Goldfish and heater?

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Praias

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Nov 8, 2009
Messages
6
Do you need to put the heater on when you just have goldfish or isn't it needed?

I'm not sure if you always need the heater or if that is only for tropical fish.

Thanks
 
hi,

no you don't need a heater for goldfish. there is no harm in using one on a low setting to keep the temperature stable, but it is not essential, particularly if you live in a house with heating!
there is lots of advice on using a heater for some of the fancy varieties of goldfish, who prefer slightly warmer water, however i have kept fancy goldfish in unheated water for years with no problems.
so basically it is up to you!

by the way, what fish do you have? just interested, not often someone comes to this forum with an interest in coldwater tanks!
 
I just have 4 goldfish :)

I had fish before but never heard about all the care they needed!!! The whole setting up aquarium.

So now I'm setting up a new aquarium for them and want to do it right. In the future, when I know a bit more about it it would be nice to have tropical ones but I just don't feel ready at the moment and gold fish are also cool! :)

Up to now they have been without heater but the new aquarium brough one so I thought I would ask.

Thank you! :)
 
It really depends on how cold your house get. In relatively temperate climes, heater is not really necessary. But I have one because in winter, with my setback thermostat, the temp can get down to 16-17C at night, and that is too cold for the fancies.

I keep mine on at 75F, which is a good temp for the fancies.
 
Personally I would say yes. Although goldfish are a 'coldwater' species, they aren't as cold as our tap water in winter!

75F is quite similar to temperatures you'd keep tropical fish at which goldfish will be happy with too, but the key thing isn't the temperature, but the temperature stability. We had a goldfish in a smallish tank and I think part of the reason it had problems was we didn't have our heating on at night and so it got quite cold, and then warmed up during the day, the fluctuations aren't good! It also helps if you've done a water change and the water wasn't at the right temperature.
 
Hello,

I used to sell fish and my personal opinion is that having a heater and not needing it is a whole lot better than needing it but not having it. No less, another major factor is the carrying capacity of water in that the major (one of them) argument for heating an aquarium is to keep the temperature from swinging up and down throughout the course of the day. Subsequently, if you can keep the water temperature constant in and ofitself, then a heater is not needed. The problem with this thinking is that only very large aquariums have enough mass to retain heat well. Unless your tank is larger than 50 gallons, you are not likely to have a big enough tank to prevent swings in temperature.

One side note: You should be aware that the recommended tank size for 2 fancy goldfish is at least a 20-gallon aquarium. Regular goldfish fair best in tanks with a capacity of 40 gallons or more. If your tank is not of the sizes, then you may want to consider other temperate fish.

MOA

P.S., I'm not saying the fish will suddenly explode if you keep them in too small of a tank, but be aware that most goldfish in tank under 30 gallons in capacity do not live longer than 5 years. The record was around 50 years, but that was achieved in a tank almost 50 gallons in capacity with a relatively small species of goldfish (many goldies can grow over a foot long if well cared for).
 
For interest: The Guinness world record is 43 years for "Tish" in Britain. She is a single tailed variety. Fancies tend not to live as long.

World record length for a fancy is Bruce at over 14" long! <That is not including the tail ... standard for goldfish length measurement.>
 
Hello,

I used to sell fish and my personal opinion is that having a heater and not needing it is a whole lot better than needing it but not having it. No less, another major factor is the carrying capacity of water in that the major (one of them) argument for heating an aquarium is to keep the temperature from swinging up and down throughout the course of the day. Subsequently, if you can keep the water temperature constant in and ofitself, then a heater is not needed. The problem with this thinking is that only very large aquariums have enough mass to retain heat well. Unless your tank is larger than 50 gallons, you are not likely to have a big enough tank to prevent swings in temperature.

One side note: You should be aware that the recommended tank size for 2 fancy goldfish is at least a 20-gallon aquarium. Regular goldfish fair best in tanks with a capacity of 40 gallons or more. If your tank is not of the sizes, then you may want to consider other temperate fish.

