Gold Fish advise?

Question

I have just bought a biorb 60 l tank and would like any advice on keeping goldfish ! What breeds should I get and how many could I keep in this size tank ? Also any general advice on fish keeping please,

Answer 1

Your tank is really too small for even a single goldfish, so don;t even start there. There are however tons for wonderfish that will do very well in a tank like yours. Many types of tetras would be comfortable in your tank as well as most apistogramma, killish, smaller livebearers, small gourmi like sparkling, croaking, dwarf or honey varieties. Smaller types of cory catfish would be a good addition or oto cats.

As far as general advice the best thing to remember is to take is slow and always read up about anything you are doing before you begin. Want a particular fish? DO NOT take the word of the pet shop employee, research it yourself. Read, read, read. Knowledge is the key to success in aquarium keeping. Here's a few links to good pages to get you started, but I would recommend a good aquarium book to be your very next hobby related purchase.

http://faq.thekrib.com/begin.html
http://www.exoticpetvet.com/breeds/fish7.htm
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?dept_id=0&siteid=6&acatid=415&aid=1166

Best of luck to you in your new hobby!

MM

Answer 2

Does anyone even read the darn questions??

The Bio-Orb is 60 litres people, that equates to just over 15 gallons.

Ktloop:
This tank is fine for one fancy goldfish. Fancy goldfish do not get as big as comets, and they are not terribly active, making them a fairly decent fish for this tank. If anything, the ball style of this tank is not very good for a tropical community tank because there isn't much usable space for a wider variety of creatures, though you wouldn't have a problem keeping a couple of carefully selected species, perhaps a school of small tetra's and a school of Cory catfish, or something along those lines.

Anyway, Because of how bulky these fancy goldfish are, how big they get, and how messy they are, you really should stick to just one, despite how small they look in the store.

As you can see many people did not even understand the question and others don't know what tank you are talking about in the first place, so take recommendations with a grain of salt and common sense.

As far as general fish keeping goes all I can tell you is to research 'Cycling' before buying any fish, and do water changes and tank maintenance every week - it's easier to keep things clean then to let it get filthy and then have to clean it.

Otherwise buy or borrow good book, or find some decent websites for information. Be careful though, many of the websites I see people cutting and pasting from around here are not very good. These two I've found pretty reliable:

www.badmanstropicalfish.com
www.thekrib.com

Answer 3

Personally i wouldnt keep goldfish in a biorb tank,its kinda cruel,they're just too small.Goldfish keep on growing and eventually would be too big for a biorb,but you could get some small tropical fish,such as danios,platys,neons some tetras would also be ok,and would look really pretty in this kind of set up.

Answer 4

The general guide is 1 inch of adult fish per gallon, this will be reduced somewhat by the tank only having a small surface area. This may seem a strange question but did you get the tropical biorb with heater. If not your limited to white cloud mountain minnows or a single fancy goldfish. Remember to research any fish you wish to purchase and find out its adult size. And to keep shoaling fish in goups of 6+

Answer 5

People, the asker is asking about Goldfish. Why are all you telling her about tropical fish? Goldfish are coldwater species which like water temperatures of about 65 degrees. You cannot mix Goldfish and tropical fish together. Goldfish will die in tropical water temperatures and tropical fish will die in goldfish happy temperatures. Goldfish are messy. I'm not sure if your 60 gallon tank is more tall or wide but assiming that your tank is more tall than wide, I would say 4 gold fish. If your tank is more long than tall, I would say 5-6 goldfish. Each goldfish needs at least 10 gallons otherwise you will run into ammonia problems from all their poop. Goldfish are really really messy. They also grow to be large. Good luck!!

Answer 6

1 or 2. If you want more fish get a rectangular tank.
Remember not to fill the bowl all the way to the top, the fish need as much air as possible or they'll die.
Feed your fish 3 days a week with flakes and get them live food occasionally (blood worms or brine shrimp).
It's also a good idea to buy plants for your aquarium, they produce oxygen for the fish to breathe and they can eat the leaves.

Answer 7

Neon Tetras, Glowlight Tetras, Harlequin Rasboras, White Clouds, Fancy Guppies, Corydoras Catfish, Glass Fish, Honey Gouramis, and Ghost Shrimp. These fish are compatible and a few of them will do well in a 15-gallon aquarium with warm water. These fish are not compatible with most other species of fish. Click here for more about warm water aquariums.


Group 2
Danios, Swordtails, Mollies, and Platies, plus Bigger Tetras such as Black Skirt Tetras, Painted Tetras, Serpae Tetras, Red Eye Tetras, Black Neon Tetras, and Silver Tip Tetras. A few of these fish will do well in a 15-gallon aquarium with warm water. Each fish species in this group lives best in a group with several member of that species. Click here for more about warm water aquariums.


Group 3
Barbs, Gouramis, Sharks, Eels, and Loaches. Tiger Barbs and Tinfoil Barbs, plus Blue, Gold, and Opaline Gouramis, plus Bala Sharks, Red Tail Sharks, Rainbow Sharks, and White Tip Sharks. These fish are mildly aggressive and compatible with each other. They will grow fast and need at least a 29-gallon aquarium with warm water. Eventually they will need a much bigger aquarium. Click here for more about warm water aquariums.


