow.

Cloudy water is the beneficial nitrifying bacteria establishing themselves. Read this link about it- http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-cycling.html#cycle


skigrrrl- Your fish are NOT happy cramped in that horribly small 5 gallon. If you arnt willing to provide them with what they need to live wich is a bigger tank of atleast 30 gallons then find them a new home!

Answer 5

really to take care of a goldfish you put it in clean spring water and you feed it only a little 2 times a day in the morning and at night don't put it in water with fish like beta fighing fish ect..... and so you won't have to use as much water get a filter so the water can last longer. make sure what ever you put in there is clean like rocks plants ect..... good luck on taking care of it

Answer 6

you can easily look GoldFish up on the internet. I have an Betta. and i just looked it up an i got all the facts bout food, tanks,filters,what not to do, and just great info that i needed

Answer 7

This link will list the basics for caring for goldfish.
http://www.thegab.org/Articles/GoldfishBasics.html