Goldfish!

[chipperdoo415]

Yay!! I just got some Goldfish tonight! I feel like a little kid again...so excited over a little fish! I went to the pet store on Friday to buy the tank and fish but the people said I had to let the water sit for 2 days so the chlorine and metals would evaporate. So I bought a small tank....(well 2.5-3 gallons) and I filled it with water and I let it sit. I went back tonight and got 2 fish. A gold(or orange) fantail goldfish and a calico goldfish. I don't have any pictures....I know it's not as exciting as a new horse or anything but I am very excited. Hopefully (for the few who want to see them) I can post pics soon! I need names though...so help!

Any Tips on Care?

[BarnBum]

Gold fish are very dirty fish as far as waste and stuff ........ If don't have a filter, I would suggest you get one. You can't really mix gold fish with other fish b/c of this. Feed very little. One or 2 pinches 1 oor 2x day. If you feed too much it will cloud your water.

As far as your water goes, we have a 20gal and we just buy the "Spring Water" in the gallon jug and it is fine. No need to let it sit out or add chemicals. Just make sure when you add it, its at room temp.

As time goes, and you get build up of waste and uneaten food, you might want to consider a bottom feeder (like a small cat fish or something). If you do, you will definatly need a filter as any other fish DO need a filter/air source in the tank.

Good luck and enjoy !!

[chipperdoo415]

I am letting them sit in the bag, in the tank. I want them to get used to the temperature...is 35 min long enough?

Oh....they're both goldfish. They're just fantailed goldfish. And don't worry...I got a filter...they are dirty little buggers!

[horsey-gal]

They should be fine to release them now. Goldfish are a very hardy fish, have fun with them. I have 14 so far

[BarnBum]

Originally Posted by chipperdoo415

I am letting them sit in the bag, in the tank. I want them to get used to the temperature...is 35 min long enough?

Oh....they're both goldfish. They're just fantailed goldfish. And don't worry...I got a filter...they are dirty little buggers!

Yes, thats fine. Open the bag and add a little bit of your water w/ the bag water ...close (make sure you have air in the bag) repeat a couple times then you can just let them swim out of the bag mixing both waters together.

[breburtch]

haha hey I just got some new fish tonight aswell lol I already have a male betta and 2 female bettas but I went out and bought a 4 gal tank and got 1 blue tetra a strawberry tetra and a orange platy, next week going to pick up a male guppy and pregnant female guppie and 2-3 neon fish(one pregnant). also thinking of buying a large bowl and getting a few fan tail goldfish, also wanna get a samll 2 gal tank and get some mollies and moors.

you can buy stuff to add to the water to kill clorhine and speed water set up(i bought some so i can add my fish within 24 hours rather then 48..
goldfish are the easiest fish to care for just clean there bowl 1 every week and feed them once a day and ur good to go lol you can also buy stuff to add to the water that helsp to cut down on waste also you can get crystals to add to the water that also cut down on waste

[carmor07]

I have some gold fish too and i have found that fish pellets are alot cleaner to feed that the flakes.Good luck with them.

[chipperdoo415]

I have put them in their tank and they are happy campers! I put 2-3 flakes of food in there...they let them sink to the bottom and then ate them. They probably have already been fed at the pet store so I am not worried about that. I have no idea what genders they are and I hope I don't wake up one morning to goldfish babies but the orange one (which I named Carlisle) is chasing around the calico (which I named Callie) But not just chasing around....more like sniffing under/between her tail. (If you get my drift) I don't know if they are bonding or if Carlisle is trying to mate.....so um I dont really know what to do about that....

breburtch-This may sound really stupid but...can you mix male and female bettas? I mean obviously they have to get together so they can have little baby bettas but...will they fight...or is it just male betta's that do that?

[CasadePDyC]

We have two goldfish that we've had for going on five years now. They were the inexpensive feeder fish that grew pretty big. Goldfish tend to change color, as the one fish that is white now was originally black when he came home from the store.

Our two fish have quite the personalities and rush to the side of the aquarium when we walk into the room. I think they have us trained. We think they love each other as they tend to hang out together and at night they are on the bottom, touching sides.

We put a special fish in that could take the cold water to help keep the tank clean, but it chased the goldfish around like crazy, so he was removed. We just have to clean the tank often.

There are also goldfish in our horses water trough at the barn.

Here's a photo of our fish. The white one had a heart on his left side for the longest time before it faded away. I swear this isn't a photoshop trick.

[joustinggirl]

Ah yes, goldfish. My kids "won" 3 fish at a school fair while I was away and they were with their Mimi. I came home to find them in a giant wine glass on my kitchen table. Being the type of person I am I spent quite a bit of time researching them. Things I found out.

You will need a filter and a bubble rock is a good idea.
We got a syphon cleaner. It is very easy to use, it sort of vacuums the stuff off the bottom. Only take out 1/2 - 2/3 of the water at a time. We don't do full changes. Along with dirt they also build up good bacteria and other critters that they need to be healthy and if you take all that away they have to work harder to replenish them.

