What Were Your Reasons For Goldfish Keeping And Circumstances Etc?

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Just a curiosity thread, but i was wondering what other people's reasons were for getting into goldfish keeping here and the circumstances/situation they had when they first started out, like the size tank set up you kept your goldfish in when you first started out or still do etc.
My goldfish are some of the most favorite fish i own- i only keep comet and common goldfish, but i find them very enchanting, fascinating and "cheerful" fish to own . My first two original goldfish (which i still have) were an orange and white comet and common goldfish. I basically adopted them off a guy who was bored of them and once i had them, kept them in a 30gal tall hex tank for a quite a while before moving them into a 125gal tank in october last year and buying some more comet and common goldfish buddies for them to socialise with.
At around 3inches long when i first got them, the original comet goldfish is 8 1/2inches long and the common is 8 3/4inches long and still growing at a steady pace! If anyone tells you goldfish don't grow big, they don't know what they are talking about ! I will try to get some pics of them and my other goldfish here soon .

So, how your goldfish keeping stories and experiences? Any pics of your goldies are much appreiciated too .

 

[ITHURTZ]

When I was in 3rd grade I got 2 fantails in a 10gallon. In 4th grade they got moved up to a 20gallon. I think I only had them for little over 2 years. Mainly due to I never did water changes, gravel vacs etc. I had a hot magnum filter on it, but probably cleaned it out once a month. Sometimes the water was REALLLY dirty. I was what 10 yo or something so I cant blame myself for that. Only now I know about gravel cleaning, water changes etc. My version of cleaning back then was scrubbing everything spic and span, putting it back in and filled her up.

I guess I got goldfish back then cause they were colorful. Iv got 3 commons and 1 comet now because
1. white common is my sisters she won from a carnival 3-4 years ago and spent it life in a 1gallon tank until last summer.
2. 2 other commons and 1 comet where bought as feeder fish to feed to the snappers I used to have

I bought a calico fantail because when I saw it at the per store he wasnt even .75" long, and thought I would add some color to the tank instead of 1 white, 3 orange.

I needed more color so thats how I got the 3 tin foils in there now. Pleco is for regular maintence. All in all goldfish are easy to take care of, evem if the water isnt 100% perfect all the time. If I put my face close to the tank, the white one likes to stare at me. They are in a 55gal now, and if I could find a way put them in a 675gallon tank . Otherwise they will be moved to a 250gallon tank before fall hits hopefully.

Heres the most recent vid of them, I have the air wands turned off right now, but the power head is still going. The red cap oranda is dead now because yesterday the heater was stuck on and left the water nearly 90 degrees, hard boiled fish. All the other fish seem to be doing ok right now
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImuEtmW2Frc

Look at vids from the user and you can see the other vids

 

[fishypower_361]

well i saved my first goldfish from the horrors of.......THE FISH BOWL!!!!!! sadly i think it was too late. it had lived in the fish bowl for 4-5 years and probably alredy had organ problems, died about 6 months after the rescue. now i have two gold fish nemo and dory>_<, original names, no ?

 

[RandomWiktor]

My two, Tangaloor and Grizraz, came from a feeder tank. I used to buy 10 dying goldfish for 10 cents from the big feeder tanks so they wouldn't get eaten alive or stuck to the filter at my LFS. I'd put them in a big aerated tank until they died, which usually only took a few hours. However, Tangaloor and Grizraz survived. I of course then had a problem because - uh oh, sudden 20 year commitment! Needless to say, I stopped doing the goldfish hospice after that.
At any rate, they sadly each had to stay in a 5g tank for a few months up at college, since it was the maximum tank size permitted. When I came home, they moved into a 30g together because I foolishly thought the "20g for the first fish, 10 for each after that" applied to commons! Hah!
Now the two of them are each 10" long three year olds living in a 75g aquarium. When they outgrow that, they'll be moving into a 300g plastic indoor pond.
They recently had babies - unintentionally. I usually get all the eggs out on time, but these got sucked into the filter and hatched. There are 11 babies total. One is probably going to have to be euthanized due to a severe jaw deformity that is worsening with age, and one I will keep because it has a (less severe) deformity but will be unsuitable for pond keeping. The others are going to be going to a friend upstate who is making a very large pond for them. Presently they are only about 2" long but growing FAST.

EDIT: Here's pics of my goldies and their current set-up.

The 75er. Plants are a little messy since they tear them up whenever they mate (which is way too often).

Tangaloor Firefins. The black marking over his lip is hyper-pigmentation from a re-curring injury he recieved from fighting during last mating season. All healed, but boy does his face look silly now.

Grizraz. She has a little bit of a chewed up lip in this pic too, again from fighting (this time over food). I'd really hate to see what these guys could do to some poor fancy; part of the reason I have so many plants in the tank is so they can't build up momentum to ram each other!

Here's an old pic of some of the fry eating. They've gotten MUCH bigger since then.

And here's one of the fry at 1" - much bigger now!

 

[t1tanrush]

Had a few when I was young, all died when sugar got in the tank... Got another one a few years back at a carnival type deal, goldfish bowl gogo! It died. Put a bunch in a 10g= they all died. From then on I really gave up on trying to actually keep a goldfish. I have somewhere over 50 downstairs in a large container, but they are strictly feeder fish. Sometime I would love to own a few large commons, but thats a bit far off...

 

[cuticom]

I have a thing for overly aggressive tropical fish, and goldfish are such nice peaceful fish. The first time I got goldfish was when I was 6, they lived in an 8g tank, I had 4 so it was kinda crowded. Anyway this time I decided to do it properly, a pair of fancies, 60g tank, 10 x filtration and a homemade filter crammed with biomedia. Right now theres 4 fish, 3 stunted commons who are moving to their new 250g pond tomorrow and a one inch long black moor named onyx. I have a little rescued lionhead in quarantine while he heals from what appears to be ammonia burns across his sides.

I adore goldfish, they're such nice peaceful happy creatures LOL.

 

[timmystood]

Basically my biggest tank freed-up and straight away I knew I wanted Goldfish! Currently have 4 Ryukin's in a 240 litres with 7 weather loaches and I love the tank! It's by far the best tank I have! So interesting to watch them. I have a larger pair (brother and sister) and then two smaller males (one of which was a Calcio Ryukin but as since transformed colour to match the red of the others!).

The only sad news is that the male of the larger pair has a tumour

 

[DevUK]

I got a coldwater tank as my first tank and it was far too small for goldfish. After a lot of reading and asking questions I got myself a 70L tank last year and have 1 gorgeous fancy veil/fantail (still not decided) with some minnows and danios. I've been going through lots of changes getting better things, re-scaping and some planting recently and I think things are going well. Going to add a few more minnows and danios soon I think.

I love to sit and watch the tank. It really takes the stresses of work/life away

Some quick vids of my tank:

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WPxzbE6dMc

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=tglhx9ItDqQ

(camera phone "quality")