Newbie With A Goldfish

[Gini]

My MIL just stopped here on her way home from a party. Apparently the fish loving (note the sarcasm here) folks who gave the party bought 20 or so fish for centerpieces and told people to bring them home (in bowls that hold a pint or less and with no food no less). She brought it here because she knows I love fish and thought I would know what to do with it. I think it is a common goldfish.

I have a 30 g hex tank with 4 rasboras, 2 rummy nose tetras, a neon tetra, a pleco, and another catfish that I can't remember the name of. My hubby and I debated long and hard which would be better, to put it into my tank to see how it does in there, or to keep it in its little tiny bowl. We finally came to the conclusion that putting it in the tank would be better. I looked it up in my fish book (which gives very little info) and it said that it could live at temps up to 77F. My tank is just about there, but never goes above that, so I went ahead and gave it a go. I know that quarantining it would have been a good idea but I couldn't bear to leave it in that little tank overnight even.

So, I don't know anything else about how to take care of a goldfish (and my only experience with them was when my dad got me three from the local discount store in a bowl when I was about 10 and they all died by the next day). It is 10 PM and I just don't have the time tonight to do research on it and decide what to do with it. Does anyone have any advice or can give me a quick primer on how to care for this fish so I don't kill it? Can it eat the flakes I have for my other tropical fish? Can it live in my tropical tank? How big will it get?

BTW, it seemed really happy when we put it in there. I tried to acclimatize it to the water and when I released it, all the other little fish swam over to it and they all checked each other out. Now it seems to be schooling with the rasboras.

Thanks in advance.
Tiara

PS BTW, i know that my fish need bigger schools than I have... it is a long story, but the tetras don't do well in my water, so all their buddies died off. I don't know what to do with the hardier ones, but I can't bear to put more in there with them, knowing that they won't live well in there...

 

[Tempestuousfury]

The goldfish should be fine at higher temps. It's just that their metabolism goes up, so they eat and defecate more and need more oxygen.

Goldfish are pigs and will eat anything they find palatable (meaning that the tropical flakes will be fine).

I'd get the guy out of the tank soon, just so you don't have the huge increase in the bioload. Also, depending on the size of the goldfish, it might be able to eat your neon...

If you could find someone with a pond, if you could find an lfs that would take him, or if for some reason you'd go to the trouble of providing the fish a good home but are willing to feed it to another animal, give him to someone with large piscivores.

 

[LucyHurst]

He probably would eat most of your fish, if the catfish you have are corydoras and he tries to eat them their spines get them lodged in the goldfishes throat and its not easy to get it out. So try and move him to a 20 gallon (minimum) tank.. or find someone with a pond who can take him.

 

[Gini]

He probably would eat most of your fish, if the catfish you have are corydoras and he tries to eat them their spines get them lodged in the goldfishes throat and its not easy to get it out. So try and move him to a 20 gallon (minimum) tank.. or find someone with a pond who can take him.

So, would a local lake be ok for him, or does it have to be a pond??? I don't really know anyone with a fish pond. It is hard to believe that cute, friendly, little fish is going to eat all my fish!!! I don't think I am up to buying a 20 g tank for a rescued fish.

Thanks for the responses.

 

[three-fingers]

NOT THE LOCAL LAKE. It is illegal and impacts wildlife greatly. You could esily wipe out other species of fish, all it would take for there to be one more goldfish in that lake or pond. Also quite often goldfish are at disadvantage becuase their colour make them stand out to predators.

Try find someone who has a tank or pond for a recued fish, try these forums.

if the catfish you have are corydoras and he tries to eat them their spines get them lodged in the goldfishes throat and its not easy to get it out.

That happened to me .

It is hard to believe that cute, friendly, little fish is going to eat all my fish!!!

Trust me, it happens. One of my goldfish ate 10 neons and a corydoras overnight. We had to take him to a friend in the lfs who rehomed him. At one point he was in a tank with some small pirhannas because there was no other tanks. He kicked their asses .

