Goldfish

[Kirsty]

My friend has recently brought a 53 litre tank. The tank was running about a week and she has added two 'fancy' (not sure what type) goldfish. One has been bullying the other and the LFS advised her to buy another one.
My question is this, as the tank has not cycled yet was it a good idea to go with two fancy goldfish initially? And is the LFS wrong in advising another fish as the tank is not cycle and surely it will cause ammonia levels to rise?

 

[WILDER]

Lfs so annoying if i were you i would take them all back to the lfs for giving bad advice, you need at least a 30 gal for two fancy goldfish as they are big waste producers and the filter in that size tank won't be up to the job.

 

[Kirsty]

anyone else got any advice?

 

[Joby]

Wilder is correct. Goldfish are messy critters and heavy filtration is required plus lots of room. Your friend does not need another fish in there at all so your lfs has given very bad advice. Fish seem to bully other fish at times, hopefully they will settle down with eachother as they are new.

Water changes need to be done frequently to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels down while the tank cycles. I cycled a 96 litre tank with 6 goldfish before I knew anything about keeping fish but it took daily 25% water changes for weeks till the tank finally cycled and I lost 4 fish out of 6. As it happens 2 was just about pushing the limits of my tank so I guess that should have told me something at the time

See if you can get your friend to read the pinned topics on keeping coldwater fish as it should help her

 

[bribones]

twos company threes definetly a crowd in a tank that size
how does your friend define bullying might just be that theres a male and female in there and mr goldfish is being a tad over zelouse )

 

[Kirsty]

My friend is the sort of person that wont take advice. She has now lost one, it had a very large white spot on it before it died.
Is this because her tank was not up to the job?

 

[ctabuk]

Hi Kirsty, if your friend won't take advice, show her this thread!
Ask her to join and ask the 'experts' directly