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Goldfish Care
Welcome to my general fish keeping page.
On this page you will find general information on keeping a goldfish health and happy.
Enjoy!
Goldfish Bowl? or Tank?......
Bowl?
Goldfish don't live very long in a Bowl.
1. Not enough air surface in a bowl.
2. No filtration in a bowl.
3. They grow very fast and goldfish need at least 10 gals of water per fish.(goldfish grow to 6")!
4. Goldfish also need light.
Tank
1. You need a good filter.
2. You to have at least 10 to 20 gals of water per fish you plan on keeping. PS you can go to
Big Als Online for the Eclipse systems which I highly recommend. Check them out!
3. You need to have a big surface area for gas exchange.
4. You need to have a tank with a light. (on for at least 8 hours a day)
5. Make sure that the rocks are either big enough that the goldfish cant pick up or small enough that they cant get them stuck in there throat.
A comment on the size of the tank for Goldfish, I have a lot of people tell me that the goldfish can live in 5 gals for one goldfish. I personally dont think so. Goldfish are very dirty fish. Goldfish dont have a stomach and so they cant digest food like you or I it takes about 5 mins for there food to come out the other end. So when you think of this the waste is right there. So unless you plan on changing the water 10% of it every day. I suggest that you have a 10 gal tank for one goldfish. Fancy Goldfish also get big, they can grow to 6" so even if you buy a baby goldfish and put him/her in a 5 gal tank they will out grow it and not live the life they should. Goldfish also can live 10-20 years old. So I don't mean to sound mad but if you went to the pound and bought a kitten and expect the kitten to stay a kitten, then that's the same thing you are doing to a goldfish when you expect them to live in a bowl or a small tank or a tank with out a filter. Goldfish Get Big!
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Water Changes......
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I have found over the years that changing 35%-40% of the water every week is very important, because of the large amount of waste they produce and the oxygen they use.
When replacing the water it should have been let to stand over night for the release of toxins in the water (lead, Chlorine, ect..). You should also add Nova-Aqua once a week to help replace the electrolytes. Next a detoxifier should be added every time you change the water. I highly recommend 'Amquel', it gets rid of toxins and also doesn't turn the chlorine to ammonia.
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Feeding......
Frozen Peas
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There are many foods for the fancy goldfish. The best food I have found is Pro Gold, the reasons for that is:
1. Flake food: The fish go to the top to gather the food which creates air in their swim bladder (which could cause swimming bladder disease (floating).
2. Pellets: There are two kinds, one is sinking which isn't to bad, but they have been known for mistaking rocks for the food.
3. Floating food and we run in to the same problem as the flakes.
Even though goldfish love to eat they really should only be feed once a day or once every two days. The reason is the food is digested very fast which means more waste in the tank and more clean up for you.
If you have to feed them flake or any other pellet foods besides Pro Gold Please soak the food for at least one min. That way some of the food has absorbed some water and will not expand in the goldfish.
Goldfish love all types of food besides the ones that the pet stores carry:
Fresh foods: Romaine lettuce, Peas cooked, earthworms, eggs, cucumber, insect larvae, grapes,oranges, and spinach.
Dried Foods: Flake, Pellet, Tubiflex, Krill, Plankton, Brine shrimp, Blood Worms, Spirulina, and Daphnia
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 Disease......
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There are a lot of diseases they can get, but the most common would be 'Ick' (small white spots). Ick is always in your tank but the fish only get it when they're stressed out or when tank conditions are poor. Ick is treatable and most of the time you can get rid of it quickly. I always have 'Ick Nox' on hand for emergencies.
The second most common is swim bladder disease caused from too much air in the food and high Nitrates in the water.
This can be a big problem if not caught in time. There are no medications for this. The best thing to do is not to feed for three days and then to feed just peas for three days (nothing but peas for three days!), reduce the amount of food you are giving to them and make sure that you soak their food if your using any other kind of pellet food or flake besides *ProGold.
If you need any more help with finding what you goldfish might have you should really go to Goldfish Diseases.
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A question about breeding......
How do you breed fancy goldfishes? How can you tell the differences
between a
male and a female? I have one oranda red-cap, a black moor, two orange
colored
one and one is speckled with black marks. Give me some
advice!!!!!!!!!!!
The Reply
A very long cool period (*65 or so) followed by a gradual warming period triggers gold fish to breed, this is why they only breed once a year.
A male will breed with any female, so they don't have pair bonds.
Males will chase females during courtship, as their colors will intensify.
It is only possible to sex adult fish during the spring breeding.
Females will enlarge with eggs. Males will get white bumps on the head and gills. This is NOT Ick, but breeding tubercles.
More information on
Breeding
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