[Pucky21811]

Hey everyone! I usually talk about my bettas that I keep up at college with me here, but I now have a question about my two goldfish (Shamrock and Jazz) that are at home. Though they are both carnival fish they are approximately 5 years old and have grown big, despite the notorious knowledge of carnival fish not lasting very long. We lost a third goldie about two years ago, so we're left with the two.

I'm really the only one who will take care of them: aside from feeding, when I'm home it is always my chore to do a full clean of their 20 gal tank. I know, its small, but its the best we can do for now. The tank is filtered, but of course still gets dirty. Sometimes they go over 6 weeks without a tank cleaning while I'm at school.

I am going to take summer classes and I was wondering if I could possibly invest in snails or another bottom feeder fish to pop in there with them to eat up the algae and anything gross. I will rarely be home all summer and I would like to know they are being taken care of.

MY Question: Is that what species are safe for goldies that would eat some gross stuff? Or would some device or cleaning thing that we could buy be more advisable? Let me know :3

Thank you!
Pucky

 

[Bombalurina]

Not a good idea. Anything you add will simply increase the bioload of an already overstocked tank. Snails have a heavy bioload.
Algae is not a problem for fish, just for the humans who don't want to look at it.

There really is no device or cleaning thing you could use, unless you want to pay a petsitter to do a weekly or biweeky change.

I would strongly suggest getting some live plants to suck up the ammonia - duckweed, hornwort and anacharis are all fast-growing and goldies can snack on them.

 

[Mumma]

I agree with the about post. Adding more stock will just add to the problem. Algae isnt necessarly a sign of a dirty tank but it can indicate high levels of nitrate and phosphate from over feeding or not enough water chnages. Clean up crews will eat excess food and some algae but not poop. If someone ever discovers a poop eating fish they'll make millions! If you have anyone that can do water changes while your away your fish will really benifit from it.

 

[1077]

Fish are 5 years old and still can't provide larger quarter's?:-(

 

[thekoimaiden]

Goldfish are remarkably resilient hence why they are found on almost ever continent. Bomba is right. Don't add any more fish or inverts. Add plants! They really liven up the tank and have visible effects on water quality and algae especially in a goldy tank. Water sprite is another plant you might want to try. It will do great if you leave it floating as it will also provide shade for the fish and not allow light to reach and feed the algae.