My younger son’s best friend will be moving to another country this summer. This friend, S, has two goldfish. They won’t be able to take the fish with them, so S’s mom has asked if totnak would like to “adopt” them. Totnak would love to.
However, before I say yes, I’d like to know what I’m getting myself into. So a few questions…
I don’t know if the tank is part of the offer, or if we’d be able to buy it from them. Assuming we have to buy a new tank from a pet store, what do we need?
What’s involved in taking care of the fish? What could a 5 year old do, assuming a parent checks that it gets done? (Feeding?)
The fish are unnamed; what’s a good name (not Wanda!) to go with Country Joe?
goldfish are no big deal. All you need is a bowl (or aquarium), water conditioner and food. If you want to get fancy you can add a filter. You will not need a heater as goldfish prefer cold (room temp) water. If you use a bowl and no filter, change the water at least partially every week, and do not overfeed. If there is food still floating around after 5 minutes or so, you are overfeeding.
Goldfish are easy, but dirty little creatures. I suggest a filter for the simple fact goldfish seem to poop more than any other fish I have ever owned. Dont over feed them & you will be fine. As for names let your little one name them. Be warned I started out with a goldfish my daughter won at a school carnival. That was 4 years ago. I now own a 70 gal, 55 gal, 40 gal, & 35 gal tanks. All different types of fish. And a 10 gallon tank with a turtle… It’s an addiction…
If you have to buy a tank, I’d get a small aquarium “system” maybe 5-10 gallons. It will have everything you need, tank, cover, light, filter to set up a nice home.
Aquariums are not just fish in water, they are systems. Microorganisms change the fish waste into less harmful chemicals, so it’s important to keep them around. When you transfer the fish, take as much of the old water along with you as you can. Only do partial water changes when you clean the tank. New water needs to be treated to remove chlorine, which can kill the fish.
Goldfish are dirty, which is why I’d recommend a larger, filtered tank rather than the plain bowl. Who wants to change water every few days? Larger tanks are also more stable environments in general.
I would be very careful about letting a 5 year old feed fish on his own. They need very little food, and overfeeding can screw up the tank. I would pinch out the correct amount into the lid of the food container and let him feed from there.
Regular maintenance would include changing the filter, vacuuming up waste from the gravel, doing water changes and cleaning the glass.
For two goldfish, you really don’t want anything smaller than ten gallons. Fifteen would be better, but not critically so.
Check the local pet shops - one of the chain outfits near us recently had a deal where for $40, you got a ten gallon tank, filter and light. Also be sure to ask them how the local water is - it’s crucial that you use the apropriate anti-whatever’s in your water. Some areas use chlorine, some use chloramine. In days past, plain old chlorinated water could be made safe for fish by “aging” but chloramine will not dissapate and must be chemically neutralized. I’ve had good results with a product called Stress Coat, which not only neutralizes our chloramine, but acts as a sort of skin conditioner.
We’ve decided to adopt the fish, which I found out are about two years old.
We’ll need to get a new tank, because the tank they have is a gift from
young S’s grandparents in the US. Not only is it not for sale (he’ll
get new fish to put in it when they’re settled in their new home), it
requires a voltage convertor to use here in Yurrup and I won’t have one of
those things in my house. Call me a nervous nellie, I just don’t trust
them. Anyway. I have found the name of a local pet store that specializes
in fishies so I will be asking them to set us up with a decent starter kit,
and possibly some how-to literature to suppliment what’s been said here.
We have possible locations for the fishies both in the living room and in
totnak’s bedroom. Totnak is asking for them in his bedroom because S
has them in his bedroom, but I’m leaning towards putting them in the
living room, because if I’m going to “help” take care of them then I want to
be able to enjoy them, too.
My plan is to put totnak in charge of feeding them - but since I know it’s
crucial fish don’t get too much to eat, I’ll put a day’s ration in a
medicine cup for him each morning. (That way I can also check that he’s
done it.) The tank care and cleaning will be my job.
The guys have been informed that these fish should not be considered gateway
pets.
Something to keep in mind regarding location of the tank: the amount of light that it gets will determine how fast the algae in the tank will grow. So if you want a tank directly in front of a big bay window to stay clean, then you should plan to also have an algae eater (pleco or other) to keep the algae in check.
When you transfer the fish from the current tank to your tank, it would be wise to take some of the rock and water in the current tank as well, as it already has the necessary bacteria established on it. Plus make sure that you introduce the fish to the new water very slowly, so that they don’t go into shock because of differences in temperature or chemicals. I usually put the fish with their current water into a bucket, and then pour a little water from the new tank into the bucket every 2-3 minutes for a while and then transfer them.
Don’t panic if the water gets cloudy the first week or two: that’s a natural bacteria “bloom” that means the helpful bacteria are establishing themselves. It’ll go away with a little time.
And most important, don’t be shy about sitting in front of the aquarium and watching the fish. Heck, it’s better than what’s on TV most of the time.
actually, there are remarkably few nitrifying bacteria (Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter) in the water collumn itself, these bacteria require a substrate to live on and multiply, you’d be better off getting some gravel from the old tank, or some filter media (matbe both)
live plants also utilize nitrogenous waste, in fact, they’re better at it than the biobugs, so putting in some goldfish-unfreindly plants like Java Fern and Java Moss will help with your nitrogenous waste levels
you could put in some fast-growing stem plants like Hornwort, Water Sprite, Anacharis/Elodela, Hygrophilia or Wisteria, or floating plants like duckweed, Salvinia, Frogbit and Water Lettuce, but bear in mind that goldies are herbivorous and would see those plants as an all-you-can-eat salad bar
you might want to pick up a cheap 10 gallon tank (usually around $10) and a flourescent light strip or two (daylight balanced bulbs at 6500K to 9325K, avoid the ultra-blue Actinic bulbs (10,000K), they’re for saltwater corals and are only good for growiing algae in freshwater) and use that as a plant-growing tank, load it with fast growing stem plants and/or floating plants, since the goldies are going to eat them anyway, this way you’ll have a constant supply of fresh plants for the goldie tank
all the above stem plants are fast growers and can typically double their biomass in a week…
Java Fern and Java Moss are unpalatable to goldies, they won’t eat them, but those plants are very slow growing
I beg to differ. Most of my goldfish have lived about 5-10 years, a couple (that I got as a kid) for over 20 years. Typically they die because their owners don’t care for them properly. Just follow the good advice already given in this thread and they can live for a long time.
