My new pets! (Goldfish!)

[HermieBingo]

I got 2 goldfish (Theodore and Rosy) from the store on Friday. I have them in a smaller tank right now and am going to pick up my new 37 gallon later today! That is where they will be kept! SOOO excited!

Once I figure out how to put a photo, I will post it.

I have done a lot of research, but I don't have that much experience in the fish world, so if anybody could give me a tip or two, that would be awesome!

[CrabbyLover77]

Congrats! I love goldfish!
I got my goldfish Monet when he was left in a pond outside of the house I rented. I brought him and his buddy Picasso inside with me. Picasso passed within 6 months, but Monet was a fighter and lasted almost 10 years.
I rescued my gfish Poseidon from a family who was moving and didn't want him anymore. Had him over 3 years now. Rescued my other 3 goldfish in October from a family who didn't want to upgrade their 10 gal tank.
If you have any questions please feel free to PM me!



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[wodesorel]

You will enjoy them so much!! Try the Tapatall app for posting photos.

I have 8 right now because of a thing, and had two before that I had to rehome to a pond because he got so big after a few years. (Common, not fancies.) I also have five koi/mixed. They are wonderful food addicted hobgoblins.

My only advice is to save up for good filtration, it will make everything easier. I run huge canister filters on the goldies all the time, and on my koi when I bring them in for winter. No illness, no fussing, always perfect water parameters. The price tags hurt but man it was totally worth it!

[HermieBingo]

So sad, but Theodore died today. I'm thinking from stress since he was swimming up and down the sides of the tank a lot yesterday. I know he had enough space cause it's a 37-gallon tank. And, he and Rosy were good tank-mates, like if one even accidentally bumped the other, they would just keep on swimming. The temp was 74, and the ph like 7ish, so I think the water was fine. But, he could have got a disease from the pet store or something like that.

And, wodesorel, I have a great filter, so thats good .

Thanks ya'll for the tips. Keep you posted!

[CrabbyLover77]

So sad, but Theodore died today. I'm thinking from stress since he was swimming up and down the sides of the tank a lot yesterday. I know he had enough space cause it's a 37-gallon tank. And, he and Rosy were good tank-mates, like if one even accidentally bumped the other, they would just keep on swimming. The temp was 74, and the ph like 7ish, so I think the water was fine. But, he could have got a disease from the pet store or something like that.

And, wodesorel, I have a great filter, so thats good .

Thanks ya'll for the tips. Keep you posted!

Aw I'm sorry. Did you cycle the tank before you put them in?

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[HermieBingo]

I didn't have a filter on the small tank, and I only used it for two days. Then, I did cycle the big one before they moved into that one.

Rosy died yesterday too. She began floating weirdly, half dead. Then, she died.

I think that I just didn't have the right setup for them to begin with. Well, I learned my lesson, and, now, since I have no fish in the big tank, I am adding good bacteria before I probably get the next generation of goldfish. I will be fully ready for them. Tank and all.

[crabs_lex]

i remember having goldfish as a kid when we were always at church picnics in the summer
all i did was throw in a filter some marbles at the bottom and cute decoration in a 10 gal and they lived for years and got pretty big
it suprises me now bc i was kid and didn’t know anything about fish and they lived for so long

[wodesorel]

Cycling takes at least a week, sometimes a couple of months before it's stable and safe for fish. Add in pure ammonia to mimic fish pee, and wait until the filter media has built up enough good bacteria that eat that ammonia,, and the subsequent nitrite that first bacteria produces as waste, to support however many fish you want. The filter media should be something robust that won't ever be changed, because throwing it away throws away all those needed bacteria. I've had cycling tanks go super quick and others that slogged along forever. But once you have that you know it's not the tank and it's definitely the fish that the problem. In some cases you can squeak by without cycling, if the fish are super healthy and you watch closely, but even then the leading fish keeping experts say it causes them permanent damage and shortens their lifespans.

[HermieBingo]

Thanks so much for the advice, Wodesoral. I am thinking I should probably get some more filter media. I am cycling my tank right now. I'm on my 4th day of cycling without fish in the tank. I also put a bacteria starter in too.

crabs_lex, my friend had a few fish in a ten gallon with a filter too and one goldfish lived for 5 years, which is ok in goldfish years. I have heard a lot of stories of people who just had a 10ish gallon tank and their goldfish lived for a while. Goes to show you that you don't really need to have a HUGE tank until they get big.

[wodesorel]

I think it probably depends on the fish, and on the type of Goldie it is. The fancies grow slower and don't get as huge. Commons are monsters! Something like 8 years ago the shelter where my husband works decided to have a wishing well to collect change, and someone bought a dozen common goldfish to put in it. Yeah, it went as well as you are thinking. I managed to save one. He was an inch long and I started him off in a 5 gallon. Outgrew that within a month and had him in a 20 gallon for almost two years until he and his fins got to a foot long and he wasn't really able to turn around anymore. A friend of a friend had a protected pond and he went to live there with others because we could go any bigger at the time. Man I miss that fish. He was awesome. I regret having kept him so long though because he had gotten so large. We had to transport him in a 5 gallon bucket.

There's also the problem that if you go too small on the tank and don't upgrade them in time they can stop growing longer, which stunts them. It can be a dangerous game to try and stay ahead of that. They get treated just like crabs most of the time, like they are supposed to be short lived and can adapt to whatever the person want to put them in, and some live for a surprisingly long time that way.

[HermieBingo]

Yeah, common goldfish get HUGE! There is a golf course by me that has a goldfish pond and there are like for or five big ones in there. SOO cool. In my opinion, goldfish are the best type of fish out there.

[blackberry75]

If you want to cycle faster ask around your local aquarium club, someone will have extra media for super cheap pre seeded. Once I learned that, I always start a new tank with mulm or media from an established tank. Cuts cycling time in half for me, ymmv of course. We have great water for most freshwater fish here.

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[HermieBingo]

I started this topic roughly 2 months ago and now I need more help.

First of all, I have gotten new goldfish, which I named Theodore and Rosy, because i really like those names. They are slightly bigger, and are fancy goldfish. I got a snail, but he died within 2 or 3 days. Since then, i have cleaned it once, next cleaning soon.

But, right after the cleaning a whole lot of algea has grown on the decor, gravel, heater, and so on. I am going to get a sucker fish tomorrow to eat up the algae.

Does anyone know why all this algea popped up in like 3 days after cleaning?

Thx!

[JoeHermits]

Algae grows in the presence of both nitrogen and light. It happens. Adding more fish will add more fish waste, which will make it easier for algae to grow.


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[CrabbyLover77]

Just thought I'd add this:

https://www.thesprucepets.com/aquarium-algae-1379979

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