Tips On Looking After Golfish

[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 .