How much dissolved oxygen do goldfish need?

Question

Source Please

Answer 1

Most people don't have the equipment to measure gas content of liquids. However if you do, you want your dissolved oxygen to be in the 5-6 parts per million range. Below 2 ppm fish are going to be highly stressed, below 1 ppm and they will be dying. The typical range for oxygen saturation in water is between 5 and 15 ppm this of course depends on pressure and temperature. The higher pressure your at the more oxygen that can be dissolved. The lower temperate of the water is the more oxygen that can be dissolved. So at a typical 77 degrees or so your max oxygen would be between 6.4-8.4 ppm. I would recommend making sure you have a large enough tank and a filter which provides surface agitation and an air bubbler of some sort will never hurt, the smaller bubbles the better O2 absorption by the water. So something like a bubble wand, not a burping clam.

Answer 2

I have a formal goldfish pool (2.5 wide x 12 long x 2.4 deep) which freezes in early November. I "drill" a small hole with hot water from a tea kettle and pump oxygen through an air stone (using a solar powered pump) whenever the sun shines. This usually happens once or twice a week. Without my efforts to do this, during the first season we had the pond, my three 7" goldfish all died. Naturally, during the summer, I run the air pump full time and have about twenty fish of varying sizes.

Answer 3

Goldfish can get to be very very large (up to 12 inches long) and need a large tank first of all, or else you'll never get enough oxygen. After you have a large enough tank, simply keep a bubbler, airstone, or air wand in there and you'll be fine. (Assuming that you are also using a good filter).