Gold fishes-What did I do wrong?

[patandchickens]

If you are on well water you do not need dechlorinating drops (unless you bleach your well some time, or you have someone replace an inline water filter and they put a chlorine tablet in 'to clean your pipes afterward', or things like that).

When you say your filters died before -- were they air pump based, or over-the-back power filters? It is possible that the pumps did not die, just needed a good whack or cleaning. In particular, inexpensive outside filters sometimes lose their prime after power outage and just 'hum' unless reprimed, or the magnet needs to be whacked a bit to get it spinning again, and sometimes people think those are broken when that ahppens.

You won't need to worry about the whole bleach issue once you have a tank and filter, as you will not be taking things out and emptying the tank. Do a partial water change as needed, vacuum up the gunge that collects on the bottom, and you'll be good ad infinitum.

I am not convinced flakes vs pellets matters much, what matters is DO NOT OVERFEED. Just cuz they swim around like crazy when they see you approaching to feed them does not mean you needed to feed them more often. However much you put into the fish must also come OUT of the fish, in the form of water-quality problems!

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[McCord6]

they are air pump based filter

Here it is...

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10291765

 

[can you hear me now?]

Well I am late to answer and you prolly got these answers anyway but here goes. If you have well water you don't need the dechlorinating drops. If they were an issue it would have to do with washing with the bleach. Here is what I recommend for a ten gallon setup. You can usually find the whole setup with filter and all at walmart. This will already have the light and filter and not sure buy maybe gravel as well. I like to keep a self sustaining tank so I usually have a plecosthemus in all of my tanks as well, but they will need food(algae pellets)in the beginning. The other important thing is stress coat. It comes in a little bottle and is about 6 bucks at walmart. It will have the instructions on it for how much to add when you put it in. This is important with new setups and new fish. It helps them not stress so badly. Honestly what I think happened when you reintroduced the goldfish to the bowl the water temperature difference shocked and killed them. If you plan to do water changes at all I recommend only changing about 25% of the water at a time every week. If you sustain them and keep the filter cleaned you probably won't have to change it at all. I sure don't know everything but I have kept and still keep my share of aquariums. I have a 75 gallon aquarium at the moment and until my wife accidentally shocked my fish i had two red belly pihrannas. In any event good luck and if I helped at all I am glad I did. If not all is good anyway.

 

[ducks4you]

Bleach kills more fish than ANYTHING else. I heard of someone who moved out of the house and left their goldfish in a tank WITHOUT a bubbler and no food, but algae, and the fish were still Thriving. Goldfish do not need a high amount of oxygen, but they're very adapatable to temperature changes and oxygen changes. I keep them in my 110-gallon horse tank to eat the mosquito larvae during Spring, Summer, Fall, and they grow and thrive with NO CARE. The only time I've lost them is to use water with chlorine. Even a small amount interjected into a large amount of water without chlorine has killed my fish in the past.

 

[wombat]

It was probably either residual bleach from the cleaning or the temperature change that did them in.

I do agree with the other posters, though; an aquarium would be a better environment than a fishbowl.

If you do rinse with bleach, rinse everything five times. It's more the number of rinse cycles that matter than the rinse volume. I've used bleach for sanitizing my aquariums, and I also use it for sanitizing my beer brewing equipment. Repeated rinsing is very important when you use bleach.

 

[McSpin]

I'll preface this by letting you know that I breed and sell fish for a living. I maintain over 500 large aquariums full of fish. I remember back when I was 7 years old and tried keeping goldfish in the same situation you describes. They never lasted long. I have some now that are over 30 years old and going strong.

You can keep almost any species in a small tank, but it will stunt both their growth and life span. Goldfish can easily live 50 years or longer in ideal conditions. Some will grow to 18" or larger and require a minimum or 20-30 gallons per fish, minimum. How long you can keep them alive in substandard conditions varies with the exact conditions. Tank size is only one factor, filtration is another and more importantly is the amount and quality of food. This is why one person can have moderate success while another fails much quicker in what seems like similar conditions.

