I am getting a goldfish,but I have alot of qeustions. For starters,how can I tell a male from a female? Is there a best kind of goldfish to get? How can I get a healthy one? How much do they eat,and how often? Any good fish food suggestions? How big will it get? Any help,would be aprecieted! Thanks!
2006-12-18 07:03:00 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Fish
Goldfish can eat until they pop so dont judge by when they'll stop eating but how much they will eat in five minutes 2 times a day. After having your goldfish for a few months, you'll be able to tell how much he/she will eat and just feed it that amount. The gender telling i cant really help you with but the size... they will grow to fit the size of the tank. You can buy tanks w/ specialized starter kits for goldfish that will even come with food. Then all you need to do is buy that same kind of food again.
When getting a goldfish, you can talk to the person working at the counter in the fish section. Always look for a lively one. not floating near the top or resting at the bottom. He should be swimming and interacting. Oh, and don't let them try to sell you a feeder fish, get a nice one that is good for a pet cause feeders'll die after 2 days. They are also called Red/Pink minnows. They are ment to be food.
Have fun with the fish!!!!!! :0)
2006-12-18 07:53:16 · answer #1 · answered by ♥Petlover♥ 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's pretty difficult to tell males from females unless they are spawning (males will develop obvious pimples on his gills).
There's more to goldfish than people think :) They just assume you can stick them in a goldfish bowl, and then are surprised when the bowl is dirty and the fish dies after a month.
Anyway, get a fancy goldfish. They are the smaller types and are really quite pretty. One fish will need a minimum of 15 gallons of water. You could get a 30 gallon and have two, for example.
They will need good filtration, the more the better as goldfish are high waste producers. Get a hang off of the back filter rated for 20 gallons MORE than whatevre your tank is.
You don't need a heater, as goldfish are coldwater fish and are fine in 65-72F water.
They should eat daily, a small pinch of flake food should do, once or twice a day, and they will grow 4-7".
Be sure to cycle you tank first! First of all, have you cycled your tank? In the wild, and in established tanks, there are nitrifying bacteria that break down toxic ammonia from fish waste and excess food into less toxic nitrates. In a brand new tank, these bacteria don't exist, so any fish in the tank will produce ammonia, which, not being broken down by bacteria, will kill or weaken the fish. So, it is vital to cycle your tank.
There are a few methods. Do you have access to an established tank? These bacteria live in the gravel and in the filter cartridge, so if you can get some from another tank, you can put the bacteria right into your tank (don't let the gravel or filter cartridge dry out). If you do this, in a day or two, your tank will beready for fish.
Another way is to get Bio-Spira. It is the actual live bacteria in a little pouch, and your tank will instantly be ready for fish.http://fishstoretn.com/bio_spira.html
Other methods, which include putting a source of ammonia in the tank and letting the bacteria build up on its own, or putting a fish in and letting the fish produce ammonia (which borders on animal cruelty, because the fish will suffer from the ammonia in the tank), take 2 to 6 weeks before your tank is ready. If you rush that, any fish you buy may die, so try one of the instant methods I mentioned above (bio-spira or gravel from another tank)
Have fun :)
2006-12-18 15:12:02 · answer #2 · answered by Zoe 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
i like fantail goldfish though they are more expensive they are prettyer. Keeping goldfish in a fishtank is a bad idea. They dont like warm water and have a problem with salt. Goldfish dont need a filter though everyone says they do. Goldfish will eat either two pinches of pellets every day or every second day or one pinch of flakes every day or every second day. Unless you let the tank(or pond) grow algae, then they will eat that. I dont even feed my goldfish in my pond anymore, they just eat the algae. Its nearly impossible to sex a goldfish so that answers the mail and female question. To pick a healthy one just make sure its eyes arent foggy, its tail isnt missing peices, and it looks normal.. not messed up.they can range in size depending on the species of goldfish. And if you dont want a gold fish guppies,mollies and pladys are good beginning fish and are live bearers, meaning they give live birth.
2006-12-24 14:53:25 · answer #3 · answered by love_animals 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Wow, Zoe covered the subject pretty well, and I agree with everything she mentioned except that many species of goldfish reach up to 12" each...not 4-7, so you might want to ask about that when you actually get to a point of purchasing the fish, so that you don't end up with mammoth fish without being aware of what you're getting into.
2006-12-18 16:01:27 · answer #4 · answered by yama 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If i were you, i would go to the pet store where you would buy the goldfish and ask the questions there to have someone who is trained to help you can help you and can help you pick out good fish to have together.
2006-12-18 15:27:13 · answer #5 · answered by Go Mike 4 · 1⤊ 3⤋
go with zoe's answer. lots of people working in petshops aren't trained in anything and will give you whatever answers they feel are necessary to part you from your cash.
2006-12-23 16:58:03 · answer #6 · answered by loki 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