Feeder fish keeping?

Question

decided to save some of the feeder comet goldfish from the jaws of my reptiles. I used tap water for their enclosure (they like ph?). I heard they love cold water so i check the water is about 65f. i put in some hides and i have a bubbler. i don't know what im doing wrong but they seem to go up for air and slowly drop to the ground and repeat. why is that? lack of oxygen in the water or going room temp water to 65's? what should i feed them if they survive?

Answer 1

Your goldfish are fine at that temperature. You probably keep the fish in a tank that you only meant to use for temporary purposes, so it hasn't cycled. This refers to the establishment of bacteria to break down the wastes of your fish and convert the the waste to less harmful products. The ammonia they produce and the nitrite, which is the first product of the conversion are both toxic to your fish and interfere with their ability to get oxygen from the water. Too high of a level is lethal.

See these links which will explain the cycling process and ammonia and nitrite toxicity:
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/ammoniapoison.htm
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/nitritepoison.htm
http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

For now, you need to do a water change to reduce the ammonia and nitrite levels. A change of 25-50% would be appropriate, just replace the water with some that's about the same temperature with conditioner added to remove the chlorine/chloramine.

For feeding, you can use any commercial goldfish food (preferably a sinking pellet) as a staple food, and give them treats of bloodworms, cucumber, cooked peas with skins removed, romaine lettuce (or other dark leafy greens), and orange slices.

Answer 2

Goldfish are cold water fish , so they are ok at the temperature they are at now. but you need to cycle your tank, witch means just letting it run without any fish in it. Doing this will prevent any extra ammonia. After a few weeks , maybe about 4 weeks you can start adding fish. Then you need to do daily water changes , about 25 to 35 percent. Then you can add more fish , if they keep dying then keep doing water changes. After about 3 weeks of water changes , then you can stop the water changes every day. Then do water changes 2 - 3 time a week. Be sure you don't over feed as well , overfeeding will cause blatter infections. After that you souldnt hae any problems with your goldfish anymore.

Answer 3

Ok, 65 degrees is too cold. Around 70 to 80 is more reasonable. Feed them reg goldfish flakes. And you must add dechlorinator if you just threw the fish right into plain tap. Good luck ;)

Answer 4

You can put some live plants in the tank. This will oxygenate the water for your fish, and they should slow this behavior down.

Answer 5

Your fish is totally fine at that temp. Yeah they also like ph. Feed them with flakes.