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

He probably would eat most of your fish, if the catfish you have are corydoras and he tries to eat them their spines get them lodged in the goldfishes throat and its not easy to get it out. So try and move him to a 20 gallon (minimum) tank.. or find someone with a pond who can take him.

So, would a local lake be ok for him, or does it have to be a pond??? I don't really know anyone with a fish pond. It is hard to believe that cute, friendly, little fish is going to eat all my fish!!! I don't think I am up to buying a 20 g tank for a rescued fish.

Thanks for the responses.

As far as i am aware its illegal to dump fish in public or private ponds or lakes, particually if they contain native fish (as goldfish will outcompete the native fish for food and space and will also eat any fish that fit into their mouths).

The best plan of action is to either dig yourself a suitably sized pond, or find someone with a suitable pond for the fish. A 20gal will be ok for a common goldfish for a while, but it will soon outgrow it (common goldfish can grow to 10inches+) and will eventually need something more like 50-75gals+ at the bare minimum.

If you only option is to have the goldfish in a bowl, its just simply far better to euthanise the fish than resort to that- the goldfish will die very slowly in a bowl. You cannot keep it in your current tropical tank as it will be capable (if not already) of consuming your smaller tropical fish in no time.

 

[Elliott 03]

I would get the goldfish out immediately. They very often carry disease and it could spread to your other fish. That's probably what happened with the ones your dad got you.

 

[three-fingers]

Just rehome it, someone on the forums will have a a tank or even better a pond that could do with a goldfish .

 

[Gini]

<sigh> It is such a cute little fish, lol. My husband was liking the idea of getting a 20 g tank to keep it in (I was just looking at craigs list to find one) but he wants to have more than one in it. It doesn't sound like a good idea to have more than one unless there we go for a huge tank (which we don't have room for and is why we are currently looking to rehome our pleco). So, I know my lfs will take fish, so I guess I will be calling them today.

So, all this sounds quite negative about goldfish... Why do people keep them? I have heard people on here talking about keeping them indoors, is that just a few people and most keep them in ponds?

Thanks for all the responses... I hope he doesn't have any diseases. Maybe the gods will look out for me, since I put him in there with the best intentions??? Why do people buy fish like they are disposable? And why would a fish store sell them to someone in those little bowls, knowing they were not going to a good home? That makes me so mad. Don't even get me going on the poor little Betta my work is slowly but surely killing!!! <sigh>

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

<sigh> It is such a cute little fish, lol. My husband was liking the idea of getting a 20 g tank to keep it in (I was just looking at craigs list to find one) but he wants to have more than one in it. It doesn't sound like a good idea to have more than one unless there we go for a huge tank (which we don't have room for and is why we are currently looking to rehome our pleco). So, I know my lfs will take fish, so I guess I will be calling them today.

So, all this sounds quite negative about goldfish... Why do people keep them? I have heard people on here talking about keeping them indoors, is that just a few people and most keep them in ponds?

Thanks for all the responses... I hope he doesn't have any diseases. Maybe the gods will look out for me, since I put him in there with the best intentions??? Why do people buy fish like they are disposable? And why would a fish store sell them to someone in those little bowls, knowing they were not going to a good home? That makes me so mad. Don't even get me going on the poor little Betta my work is slowly but surely killing!!! <sigh>

Yes it is a real shame that so many goldfish are sold at such small prices in such large quantities. The concept of "goldfish=bowlfish" has been around since as long as people have been keeping them indoors (which started to become popular in the 1920's and onwards), but the truth of the matter is that goldfish were specifically bred to be kept in ponds, not bowls or tanks.

The Japanese and Chinese only kept them in bowls to display them for short periods of time indoors (like when they were enteraining guests) to show them off to visitors, but were soon put back in their ponds afterwards. However, as i said before, they were specifically bred for pond life (their colors are just as stunning and vibrant when veiwed from above as when viewed from the side, unlike other species of fish like fancy guppys which were specifically bred to be best viewed from the side in an aquarium and not so much from above in a pond.

