Your fish will come in a plastic bag. Inside this bag is the water, temperature and feeling of the pet store fish tank. Your fish tank will come as a shock to your fish if you just drop him in. So you have to 'acclimatise' goldy first. In other words this is slowly getting him used to your tank conditions. Follow these steps:
- Let the bag (with goldy inside) float in your tank water for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, scoop a cup of water from your tank into the bag. Let the bag float a further 5 minutes.
- Afer the 5 minutes scoop another two cups of water into the bag. Let the bag float 10 minutes again.
- Finally, carefully release your fish from the bag using a net. Try not to let the bag water fall into the tank.
If you notice your fish is looking extremely stressed and frantic add some stress coat into the water.
Fortnightly Tank Clean and Water Change
This is the core job to keeping your fish tank in a healthy condition.
Most people believe you should replace 100% of the water in the tank, but you should not do this. Why?
- It could send your fish into shock. Everytime you take them out of the water with a net it stresses your fish causing them to loose their protective coating.
- It destroys any benficial bacteria which may be in the gravel in your tank.
This is what you should be doing:
- Change about 40% of the water fortnightly (or weekly if it looks really dirty*) by using a siphon.
- When siphoning vacuum the gravel to remove any accumulated wastes, the gravel shouldn't siphon all the way through.
- Scrub the walls clean of Algae with an algae brush.
- Prune any live plants.
- Replace or clean any filter media if necessary.
- Replace the water with de-chlorinated water.
* (Note: if your tank is always really dirty you may be overfeeding, see below.)
It's hard to determine the right amount of food to feed your goldfish and this is a skill you can only gain after experience. A good rule to follow is to only feed your fish what they can eat in 5 minutes.
- Goldfish will eat whatever amount of food is given to them, they don't ever seem to get full. For some reason, in the wild goldfish overeating is no problem yet in captivity it is.
- Overfeeding will also cause your tank to dirty more quickly.
- Goldfish poo should sink and not float.
- Goldfish should be fed about two times a day. If you happen to miss a feeding time for your fish don't make up for it in the next feeding session by doubling the food.
- If it is possible at all to feed your fish at 3 or more intervals a day then do it! Just make sure you reduce the amount of food for each serving. In the wild goldfish don't have 'meal times' and eat continually throughout the day.
I suggest getting two types of food. The pellet type and the flake type. This gives your fish some diversity in their diet. Also try feeding them other foods such as lettuce and peas every so often, this offers a nice change in diet for your fish.
If you are going away on holiday you can purchase a 'goldfish feeder block'. This is a block which dissolves slowly over time releasing food trapped within it. However, these blocks will only last around a week. If you are going on holiday for longer get a friend or neighbour who you trust to feed your fish. Give them specific instructions on the amount of food to feed them as people easily feel sorry for your fish and overfeed.
Goldfish can easily stand a day or two without food.
Sometimes no matter how much you care for your fish one of them will obtain a diesease. Here are some of the most common dieseases.
- Ick
This is the most common goldfish diesease. Ick stands for Ichtyopthirius. I've talked about the Goldfish's protective slime coating before and this parasite will attach itself to the fish when it is stressed and uncoated. - Constipation
Not really a diesease but nevertheless a problem. Fatty foods can make goldfish constipated just as in humans. To help un-congest a goldfish feed it peas as this acts as a mild laxative. - Fungus
A bacterial infection which looks like white furry patch or cotton on your fish. Will usually start growing on an open wound. - Fin Rot
Another bacterial infection which usually ocurrs when the fish is weak from another infection or diesease. This diesease can be attained when the fins are damaged in some way. Starting off as a white edge on the fins, then progressing on to tear apart the fins. - Anchor Worm
A sort of white wormish looking thing will be coming out of your fish. It will also have a red ring around where the worm is attached to the fish. The fish will rub on things like mad trying to get rid of it. - Dropsy
Scales begin to stick out from the fishes body, again this is a bacterial infection. Unfortuneatly in this case your fish hsa a very slim chance of surviving. - Pop eye
This is when the eye is buldging out of the socket. This usually ocurrs before dropsy. - Lice
This is a greenish lice which attaches itself to the goldfish. The goldfish will be rubbing against things to try and get it off. You can remove it manually but you must treat the tank for the hiding lice.
Most external dieseases can be easily cured with a high success rate using medicine purchased from your pet store, if you catch the diesease early.
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If your fish seem to be behaving abnormally (ie. gasping at the surface for air, shaking, rubbing against things, hiding or swimming strangely take these steps to treat them and hopefully reduce any diesease symptoms.
- Clean the fish tank and change about 20-40% of the water.
- Vacuum the gravel and remove built up dirt in it.
- Repeat water changes daily untill your fish seem to be better.
- Bugspray used around the tank can easily poison your fish. Try to keep sprays out of the room the tank is in.
- Metals used in the tank can dissolve and poison fish too.
- Foreign objects from beaches other ponds etc. can introduce nasties such as diesease causing bacteria or virii.
- Tapping on the glass from little children. This can stress your goldfish out, and at worst damage their internal swim bladder which helps them balance.
- Sudden very loud noises. Again, can stress your fish or damage the swim bladder.
- Sharp objects in the tank. Your fish may accidentally cut itself and
open itself up for infection.
