Will One Remaining Goldfish Get Lonely?

[funky_munky602]

Hi, I aquired goldfish (from our decorator!) about 4 years ago. The tank (128 litres I think - it's a 3 foot long clearseal tank) had four goldfish in it and a dojo loach. I put 2 of the goldfish in my Dad's pond as they were shubunkins and I thought the tank was overcrowded. They have since grown amazingly well and all the fish seemed to be much happier for the extra room. So then I had one comet, one fantail and the dojo loach in the tank. A couple of weeks ago the fantail starting looking generally off-colour. Then it began flipping upside down but would swim around upright whenever I approached the tank. I started treating the tank for swimbladder but unfortunately it only got worse. Eventually it was permanently upside down and then sank to the bottom and died on 30th October After I removed him, I did a 10 litre waterchange. However I'm worried about the comet as he has always lived with other goldfish. Apparently he was around 2 when I got him, so that would make him around 6. He is around 6 inches including the tail (about 3 inches) and the loach is around 5 inches.

The tank water is:
pH - 7.2
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5

The tap water is:
pH - inbetween 7.2 and 7.6 on the chart
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5

I dechlorinate with aquasafe and change the water (10 litres) every week. I have a fluval 3 and an airpump. I rinse out one pad of the filter every two weeks in the old tank water I remove and do the other pad two weeks later. I remove algae from the filter as necessary with a toothbrush just used for the fish.

As my other goldfish is quite big I don't want to overcrowd the tank. Would he be okay on his own (with the loach) or does he need the company of another goldfish? If so, what variety would you recommend and what size? Let me know if you need any more details. Thank you very much.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Hi and welcome to the forum !

To be honest the comet would be better off the in the pond, however if you live in the uk it is probably too cold to move him outdoors now (i live in somerset, and my pond is currently only 10 degree's C warm, too cold to move indoor goldfish outdoors), comets generally fair better in ponds as they are large growing goldfish which easily have the potential to grow to over 15inches+ long or longer.
I am afraid your comets growth has probably been stunted a bit if he's only 6inches long at 6years old since a 128litre tank is not large enough for a comet goldfish in the long term, however, one more winter in the tank probably won't make much difference now to the goldfish, but i would advise moving the goldfish into your dad's pond next year in the spring as soon as the ponds temp gets warm enough (i.e. ideally no more 3-4degree's cooler than your goldfish tanks temp) .

Goldfish do definately enjoy the company of their own kind though, i think it would be safe to get 1 or 2more comet or common goldfish (best not to go for fancy varieties as they sometimes get bullied by non-fancy variety goldfish like comets and commons since non-fancy goldfish are a lot faster and more agile swimming fish than the fancy variety goldfish) which are 3-4inches long if you get one more filter for the tank (since goldfish tanks benefet from being over-filtered a bit since goldfish are high waste producing fish which enjoy strongly oxygenated tanks) and increase the size of the water changes you do to about 30litres+ once a week (larger waterchanges are definately more beneficial in goldfish tanks) if you plan on moving all of the goldfish into your fathers pond next spring .
If you plan though on keeping the comet as an indoor fish for the rest of its life though it would be much better to upgrade the tank to something around 80gallons long (preferably measuring 48" x 24" x 18") or more and then only get 1 or 2 buddies, since the goldfish would definately benefet from having a larger tank, even though the goldfishes growth has currently been stunted (it should be larger at 6years old), even at this stage a tank upgrade could encourage the goldfish to start growing again and it may grow to 10inches+ even at its age . Non-fancy varieties of goldfish like Comet goldfish can live to over 30years old, so they are proper long term committment goldfish .

 

[funky_munky602]

Thank you very much for your reply! I guess I've got a lot to think about! Well Brian seems fairly happy about the moment, swimming around and getting extremely excited whenever I come anywhere near the tank - anticipating food. I have no idea whether he is a boy or a girl, perhaps we should have chosen a unisex name

I guess after christmas we need to decide whether we can afford a new larger tank or whether he is going to join his buddies in Dad's pond - a 2.5 hour drive, but we moved two tanks from there last year in September, the goldfish tank and a tropical including an angelfish and lots of small fish (e.g. tetras) with no problems. Unfortunately we lost the angelfish a few months back but him and the other goldfish are the only ones in a couple of years, so everything seems fairly stable. He would be okay in a pond now after living all his life in a tank? The pond can freeze over in cold winters - my Dad lives in North Yorkshire, although we haven't lost any fish. I just though a comet would be slightly more fragile than a common or shubunkins that are in the pond already?

What would be the best way to move him if I did? To move him down he was put in a bucket full of his own tank water covered with tinfoil and clingfilm and sellotape (to keep it dark and sealed) and put in some holes. It's amazing how much buckets and styrofoam boxes you can fit in a fiesta along with a 3ft and 4ft tank and cabinet and accessories!

Unfortunately I do not think we possess a tapemeasure in the house to measure the tank properly, all I know is that it's a 3ft clearseal. Was I right in thinking it's about 30 gallons? Not sure if this is US or UK though. I will pick one up a measure when possible. I would love a new bigger tank if we can afford it, of course - students! We negotiated about keeping the fish with the landlord who probably thought we had a goldfish in a bowl!

I actually upgraded the filter from a smaller one so I could just put in both?! - Not sure why I didn't think of that!

Well I think the best idea for now is to get him a common friend and look into another tank or transfering them to my Dad's and visiting! Will miss them lots but if they're better off there then that's okay.

Thanks again for your advice

 

[funky_munky602]

Hi, just wanted to check - if I got a 6x2x2 tank or even 5x2x2 would a comet be happy in that for the rest of its life with one buddy? There are so many different opinions on what size they should be in, I just want what's best for him (or her!) Thank you!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Hi, just wanted to check - if I got a 6x2x2 tank or even 5x2x2 would a comet be happy in that for the rest of its life with one buddy? There are so many different opinions on what size they should be in, I just want what's best for him (or her!) Thank you!

A 5x2x2 would be adequate but a 6x2x2 would be even better, you could probably have 4-5 comets or commons in a 5x2x2, and 6-7 in a 6x2x2- such large tanks would also be good for other coldwater and sub-tropical goldfish-compatable fish like dojo loaches too .
I have 9 goldfish in my 125gallon tank, however they were never intended to be permanent residents (9 common and comet goldfish would be too many for such a tank in the long run), they were supposed to go into my pond this year but the weather we experienced in my part of the country made it too cold to do this, so it looks like they'll be experienceing another winter indoors, but hopefully once spring comes along near year and warms up they can go in my pond .

 

[funky_munky602]

Thank you, I'm still looking - everything seems to be in the wrong half of the country, either that or I need a bigger car! Good luck with your goldfish - I guess when you say gallons, you mean UK gallons?