Thus, goldfish thrive best in ponds- the more streamlined types like comets, shubunkins and common goldfish particually so, as these are much more active than the fancier types and generally grow much larger and cope much better with temps near to freezing (where as many of the fancier types of goldfish prefer to live in more sub-tropical temps i.e. temps between 19 and 23 degree's).

In the 90's, it became really fashionable to use goldfish as decorations around the home, and there was a increase in all sorts of horribly designed (for the fish) tanks to display them in.
However, thankfully though now days, people are beginning to realise much more on the cruelty of keeping goldfish in bowls, especially without filtration. Some fish stores in various countries are beginning to refuse to sell bowls for goldfish, and some countries have banned the sale of them at fairs or as prizes.
It will be a long effort, but it will pay off as more people realise the problems of keeping goldfish in bowls as well as the issues of cruelty too.

Another problem which goldfish face in tanks is that they are very sociable fish- a lone goldfish is a sad goldfish. They were not bred to live alone in either ponds or tanks. Its best to keep them in groups, however with tanks, this often leads to great overstocking as many people are still unwilling to give these fish a better quality of life by supplying them with enough gallons to do this.
If you keep it in a 20gal, it will definately outgrow it both size wise as well as due to activity levels- a 20gal simply does not offer the fish enough space to excercise or roam freely enough, so a long tank is better than a tall one.

If you are going to be committed to keeping this goldfish in the best and most correct ways posible, my advice would be to get at least a 75 gal tank and get the goldfish two buddies (preferably either common goldfish, shubunkins or comet goldfish- the fancier types of goldfish are often too slow moving to compete for food and often end up getting bullied by these faster moving types of goldfish) to keep it company .

Goldfish can potentially live up to 40 years+ although most only live to 20 years old.
Strong/good filtration is essential for keeping goldfish as they produce a lot of waste. Diet is also very important too- goldfish find difficulty in digesting large quantities of dried or high protein foods (they poop a lot more when these are fed), so a diet consisting of a bit of veg (cooked and de-shelled pea's make a good addition to the diet) and proper goldfish foods (pelets are better than flakes as they tend not to go so stale so quickly) is good.
Frozen or live/fresh foods are better than dried ones- bloodworms will be readily accepted in particular and make a very healthy and natural addition to their diet. You should be able to obtain bloodworms from your lfs (local fish store) as well as numerous other frozen or fresh fish foods.

Substrate-wise, sand is better than gravel for two reasons- firstly, sand traps much less waste in it than gravel, which is important considering goldfish can poop a lot (trapped waste in gravel can rot quickly causing desease or water quality problems).
Goldfish like to spend a fair amoiunt of time looking for food in the substrate- usually in the wild, this would be mud, but sand makes a very good alternative. Gravel is ok, but goldfish can sometimes accidentally swallow gravel when looking for food in it which can be quite a serious problem.

Live plants can be a problem with the goldfish substrate searching instincts, as goldfish often end up up-rooting plants in this search and eating teh plants roots. Thus, you should either go for very hardy and virgous growing plants which will survive the goldfishes curiosity, or potted plants which teh goldfish cannot uproot, or just go for fake plants (preferably silk/fabric ones, as plastic ones can sometimes scratch fish) .

 

[three-fingers]

Goldfish are great fish to watch with character. Problem is 99.99% of people who keep goldfish keep them in the wrong conditions because they dont know better, including me.

I started off with 3 fancy goldfish and a hillstream loach in a 5 gallon(without cycling it)when i was eight .

All worked out in the end but i wish i had found somwhere like this to help me through those early learning days. All i could do is accept that what those damn goldfish books from petsmart said was the truth(really bad idea).

 

[Gini]

Thanks everyone for all the advice. The goldfish has been happily rehomed at our LFS... I think I am glad we didn't decide to give it a go with it... It would have been more than I was up for!!!