I would caution at putting new fish into the tank. I have heard too many times that the new fish brought in disease that killed the goldfish. The bottom cleaners seem to be the culprits.

Also, do not touch their water or food, lotions and soaps on your hands can kill them as well.

Currently we are trying to find a good way to wipe the film off the glass without harming anything.

We have been goldfish owners since Sept. My SIL also won fish. She has replaced them 3 times. She uses a bowl with no filter.

[BarnBum]

Originally Posted by joustinggirl

Also, do not touch their water or food, lotions and soaps on your hands can kill them as well.

Currently we are trying to find a good way to wipe the film off the glass without harming anything.

We have been goldfish owners since Sept. My SIL also won fish. She has replaced them 3 times. She uses a bowl with no filter.

Ahhhhhhh...yes, the FAIR fish !!!

Good point on the lotions and stuff. Keep your hands out of the tank or off thier food if you have lotion or perfume on.

You can buy a magnet to get the film off. It is 2 pieces. Part goes in the water on the glass and the other part on the outside (magnet keeps them together thru the glass) and from the outside you just "wipe" the film off the tank w/out getting wet !!

[breburtch]

Originally Posted by chipperdoo415

breburtch-This may sound really stupid but...can you mix male and female bettas? I mean obviously they have to get together so they can have little baby bettas but...will they fight...or is it just male betta's that do that?

no bettas have to be kept seperate or they will fight now to breed them(haven't tried it yet)I am told you put 2 females in with the male and must have 2 females in there can't remember if its the male that kills the one female and breeds the other or if the 2 females fight to the death and the winner is the one he breeds.

my male betta I keep in a large betta tank and the 2 females are in the same tank but it has a clear divider so they cant get at eachother it also has a blue devider that you put in so they can't see eachother when you lift the blue one and they see eachotehr they puff them selves up to make themselves look bigger and scary and swim alongside eachother challenging one another

[breburtch]

as for worrying about finding babies one day...gold fish are egg layers so you wouldn't have to worry about that and they tend to eat the eggs unless the eggs are removed and put into another bowl or there in a large pond.

guppies, neons, molly's and moors all give live birth. but you have to by a birthing tanks thing that floats on top of the water you put the pregnant fish into it and when she has her babies they fall through a net thing the the mamma fish can't get through, then you remove momma asap so she doesn't eat her babies if they swim up through the holes of the net

[pasomystic]

My three fancy goldfish live in a 29 gallon tank. Even that is small, but I change 25% of the water once a week, and keep the tank barebottom so it is easy to vacuum while water changing. Here they are - every time you walk near they beg, which means they are not being over fed, lol.
Meet from top down: Matilda, Clarence, and Yoda.

[breburtch]

hehe i like ur fish names paso mystic.
my bettas names are maylieh, moishu, and flame.
not sure what to name the three new guys and don't know what i'll name the ones i'm getting next week

[wildcat180]

Female bettas do not need to be kept separate. They do not fight, unless, of course, the tank they're in is too small and they fight for space/survival. You do not need to female bettas to one male. Having two females in with the male when trying to breed can complicate the process really quickly. Breeding bettas is extremely difficult because the male will actually try to breed the female to the point of death. The male also responsible for blowing the bubble nest in which the female's eggs go.

The trick to breeding Bettas is to have the male next to the female so he can court her and make the nest...once that's done, then move the female into his tank so they can breed.

To the OP, while 3 gallons is going to be fine for now, your goldfish would do much better, be much happier and healthier in a larger tank. I never sold two goldfish together unless they were going in a tank that was at least 20 gallons.

[breburtch]

yeah read you only need one female betta to breed but talked to a breeder and she said to have 2 of them for the male to pick so dunno but i don't plan to breed my guys anyways i don't want to have to have anywhere from 1-500 jars to put all the babies in lol plus my guys all came from the same place so chances are they are related so wouldn't want to breed them together. and my guys don't seem to have any interast in breeding i tried doing everything they say for courting them etc but they show no interast in one another lol.

[Morning_Mist]

Yeah, don't breed veilteil bettas. Those are the pet store mutts and they have no value; if you get into breeding Halfmoons or Crowntails imported from Thailand, like I used to, then you can make money.
Pet store bettas genes' are too screwed up and they are too old to breed.

[Morning_Mist]

Oh - and you can breed siblings; it doesn't matter with fish...but like I said, don't breed pet store veilteils!

[breburtch]

Originally Posted by Morning_Mist

Yeah, don't breed veilteil bettas. Those are the pet store mutts and they have no value; if you get into breeding Halfmoons or Crowntails imported from Thailand, like I used to, then you can make money.
Pet store bettas genes' are too screwed up and they are too old to breed.

mine i didn't get from the pet store i got them from a breeder and there crowntails, i would never buy bettas from pet stores agian i had some i got from a pet store when i was little and they kept dying from dieses.plus i don't like the looks of the veiltails there just to plain and boring for my liking