Tips On Looking After Golfish

[CleverPanda]

Hello!

I got some goldfish today! Yey! It's my first time though and I was wondering if people could give me some advice on how to look after them.

All I have right now is the tank, three lovely fishies, food and a declorinator/conditioner. Is there anything else that I REALLY need?

Also, I'm a little confused on how I should clean out the tank. Any idea?

Any other advice will be taken with much consideration!

[Bun]

make sure you don't over feed them, it kills them lol. the food messes up the tank or somet and they get ill and die. :(

[CleverPanda]

make sure you don't over feed them, it kills them lol. the food messes up the tank or somet and they get ill and die. :(

Thanks! Do you know how much I should give them and when I should give it to them?

[Meanies]

Thanks! Do you know how much I should give them and when I should give it to them?
Apparently its a flake each a day but i give mine a little more:eusa_ange

to clean them just get a bucket and a syphon thing to suck 1/2 of the water out into the bucket, put the fish into that bucket. then get another bucket and do the same until its empty and pour the 2nd bucket away. then clean it with a sponge (or toothbrush) and do the filter and stuff aswell. then put some of the water from the first bucket in, then the fish, then the rest of that water. then fill the other bucket with water (not too warm but not too cold) and add some tapsafe liquid in then mix it around, then add that to the tank slowly and dooone.

[Oleh]

No wonder my goldfish kept dying i gave em a big pinch full (about 30 flakes)

[hmv]

Feed them once every two days and try not to overfeed them. Just a little pinch of fish food. Clean them regularly if you don't have a filter in your tank - about once a week.

I did this and my fish are around four years old now but are still quite small.

If they get ill buy them that medicine that you put a little bit of in the tank.

[Alkaz]

Ive only ever had one gold fish at a time, but I also had tropical fish with them but they are slightly, but not much different. The main thing as people have said is not to over feed them like people have already said. You can give them flakes or like tiny pellet things that have been crushed.
infrequents way of cleaning the tank is the best and is how I have been doing mine for the past 5 years with my tropical fish.

If your interested I give my fish dog food. Them like dog sausage things called Chubb or w.e. Anyway, they have a tiny bit of that at 00:00 at night and its all they have apart from a tiny bit of flakes and they are massive. In a 2ft tank I got 4 fish left of about 9. The smallest of them is about 3 inches, the biggest about 5/6 inches long and about 4 tall. They are pretty massive for the tank, but just keep growing, they are happy though and I dont have the money for a new tank aha lol. x

[Shockwave.2CC]

Hello!

I got some goldfish today! Yey! It's my first time though and I was wondering if people could give me some advice on how to look after them.

All I have right now is the tank, three lovely fishies, food and a declorinator/conditioner. Is there anything else that I REALLY need?

Also, I'm a little confused on how I should clean out the tank. Any idea?

Any other advice will be taken with much consideration!


Feed them well (Don't over feed them)
Keep the water clean (Filter will help)
Make there living area fun (Put a couple of fish ornements with them)

Don't do what i did when i was about 5 or 6, and that was put washing up liquid in the tank :rolleyes:

[efq]

I fed my goldfishes and big fat eye fishes lots so that it covered most of the top of the water lmao.

[Black_Apalachi]

Some of the advice in this thread is good, some is shocking and it upsets me that people don't find out exactly how to look after animals before they take them on :(.

I got my first pair of goldfish for my fourth birthday. One disappeared when I was about 8 or 9 (I'm being serious, it literally was just gone from the tank - and no, my parents didn't take it away because it had died!). Anyway the second lived on until we moved house and put it in a pond with some other fish and was still alive when we finally left that house when I was about 10 or 11 :).

Anyway, we fed them maybe 2 or 3 flakes between them a day. To clean the tank we basically did what infrequent said. If your tank has a lid like mine did, you will need some sort of thing to filter oxygen into the water (I had this cool little guy in a diving suit which stood at the bottom and oxygen bubbles came out of his helmet :D). We also had these magnetic sponge type things; one stuck to either side of the glass so you could clean the glass by moving it around.

After 7 or 8 years (one of) mine were still going (and they were fully grown when I got them), and had adpated well to living in a pond with the other fish. So this should be sound advice ;). Good luck!

[CleverPanda]

I must confess, I did not do much research before I brought the fish... :(
But, I hope to be able to look after them properly and carefully.
Even though a lot of you have given me guidance on how to clean the tank, I'm still a bit confused....
See, my tank is very simple; 3 goldfish, gravel, water (obviously) and a plastic plant. So, I need to know how I can clean the tank, simply.
Also, are there any pieces of equipment that I REALLY need?
Must I take the fish out while cleaning?
How should I take out the fish, if necessary?

I hope I'm not too confusing or if I'm asking too much...

Thank you everyone who has already posted looks of good and helpful tips for me!

[Alkaz]

There is like suction syther things you can get for like £10 which clean the gravel and sythen then water out cleaning the gravel at the same time. Then you re-fill with water and put the fish back in if you get what I mean. Also, get a magnetic glass cleaner.

To get the fish out, if they arent that big, put some water from the tank in a bucket and get or buy a new jug for the puposes and get the fish out using that or a net. Then take more water out, use the sythen OR put it in the bath and clean it by hand, re-fill and put the fish back in.

[CleverPanda]

There is like suction syther things you can get for like £10 which clean the gravel and sythen then water out cleaning the gravel at the same time. Then you re-fill with water and put the fish back in if you get what I mean. Also, get a magnetic glass cleaner.

