anybody know about goldfish??????

[slim]

bought mi daughter 2 goldfish at the weekend, the other half put them in the tank and all they do is swim about at the top gulping air??
wot are we doing wrong any body know??
do we need a pump even though its a small-ish tank/bowl???

the only thing i know about fish is you get em wiv fish at the chippy

also the water as gone a light shade of green??
thought this could be the gravel dye coming out??

[dave.j.robbo]

Gulping fish indicate that there isn't enough oxygen in the water for them. The amount of oxygen that is able to be absorbed by the water is directly related to the surface area of the water, so, the smaller the bowl, the more likely it is to need a pump (airstone).

The bubbles make ripples on the surface, and effectively double the surface area, and therefore the amount of oxygn able to be absorbed.

The water will also be going green due to algae build up, which sucks even more oxygen out of the water. Move the bowl out of the sunlight, and get a small pump...

[Bobby Doc]

You can also buy oxygen tablets from pet shops, but a larger tank, air pump and filter would be beter

[kiowa]

sounds about right no oxygen in the water your local pet shop will sell a plant that you can put in the tank to help the fishys breath

[marky]

What you keeping them in? A GLASS

[Linda]

A small pump costs about £12 and a airstone about £5 and will stop them gulping. Echo the rest - keep the bowl out of sunlight, the green stuff is algae - a certain amount is ok and some fish will eat it, but you will need to clean it outfrom time to time. Also think about buying a loach of some kind - they eat the algae and keep the tank clean.

Don't put fish straight into tap water - fill a couple of buckets, leave to stand for 24 hours then use this to replace a portion of the water in the tank (or buy water conditioning tablets/drops which remove the heavy elements from the tap water)

My fish keeping started age 10 with a goldfish called Fred- won at a school fete, Fred died after 28 years.......

[slim]

wow so much knowledge about goldfish....

thanks alot guys and gells...

[hawkwind]

Replace about 25% of the water every month and add a water conditioner to remove clorine etc.
This way its not too big a shock for the fish by changing a large amount of water, and as Linda says, let it stand for 24 hours in the same room then the water will be at the same temperature as the tank.
If you have gravel at the bottom of your tank you can use a gravel cleaner that sucks dirt out of the gravel as you change the water.
Saves building up nitites and ammonia which are highly poisonous to fish.

Dont forget that goldfish are coldwater fish and need to be kept away from sunlight and sources of heat.
If for instance you keep them in your living room and your central heating thermostat is set to 75 degrees, then the temperature of the tank will also be 75 degrees which is more suited to tropical fish.

[NiftyNev]

Is it a bowl or rectangular tank? If it's a bowl then use it for flowers and get a tank. Theres not enough surface area in a bowl especially if it's full. A temporary measure is to only 1/2 to 3/4 fill the bowl for more surface area.

Nev

[internetsurfer]

i kept gold fish in with my tropical fish no bother at all , they grow really big in warm water compared to cold water. and less prone to disease , if you dont want the noise of a pump and air stone - invest in a fluvel 1 filter , placed at the top of the tank/bowl it will break the surface tension plus filter the water too. ( best turned off at feed time - as they suck in all the flake. )

[Linda]

i kept gold fish in with my tropical fish no bother at all , they grow really big in warm water compared to cold water. and less prone to disease , if you dont want the noise of a pump and air stone - invest in a fluvel 1 filter , placed at the top of the tank/bowl it will break the surface tension plus filter the water too. ( best turned off at feed time - as they suck in all the flake. )

Yep - I've done that too, but some types are more successful than others.

[hawkwind]

I know this can be done (kept with tropical fish)
But for the beginer to fishkeeping i would not recommend it.
I`ve seen dozens of people in aquatic shops moaning that this is there umptenth goldfish and the shopkeeper is only too happy to keep supplying and enduring the suffering of the fish rather than offer sensible advice, just as long as the money keeps rolling in.

The vast majority of people who buy goldfish would not bother if it was explained to them the correct equipment needed for them to have any chance of living more than a couple of weeks/months.

[charvell]

Get yourself a nome with a fishing rod and some worms

[DaveD]

My fish keeping started age 10 with a goldfish called Fred- won at a school fete, Fred died after 28 years.......

same here mine was called Geordie

Small tanks are a pain in the asterisk. Bigger tanks are almost self cleaning once you get them set. Theres a rough ratio used to figure optimum No of fish to keep in a tank I think its something like (dredging memory)allow six square inches of water surface per inch of fish(dont include tail when guestimating fish length) but may be a good idea to google that to check figures

[mikey2119]

Who'd 'av thot a couple of pets costing a couple o'quid each would be so complicated. Probably cheaper gettin a dog mate
Even a woman isn't that complicated to look after!!