Coldwater Stocking

[ltb11uk]

So at the moment I've got an empty 42 us gallon tank. It's currently got white gravel and a black paper background, It's currently getting cycled by 'NutraFin Cycle' and after that, I will be adding an internal filter, then adding some filter start to the filter and letting it run for the treating procedure, then not until I get home from my holiday, so about 2 weeks, will I be adding fish.

I was thinking goldfish, but I am unsure, any ideas?

 

[fishguy2727]

Depending on water changes you could only have 2-4 goldfish in there. Not a bad option, but would require large weekly water changes to keep the nitrate concentration under 20ppm.

I do not think all those magical products are as effective as the manufacturers claim. At the very least treat the tank as uncycled unless you do a proper fishless cycle using actual ammonia.

What filter are you going to use?

The good thing is that there are many fish that can thrive in room temp that many people don't think about. Many of these are thought of as tropical fish but actually can do at least as well at room temp, if not better. These include: platy, molly, swordtail, guppy, zebra danio (including gold, blue, leopard, all L/F varieties, and glofish), gold barbs, cherry barbs, checkerboard barbs, rosy barbs, white cloud mountain minnows, bristlenose plecos, dojo/weather loaches, and many others. This means that even if goldfish are not the best option, there are many others.

 

[ltb11uk]

My main worry is I am unsure of which goldfish are considered 'fast' and which slow. I read that the fast ones will always beat the slower to the food, which will result in death via starvation or stress for the slow fish

 

[fishguy2727]

There are two main types of goldfish, round-bodied and long-bodied. Long-bodied is the wild type, this is the type that goes in a pond and includes comets, sarassas, shubunkins, etc. Round-bodieds are also called fancy and are the usual for aquariums, including fantails, ryukins, orandas, ranchus, telescopes, etc. The round-bodieds may vary in speed, but are usually considered slow. The long-bodieds are the faster types. That tank is not large enough for any long-bodieds, they are much more active and need a lot more space.

 

[ltb11uk]

There are two main types of goldfish, round-bodied and long-bodied. Long-bodied is the wild type, this is the type that goes in a pond and includes comets, sarassas, shubunkins, etc. Round-bodieds are also called fancy and are the usual for aquariums, including fantails, ryukins, orandas, ranchus, telescopes, etc. The round-bodieds may vary in speed, but are usually considered slow. The long-bodieds are the faster types. That tank is not large enough for any long-bodieds, they are much more active and need a lot more space.

Hmm.. What type goldfish would be the largest to put in there? I'd be looking for two to put in.

 

[fishguy2727]

Any of the fancies will be fine.