I was planning on storage tubs, and had 1 located, but not cleaned by the time they came home. (it had been used for bleaching flower pots and testing a disapointing floating solar fountain. and had brow algaeish gunk in the bottom and a big garden snail on the handle.-Those French people had to try to grow escargot in California, even though we rarely eat the stuff and it eats our gardens and produce. I think they should all come get their snails and take them back with them.) I was going to look for more, but they do seem relatively good in the guppy tank for now. I just don't know where the storage containers full of fish would go. I have netting that could help keep cats out, but I have very little floor space, especially near my tanks, and even less horixontal surface above the floor, especially if it has to be on something sturdy enough to hold 10 or more gallons of water.
I guess I really should give them more space though. The rescue fish really have less than a quarter of a gallon per fish if you divide their uncertain number by the 10 gallons I gave them.
I was wondering if I should have given them Cracker and Creamscicle's 20 gallons and moved my guys to the 10 g or My brother's pond. They haven't lost anybody from their pond since they lost all but 1 of their shubunkins, I think. It sounds like they're not particular about which fish I give them.
It is nice to see them swimming around randomly or bathing in bubbles insted of all sucking at the surface. Right now they look as good as most store feeder tanks, or better, considering that I almost always see some dead ones in store tanks, and I haven't seen a new dead one since before I burried the ones that died last night. Mom did get me some more bigger bubble stones, because she saw how much they appreciate them. i'll see what I can do about bigger storage tubs, but it is past bedtime for my sister, and she gets a bit cranky if we're in there messing with fish when she's suposed to be sleeping. (tells us to go away and turn lights off)
I want to figure out what's up with that wormy looking thing before moving them anywhere that could contaminate other fish. It could almost be a tiny shred of thin paper or plastic ribbon or thread or un frayed dental floss, but it does look likes it's coiled up inside the fishy's skin. i don't know if I should try to isolate the one or assume all have been exposed and could be carrying less obvious forms of the parasite. It's jus a little in front of the tail on one side. i have some anti parasite stuff, but I think it's mostly intended for ick, and I don't know if I need to treat them all, or precisely what they might have. i could try salt. I imagine I'll have to clean the tank well before putting the guppies back. I don't even know if a store should accept fish that might have parasites. I'll do some research tonight and try to make some calls early in the morning, well early for me anyway. It's really past time to sell some extra coreys anyway, and it wouldn't hurt to send a few guppies on with them.
It will be hard to choose which ones to keep. We lost most of the white ones, mostly with red caps. one had a red spot on each lobe of its tail and one had a red upper lip. I still have one with a red tail and hat. One is basically light orange with some white bands and mostly white face and belly, but with blood red streaks right around its mouth, but it looks more like pigment than an injury. It reminds me of a clown, and I keep trying to get a better look to see if that's the one that might have a slightly smaller fin on one side like Nemo. Another is almost cherry red with a white belly and some white on the fins. 3 are the light brownish yellow gold that I was considering because it's most different from the goldfish I already have and those all happen to be big enough that I know my guys won't eat them, but I don't know how much they'd let them eat. I've also looked to see if any might tur nout to be commets, like Creamscicle, who was also bought as a "feeder", but there isn;t much difference in their tails. They actually all look a little deeper forked that Cracker's tail, but I think Creamscicle's was much bigger at their age, except the littlest ones.
There is another feature to some of them that i'm curious about. I was even wondering if it could be breeding tuburcles for a while, but I don't think they're old enough for that. Some of them have thich solid looking white lomps between the eyes. It looks almost like eyebrows on the more extreme ones. It's even fairly atractive, especially on one of the bigger fish that is more reddish above and more yellow bellow. i really should get pics. Too late for the burried ones, but after the first pinkish dead one dried a bit I noticed it's eye looked like a pretty light blue.
a friend told me a couple of weeks ago that they were planning to use live goldfish as table decorations, and that I could have some if I wanted. I had to think about it, but decided it was not a great idea. She did have arrangements to sell most of them right back to the store, but a few went to new homes. While I was looking to see how cute they were and if any really wanted me to take them, I heard some things that eventually I couldn't even stick around listening to, although I did try to corrrect some of it. One reason I didn't take any was because my 2 goldfish are already crowded enough and are big enough to swallow some of the tiny feeders whole. When some kids were afraid of taking fish of very different sizes somebody ( who said he used to work at a pet store)told them "goldfish don't eat goldfish". I said they would if they could, and when I heard that they were not carnivores, I said they do eat earthworms, and some of those fish were smaller than your average worm. I told them how big mine were and warned one person they could get to be 12 inches long, and someone said they become koi at that point. part of what made me want to leave was a discussion between 2 people, 1 of which had used goldies to cycle water and test for diseases before putting in more expensive fish, and the other sounded like she'd never had a fish at all.ther were things like, "So a goldfish is the only kind of fish that can live like this?" ( meaning in a small bowl, without any filtration or aeration) I said they'd have to change the water a lot without filtration or aeration. I also heard that if you put a golfish in the same tank with any other kind of fish, the other fish will die, and that if you feed them too much they will explode. The one who uses them to cycle was trying to explain that she just feeds them once and they basically eat their poop aver day after that and don't need to be fed any more, only she was trying to be a little discreet and said they eat "the same thing" the next day, which the other person took to mean that they need a strict unvaried diet that never changes. I have mixed feelings about fish as decorations anyway. they are living creatures and should at least be treated reasonably humanely, but they are also just feeders in this case and it's not like there's any shortage of them in the world, and most were headed right back where they came from. I don't know if I should avoid this type of discussion in the future by not watching what happens when the decorative fish are done being decorations, or if I should get involved to try to help the little guys out if possible. 
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