Bleach should never be used to clean anything being put into an aquarium. You shouldn't even wipe things down with a sponge. Vital nitrifying bacteria coats all the surfaces and you're simply washing it down the drain. Tanks can be kept without filtration, but it will put far more stress on the fish, especially such a small tank. The larger the tank, the less important filtration is. A small sponge filter which can be buried in the substrate, will do wonders for the water quality. Cleaning the tank should amount to changing 50% of the water once a week and gently squeezing out the sponge filter once every 3-4 weeks. If you have an algae problem, get an algae eating fish to take care of it. I've kept aquariums going for over 30 years without anything but a regular water change and sponge filter rinsing and they have remained crystal clear and completely gorgeous.

Well water does not need to be dechlorinated. It may help to let it sit in a bucket for 24 hours before changing water with it. This allows it to de-gas and for the pH to stabilize.

I hope this helps some.

 

[ducks4you]

I guess my horses help me to change their water! (I refill it with well water.) Actually, the 13 (out of 15) feeder fish survivers this year are going to a friend's pond after Thanksgiving. I'm always amazed at how some of them will triple in size from April to November. Thanks for the fish facts.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Sounds like some good advice already given. Pat gave me a bunch of info when I started up my ten gallon tank!

Goldfish need approx. ten gallons each to live happily. A lot of people tend to think that goldfish will grow to the size of the tank they are in, but this is actually not true. Fish release chemicals that stunt their growth. With enough water changes, a goldfish could grow very large in a smaller tank. Changing the water cycles out the chemicals that stunt their growth, which makes it appear they grow to match the size of the tank. This stunting is not healthy at all for the fish, because their internal organs still tend to grow at a normal rate. When large organs are stuffed into a small body, its just not good for the fish.

Petsmart usually has some good sales on fish tanks. You could probably get a nice 20 gallon with a hood for 30 or 40 dollars. The filters are a bit more pricey. Unfortunately keeping fish can be a pricey hobby! I foudn this out just setting up my ten gallon. All in all, I probably spent close to $100 getting it going, and that included food, decorations, filter, and the lightbulbs for the hood. You don't have to get fancy with decorations though. You can get some gravel and go out rock hunting. Clean the rocks up nice and boil them if you can and stick them in the tank. A new tank should be cycled for at least four weeks...six is even better. This means that there should be no fish in the tank at all. You actually do not need fish to get the tank going, but you should add a sample of fish water because the fish feces will really get the cycle going. Throughout these six weeks, you will notice the tank get very cloudy and then it will clear up. This is the tank cycling and it is a good sign. After six weeks, you can add fish. If you are only getting two goldfish, then you can add them at the same time, but any more than two and they should be added in groups of two or three at a time with two weeks to a month in between adding new fish. Your tank will need time to accomodate the increase in fish waste.

A properly cycled tank that is not overstocked will rarely, if ever need to be totally cleaned. I usually vacuum the gravel in my tank every now and then and do water changes every other week. My tank is crystal clear and fairly low maintenance. However, when starting it up, it took a bit more care and I had to watch for ammonia spikes which would harm my fish.

I've always wanted a goldfish tank, but currently I don't have the money or space needed for one. I've always loved the fancy calico goldfish with the fantails. When done properly, a fishtank can be very enjoyable! I just think too many people see fish as a "throw away" animal and don't give them the proper care they need. Those 25 cent goldfish can turn into beautiful, beautiful fish when cared for properly!

 

[ducks4you]

Glad for all of the advice. Youngest DD is going away to Law School next year and she says that she'd like some fish to keep her company. Now, I have a better idea of what extra equipment my little 10 gallon tank needs. Any suggestions as to what fish to get, now that we know how much water they need?

 

[silkiechicken]

Good luck. There is sound advice in this thread. I have two 12 cent gold fish that didn't get eaten as feeders so got put in a 30 gallon tank... and I need to upgrade them. They are about 8 inches long now and live outside in the summer. This is their third winter inside to give an idea of how fast they grow.

Personally, 10 gallon tanks are good for hamsters and mice. I'd go with 20 for a starter, but that's just me.