Fish

[ShrekDawg]

So most people probably don't remember and I'm not even sure if I officially about it, maybe just one post asking a question about some of them?, but anyway, I got 6 goldfish back in late January/early February of this year and figured I would post an update.

So two of them died pretty early on, sadly, but the rest are thriving and are now quite big!

There was one grey one who I assumed would stay grey forever but was informed he should eventually turn orange and sure enough he is finally starting to slowly turn orange!

So here are pictures from when I first got them. OLD PICS.



And here are pictures of them now. The colors don't really show up very well here but they are bright orange not dull

New pics



They were really friendly at first but now are pretty shy since I don't really hang out near the tank much now :/ they do however come running (swimming?) for food! In that regard they are getting more social. The grey one used to hide while the others ate but now he eats too. When they see me grab the food container they come over and don't dart away when I drop it in now. They are also now finally eating the medium pellets instead of the small ones. I was giving them both at first but now they won't even touch the small ones. This is a new development within the last couple weeks. I am glad they are finally eating the medium pellets.

Eventually they might go in a pond or I might just upgrade them to a bigger tank.

 

[pineapple416]

Cute fish! I was worried at first that you were going to feed them to the chickens!

 

[ShrekDawg]

Cute fish! I was worried at first that you were going to feed them to the chickens!

Thank you! And nope, I could never do that! When I bought them, they were sold as feeder fish so pretty cheap and tbh I bought them on an impulse but now I love them. I thought I still had a tank at home from my last fish which is part of why I got them, but when I realized I didn't, I put them in a huge fish bowl temporarily and bought a tank for them ASAP. Have also bought the filter and rocks, most of the decor I already had. Anyway, I've been trying to take the best care of them

 

[ShrekDawg]

@oldhenlikesdogs in case you wanted an update on the fish

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I was wondering how they were doing. I recently brought mine in from outside, they are big fat fish. Love my goldfish, they are long lived pets.

Are yours getting bigger yet? Do they immediately start smacking for food at the surface when they see you?

 

[ShrekDawg]

@oldhenlikesdogs yeah, sadly it's getting colder i love mine too and hope they live a long time.

And well, i over did it with the pictures but the last set with the rocks in the tank are new ones from yesterday. The first half is from when i first got them. So IMO they have grown a bit. They're probably a couple to few inches long now? Idk. And taller if that makes sense.

And no they don't but they swim over at least haha

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Once they get bigger they start to recognize you and will follow you. I'm happy it's getting colder though this week is back to warm, yuck.

You can feed your goldfish some peas for a varied diet. I buy frozen peas, put some in a dish, add hot water and than pinch and squeeze the outer skin off. If the peas is softer it's good to go, break it up into to pieces and feed, if they are a bit hard than microwave them a bit until a bit softer. The bigger your fish the less you need to worry about softening. Mine gobble them up whole. It may take a day or two for them to taste them but than you can feed them instead of flakes as often as you want. Your little fish are probably good with 2-3 peas initially.

Goldfish do get vertically thicker as well as longer, so I understand what you are saying. They look really good.

My older goldfish I have had since 2003, they are like dogs that live longer and don't need to be let out.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Yeah, I think they're just kinda skittish cause I haven't really been hanging out by their tank at allcand plus I have lots of stuff in front of the table their tank is on atm so ya. But I actually paid attention to their behaviour today and turns out they do recognize me lol I went over to unplug the fan and turn the light on instead and they all swam over. They thought I was going to feed them, I guess since that's the only interaction I have with them lately, so I did. They get spooked when I put the food back down or move but they go crazy if they think I'm feeding them.

Here's a video. I hadn't even picked up the food yet

Also I was wrong about the size. They have to be at least 3 inches now, maybe even 4. They're bigger than I thought hah 2 are huge and 2 others are smaller but still pretty big.



I like fall but I don't like much colder or snow haha althougg i hate the heat too. I love the holiday season mostly lol

And thanks, I'll have to try that!! They seem to like the pellets but I'm sure they would love some variety like peas. They don't really like flakes but I haven't tried in a while

Yeah, looking at them, I realized they've probably gotten more taller and thicker than longer though they've grown too. And thank you! They seem to be doing well too though I need to add water.

The gray one seems to be chasing some of the smaller ones I just noticed. Doing that pushing from underneath thing... do you think that means it's a boy and the others are girls? But one other seems to be big as well.. do I have two boys and two girls? Never see the other doing chasing though but maybe he is not in charge or maybe it's just a bigger girl.

Longer lived dogs, I like that lol they really do have such personality! How long do they live for?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

They are excited to see you and the food. The bigger they get the more apparent the behavior is.

Sounds like they were trying to spawn which can happen when the water temperature rises. The males chase the females while bumping their underside which stimulates the release of eggs. Mine generally just gobble the eggs up afterwards.

When they get bigger and older, male goldfish will develop what looks like grains of salt on their gill covering which can help you see who's a male. Females generally get deeper bodied but not always. I seem to always have more males than females.

Mine are so big I need to feed them, close the lid, than get away or I will get splashed with water pretty good.

 

[ShrekDawg]

That's good to know they're excited to see me and don't hate me

Yeah, they're near a window so that's probably why. I open it with a fan at night cause it gets down to 60s and even 50s now but heats back up in the day before I wake up (usually 11 or noon) so the heat probably warms the tank water? Plus the fact I haven't added new water in a little while.

Thanks, that's helpful!! So how old do they have to be to be able to tell? I'm assuming much older and bigger?

Hahah oh wow that's kinda funny