Goldfish Fancy

[Kithy]

Originally Posted by LittleBettaFish

Ugh for some unknown reason my cycled goldfish tank decided to crash. I noticed my goldfish were being unusually lethargic and were breathing quite heavily, but as temperatures have been high here I thought it was because of that.

This tank runs four internal filters chock full of media and has been stable for three or so years now so I didn't think to check my parameters until my biggest goldfish showed some red marks on his tail.

Ammonia level was at like 4ppm! pH is over 7 so I was freaking out. In the course of two days I removed around 150L from the tank and overdosed on Prime to hopefully give them (and me) some breathing space. As soon as I added the Prime (I had been using API stress coat previously as I was running low on Prime and needed to conserve it for my other tanks), they immediately perked up and started swimming around.

Luckily after a couple of very thorough gravel cleanings with my siphon and some rinsing out of the filter media in each filter the ammonia problem seems to have cleared up overnight. Going to keep my eye on things for the next couple of weeks but thankfully my poor arm and back can get a reprieve from lugging around 20L buckets full of water.

Does make you realise though just how much ammonia goldfish are capable of producing in an uncycled environment. If it had been any other fish I reckon they would have been dead or extremely sick but my goldfish have returned completely to normal.

Goldfish are thankfully hardy little things that really can take a lot of abuse in terms of water conditions. How people can keep them "for years" in tiny bowls is beyond me.

[LittleBettaFish]

Yeah I know. I feel like the most terrible fish mother seeing the ammonia burns on their tails. So terrible in fact, I let them have a whole bunch of hydrilla and hornwort to munch on last night.

I already feel bad enough that the tank I have is too small for the three goldfish (it's a 45 gallon and they are shubunkin) but I can't go bigger and if I re-home them they will probably end up in a worse situation.

I honestly don't know how people just sit there and let their fish (often visibly) suffer. Makes me sick. I think bettas and goldfish have to be the two worst treated fish in the whole industry.

[thekoimaiden]

Originally Posted by finnfinnfriend

Thanks for the care tips!

How would this be for a couple of fancies?

37 Gallon Aquarium » Top Fin® Aquarium Starter Kit | PetSmart

For just two I think it would be fine, but really the bigger you can go the better.

LBF, you are entirely correct. Bettas and goldfish get the shortest end of the stick in fishkeeping. But only because they are hardy. You don't see people stuffing discus into 10 gallon tanks. I wish people would realize that just because something CAN live in a bad environment doesn't mean they SHOULD.

And you are a good fishy mother! I'm sure they will forgive you! Especially after giving them all those greens to munch on!

[LittleBettaFish]

Haha I had a breeders' box full of duckweed to help bring down some of the ammonia in the tank and every time I looked over they were at the bottom of it trying to break in.

They never used to eat their greens until I left some hornwort in their tank and they stripped it to the stem. I am still trying to get them to take lettuce. I can't find kale anywhere and when I did have some growing my mum sprayed it with pesticides so I didn't want to feed them that. Got any suggestions on other yummy snacks for goldfish? I've been feeding them mostly NLS goldfish pellets along with frozen bloodworms/brine shrimp and live blackworms as treats but wanted to try to get them to take more greens as well.

[thekoimaiden]

Mine like chopped up pieces of zucchini and the occasional orange slice. I don't usually prepare a whole orange or zucchini just for them; I'll give them some pieces when we have them at dinner. They also like to pick at spinach leaves that I clip into the aquariums. And snails... man do they like to pick off small pond snails.

[LittleBettaFish]

When we had goldfish back when I was a kid my mum went and bought this quite large snail from the local fish store. I think it cost a fair amount for a snail.

Anyway she got home and dropped it into the tank, and within about a second one goldfish came up and swallowed it whole.

I think sometimes the water flow in my tank is so strong my fish just sit 'downstream' waiting for food to come past them haha. I will try some spinach and we have some zucchini. They have sort of learned to nibble and pull on the plants so hopefully they should get the gist of how to eat it.

[FishyFishy89]

Anyone ever done a DIY canister filter? I'm tinkin about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVWqq73mW_4

[thekoimaiden]

I'm not the DIY type person. I'm just not that handy. That and my 2 AQ 70's are working fine for me right now.

Oh ya! I wanted to let you guys know I did a write up on goldfish breeds (including some rare and uncommon ones). It comes with plenty of pictures for comparison. This should help more people determine what breeds their goldfish are. And when all else fails I just call goldfish a fantail. --> Lol try this link now: Gold fish breeds

[Olympia]

Guy on the left is like FACE SMASH.

Also the links you post never seem to work when I click them but I don't have trouble finding the article. xD

[LittleBettaFish]

I know people are often very endeared to fancy strains of goldfish but I hope to God bettas never end up taking such an extreme path. Then again I am probably rather biased keeping wilds and killies.

I admit that do have a soft spot for pearlscales when they are small, but some of the big ones look like golfballs with fins.