Group 4
New World Cichlids. Firemouth, Convict, Pink Convict, Texas Cichlid, Jack Dempsey and other New World Cichlids are very aggressive fish. But many aquarists enjoy watching them dig, defend their territories, and care for baby fish. Large Plecostomus Catfish, Synodontis Catfish, and White Tip Sharks are usually compatible with New World Cichlids. Within a year or so a group of these fish will need an aquarium with at least 50-gallons of warm water. Eventually these fish will need an even bigger aquarium.

Before you get these fish, be sure that you are committed to giving them the size aquarium that they will need. Click here for more about warm water aquariums.


Group 5
Oscars and Large Fish. Red Oscars, Black Oscars, Tiger Oscars, and Pink Oscars will grow fast to very large sizes. Oscars are compatible with Bigger Pacus, White Tip Sharks and Medium and Large Plecostomus. These fish will grow fast and soon need a 50-gallon aquarium with warm water. Eventually these fish will need an even bigger aquarium.

Before you get these fish, be sure that you are committed to giving them the size aquarium that they will need. Click here for information about warm water aquariums.


Group 6
Mbuna Cichlids. Auratus, Kenyi, Red Zebra, Pindani, Johanni, etc. Mbunas are from Lake Malawi in East Africa where they live among the piles of large rocks along the shore.
Mbunas are very aggressive and need to be kept in a group with at least 12 other Mbunas. If kept in a smaller group, the strongest fish will make life miserable for the weaker fish.

A group of 12 adult Mbunas will need a warm water aquarium with at least 50 gallons. Synodontis Catfish are compatible with Mbuna Cichlids.

Eventually a group of Mbunas will need an aquarium with at least 80 gallons of water. Click here to read a story about an 80-gallon aquarium with Mbunas. Click here for more about warm water aquariums.


Group 7
Peacocks and Haps. Malawi Peacocks, Electric Blue Haps, Yellow Peacocks, Jacobfreibergi and other fish that live away from the piles of rocks in Lake Malawi, where the more aggressive Mbuna Cichlids live. Keep a group of at least 12 of fish so the strongest fish not make the weakest fish miserable.

These fish will grow fast and need a warm water aquarium with at least 50 gallons. Eventually they will need an aquarium with at least 80 gallons of water.

Synodontis Catfish are usually compatible with Peacocks and Haps., but the Mbuna Cichlids, listed above, are not. Click here to read more about Peacocks and Haps. Click here for more about warm water aquariums.


Group 8
Angels. Freshwater Angels, plus Dwarf Gouramis and Neon Blue Gouramis, plus Neon Blue Rainbows make a nice compatible group of fish. These fish require a warm water aquarium.
Eventually they'll need an aquarium with at least 29 gallons of water, and an aquarium at least 18 inches tall is recommended for Angels.

Click here to see my 30-gallon aquarium that measures 24" high, and would be just right for this group of fish.

A Plecostomus Catfish is also compatible with these fish. Click here for more about warm water aquariums.


Group 9
Critters. Tadpoles, Fiddler Crabs, Mystery Snails, Crayfish and Ghost Shrimp. These animals do well in either a cool water aquarium or a warm water aquarium.

These critters are compatible with many smaller less aggressive fish, except the Crayfish, which are larger, more aggressive, and may bother small fish, but Crayfish are usually compatible with aggressive fish.

Puffer Fish love to eat Crabs, Shrimps, and Crayfish, so they are not compatible with these Critters. Click here for Information about Puffer Fish.


Group 10
Fantails, Telescopes, and Oranda Goldfish. Fantails, Black Moors, Red and Calico Telescopes, Red Orandas, Red and White Orandas, Calico Orandas, and Red Cap Orandas need a cool water aquarium or a pond.

You could keep a few of these goldfish an aquarium, but given good care and feeding, they'll grow fast and soon need a large aquarium with at least 10 gallons per goldfish.

The Koi and Pond Comets listed in the next group below are too aggressive for the Fancy Goldfish fish in this group.


Group 11
Pond Comets and Koi. Fancy Koi, Red Pond Comets, White Pond Comets, Red and White Pond Comets, and Shubunkins are pond fish. They are usually not compatible with the Fancy Goldfish listed in Group 10. Click here for more about ponds and pond fish.



The Groups of fish listed above are just some suggestions from the many good combinations of fish that you could keep.



What Won't Work.
For many years many aquarists have been advised to pick compatible tropical fish fish from certain groups. These groups had names like community fish, aggressive fish, semi-aggressive fish, etc. There were some very elaborate systems, but these methods all repeatedly caused problems for aquarists trying to pick compatible fish.

What Will Work.
Sometimes you've decided on a fish you'd like to keep, or you already have a couple of compatible fish, and you'd like to get another type of fish. The best method is to look at our Indexes, find the fish that you already have on those lists, click on the link to more information about that fish, then look at the paragraph labeled "Compatibility." Usually you'll find five or six types pf fish listed that will be compatible with the fish that you already have