To get the fish out, if they arent that big, put some water from the tank in a bucket and get or buy a new jug for the puposes and get the fish out using that or a net. Then take more water out, use the sythen OR put it in the bath and clean it by hand, re-fill and put the fish back in.

Thanks for that!
So, I probably will end up buying that suction-sythen thing as it would make cleaning the gravel easier. So, does this mean that I don't have to change the gravel? Also, how many times a week should I do this? Lastly, do I have to take out the gravel and ornaments when cleaning the water?

[Black_Apalachi]

I never had any equipment but if it makes it easier then fair enough.

I had a small net to catch the fish and quickly put them into a bowl or bucket of water. People will probably say it's better to use water from the tank rather than new water and to also take them out with the water if you can (in a bag or something), but I always just used the net with fresh water and it never seemed to do them any harm.

Then you want to get all the water out of the tank and probably pour the stones out into another bowl or whatever. Then just clean the tank and replace everything (stones, then fresh water, then fish).

[CleverPanda]

I never had any equipment but if it makes it easier then fair enough.

I had a small net to catch the fish and quickly put them into a bowl or bucket of water. People will probably say it's better to use water from the tank rather than new water and to also take them out with the water if you can (in a bag or something), but I always just used the net with fresh water and it never seemed to do them any harm.

Then you want to get all the water out of the tank and probably pour the stones out into another bowl or whatever. Then just clean the tank and replace everything (stones, then fresh water, then fish).

Thank you very much!

Well, I think that's answered all my questions but one; After how many day's should I clean the tank?

[9y]

When you can no longer see the fish.

No, About once a week :)

[Blinger1]

When you can no longer see the fish.
When they are floating on top ;)

[CleverPanda]

Thank you to everyone who posted some helpful tips on this thread! ^.^
Now I feel much more confident about looking after my goldfish!
I'm going to add reputation to people who have helped me. ;)

[Andeeh]

i remember i had goldfish a few years ago called goldie and bubbles, my neighbour killed them because he put hot water in them when we went on holiday lol

my sis and her bf have got two goldfish called cyril and sally.

and dont feed them to much

[Hecktix]

You need to buy some form of filter - they are relatively cheap - they certainly will be for a tank of your size.

It's advised to fill your tank and turn the filter on and leave it for at least 24 hours, it's reccomended to leave it for a week, for your tank to establish equilibrium in the bacteria levels. During the week your water will probably go through stages of looking dirty, cloudy etc but when the water turns clear you can add your fish, make sure you add them using the instructions given, in the bags etc.

Make sure you use goldfish food which helps add to the good bacteria, Aquarian is a good brand.

DON'T clean your tank weekly, or change the water as this will disrupt the levels in your tank.

My tank hasnt been cleaned in 6 months, and the water is crystal clear. If you have a good filter, it should keep your tank clean for you.

The only thing which is advised if the tank starts to smell (i dont do it) is you change 1/3 of your water on a monthly basis. Never change ALL of your water, only change 1/3.

My fish have been alive 2 years so :)

Hope that helps (:

edit: oh and only feed them once a day, they don't need anymore, overfeeding can kill them.

[CleverPanda]

You need to buy some form of filter - they are relatively cheap - they certainly will be for a tank of your size.

It's advised to fill your tank and turn the filter on and leave it for at least 24 hours, it's reccomended to leave it for a week, for your tank to establish equilibrium in the bacteria levels. During the week your water will probably go through stages of looking dirty, cloudy etc but when the water turns clear you can add your fish, make sure you add them using the instructions given, in the bags etc.

Make sure you use goldfish food which helps add to the good bacteria, Aquarian is a good brand.

DON'T clean your tank weekly, or change the water as this will disrupt the levels in your tank.

My tank hasnt been cleaned in 6 months, and the water is crystal clear. If you have a good filter, it should keep your tank clean for you.

The only thing which is advised if the tank starts to smell (i dont do it) is you change 1/3 of your water on a monthly basis. Never change ALL of your water, only change 1/3.

My fish have been alive 2 years so :)

Hope that helps (:

edit: oh and only feed them once a day, they don't need anymore, overfeeding can kill them.




Whoops... Sometimes I look at them and they look so hungry so I give them a bit of a nibble. I should stop that.

My tank started to smell a bit today, a couple of hours after I fed them... I was going to clean out the whole thing as my brother said the water looked murky and I was worried with having dirty gravel. I think I'll stick to your advice and take out a third of the water and replace it...

Also, two small questions: Because I don't have a filter, how often should I regularly clean the tank?
Do I take out the fish when replacing a third of the water?

Thanks again for helping me out! ^.^

[Black_Apalachi]

I don't remember cleaning the tank that often and we didn't have a filter (only an oxygen thing which is not what I think Hecktix means). Erm, I think we cleaned it out once or twice a month; just as it started to get murky/glass started to get slightly green. We also didn't just replace a third of the water either.

What Hecktix is saying seems to make sense though so it's probably healthy for your fish to follow his advice. And yeah, only feed them one or two flakes/pelets a day.

Glad I could help and thanks for the rep. I'll return :).

[Alkaz]

If you have a filter and a small tank, like every 6-8 weeks clean it out. And clean the ornements to, they go green :)

[Imosae]

I had a fish once that i brought from a Summer Fair lmao it died because we overfed it so we flushed it into the toliet.

[Alkaz]

Btw, if you over feed a fish they can get bloated/constipated which makes them float upside down but they are concious. They arent always dead guys!

[Black_Apalachi]

Btw, if you over feed a fish they can get bloated/constipated which makes them float upside down but they are concious. They arent always dead guys!

Yeah I was gonna say lol, on QI Stephen Fry said that they're not always dead when they're floating upside down :D.