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RE: floating fish !!!

math-only aquarium — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:16:02 GMT

Hmm,

Kinda sounds strange, doesn't it? The people at the pet shop told you that you were okay, then we told you that it was wrong, the fish died, and you still can please us. This is a pretty common problem for beginners, so don't feel too bad--we have all made our share of mistakes. To business, however.

I know that goldfish are are "supposed" to go in goldfish bowls, but the fact is that it just doesn't work out very well. The fish start producing waste, it accumulates quickly in such a small tank, ammonia forms, and then the fish die. The bottom line is that it's nearly impossible to keep a tank that size clean enough for those sizes of fish. As FattFishy said, 75 Liters is the minimum size of tank for fancy goldfish (unless you want to clean it twice a day) and most other goldfish require 340 Liters. Tough luck.

If I were in your place, I would return the goldfish immediately--it's extremely irresponsible of the pet shop to sell you those fish given your current situation. Also, never solve water parameter problems with the fish in the tank, unless you think that the fish have a chance of surviving in a chemical stew (which is what will happen if you have a living dynamic while the tank is cycling). If you solve the problem before you get fish, then there is no chance of them dieing due to initial water quality. If you would like some more info on cycling the tank and getting it ready for fish, check out the pinned topics--there are many articles and posts written by many people that have already been there, done that, sort to speak. Also, the forum search works rather well too.

Given that your tank is only around 2.5 US gallons, the only fish that it can house with a high degree of long-term success is the Betta (Betta Splendis). These fish can be found in almost every pet shop and make great beginner fish due to how hardy they are (only keep one at a time, though, or they will fight). With them, a small bubbler and twice-weekly 50% water changes are all that is necessary in most cases to keep their water in good condition. Also, they eat fairly sparingly and are low-maintenance all-round. Nonetheless, the one issue might be the tank's temperature. If the tank isn't a steady 76-84 degree Fahrenheit (24.4-28.9 degrees Celsius), then you'll need to buy a small heater and thermometer.

Hope this helps.

MOA

RE: floating fish !!!

Nikita — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:41:00 GMT

I agree. In addition, I find goldfish more temperamental than many tropical fish for the beginner to adjust to. If you're just starting out, you should research all species of fish that you have even a remote interest in - this means that if you like how orandas look, you should become an oranda expert before you ever put an oranda in your tank. Same with other types of fish as well.

You should probably restart your tank using tropical fish, and not goldfish, or else upgrade to a much larger tank. In addition, I'd bet my hat that your tank isn't cycled properly at all - and pH and hardness strips aren't going to cut it when it comes to measuring water parameters. You need tests for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, pH, and hardness, but the first three are much more important to the beginner than the last two. If you don't have those kits yourself, take water samples to a store that will check them for you and give you results in numbers.

Never, ever go into a fishkeeping project uniformed. It's always important to do the homework first, and you have a much greater chance of success. And as a side note, you'd be amazed at how little store associates know a lot of the time. He likely told you to feed them less to cut down on the amount of waste in the water - but this won't work with waste-heavy fish like goldfish or in an uncycled tank. Those fish need to be returned pronto or they face an inevitable, slow death.

RE: floating fish !!!

FattFishy — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 07:41:27 GMT

Wow. Those goldfish should be kept in AT LEAST a 20 gallon. The common one in a 90 gallon. The common ones can grow to 12-14 inches and they're messy eaters. The filter (if you have one) cannot handle the bioload of all three of them. Lastly, it's cramped. Return them all, it's just fish torture...

RE: floating fish !!!

Tzitzi — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 06:41:51 GMT

Hi,

Thanks for answering

Those fish have passed away, unfortunately...But I got back "on the horse" and got new ones: one red cap oranda, one common goldfish and one dark blue with fins like veils, really pretty (sorry I don´t know th name..)

It's a small tank (I think it has about 10 litres) and has only the thingy that makes bubbles to oxigenate the water. my boyfriend brought back from the store strips to mesure pH and hadness and the guy from the store stressed very firmly not to feed them a lot, so now we´re trying to correct the water parameters and we only feed them once every other day... If anything goes wrong again I hope I can bother you all again for help.

Thanks again

Tzitzi

RE: floating fish !!!

FisheLady — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:40:58 GMT

:blush:welcome...didn't mean to be rude

RE: floating fish !!!

FisheLady — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:36:19 GMT

What kind of fish/how many/what size tank/ how long was the tank set up before u added fish/ what's the pH, ammonia, temp, nitrates, nitrites?

RE: floating fish !!!

FattFishy — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:35:15 GMT

Additionally, what is the pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate in numbers?

Is it a comet goldfish in a 1 gallon bowl or something? These guys should have at least... 90 gallons.

RE: floating fish !!!

filipem — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:50:59 GMT

is the tank cycled?

floating fish !!!

Tzitzi — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:41:18 GMT

I´m new at this (fish keeping and posting alike..)

My fish have been with me for a week now (their the golden common type) and I feed them once or twice a day, like the seller told me to. The problem is that today the started to swim (and stay) very near the surface and I can touch them!!Is this normal??? What can I do?? Thanks for your help.

Tzitzi