MOA

P.S., I'm not saying the fish will suddenly explode if you keep them in too small of a tank, but be aware that most goldfish in tank under 30 gallons in capacity do not live longer than 5 years. The record was around 50 years, but that was achieved in a tank almost 50 gallons in capacity with a relatively small species of goldfish (many goldies can grow over a foot long if well cared for).


Hello

The tank is a 12 gallon tank. Not sure what you mean with fancy goldfish?
These are just the small and typical goldfish. I wouldn't call them fancy but I'm quite a newbie on all of this. :)
 
Hello,

"Fancy" goldfish refers to some of the ornate, delicate forms out there that have been specially bred for display. What you are talking about (it seems to me) are just common goldfish. Unfortunately, a common goldfish can grow at least 8 inches long and most will be able to grow over a foot long if they live out their full life span. This means that they can grow longer than your tank is wide--not leaving much turning room, lol. Since your tank is so small, a goldfish is not a very species to keep as they will grow way too large and create a lot of waste (you would probably wind up doing partial water changes every other day to keep the nitrogen compound content down if you kept one long enough for it to reach full size).

This does not mean that you do not have options. Several species will do okay in a 12-gallon system including: white cloud mountain minnows, many smaller danios and rasboras, some tetras, cherry barbs, and otocinclus. Some of the above fish would require heated water, but that is their only major requirement (do research on the specific species you are interested in before visiting the pet shop). Another nice thing about selecting these sorts of fish over goldfish is that with these species, since they are much smaller, you could keep many more fish--maybe even a couple of small shoals.

If you want to stick it out with the goldfish, I guess that is okay if you keep the following in mind: (based on my experience selling them to people with similar setups) they will produce a ton of waste, force you to do partial water changes very frequently, live less than 1.5 years (though they can live more than 15 years under more ideal conditions), and probably become very dissappointing. You can keep them if you want to, but you are not going to get much mileage out of them.

Hope this helps,
MOA
 
Hello

The tank is a 12 gallon tank. Not sure what you mean with fancy goldfish?
These are just the small and typical goldfish. I wouldn't call them fancy but I'm quite a newbie on all of this. :)

A "fancy goldfish" is one with a double tail. The common are single tails like the usual fish.

A garden variety fantail has a double tail & should be treated as a fancy. OTOH, some of the single tails like shubunkins can be rather fancy, but are usu. hardy like the commons.

I would not consider keeping any single tailed variety in a 12 gal. They will get too big. Plus they are fast swimmer & do like room to swim.

You can be OK with the fantails in a 12, provided you do lots of water changes. They are much better kept in a 20 long, or better yet a 40 breeder or bigger.

If you want to stick with your goldfish, you can manage for now while they are small with diligent water changes. 50% weekly is min for goldfish in small setup. You will eventually have to up it to daily or every other day changes. <Monitor your nitrates to see how often you need to do changes.> Eventually, they will outgrow your tank. <Any hint of ammonia or nitrites in the tank is a warning.> For single tailed varieties, you should be looking for a pond to move them into. You can prob manage for a year or 2 with fantails, but should be thinking of a 40+ down the road.
 
It's definetly being an education being around here!

I had no clue gold fish needed so much. You see so many in the shop and they look so... the typical fish to get! that I got them *mainly* because I thought they would be the easiest to start with.

I have no clue what I can do at the moment because there is not that much chance of moving them into anything bigger :(

I wish the shop where I got them would have been this helpful :(
 
i know what you mean, when i was little and first had fish i got goldfish for the same reasons as you!

don't panic, goldfish do need a lot of care and attention, but in my experience they are also very hardy fish.
i used to have 2 fancy goldfish in a 5 gallon tank (i know, i had no idea!) and while i was saving up for a 20g long they survived fine in there for 9 months. u know it's not ideal, and i wouldn't recommend anyone to do it, but it all worked out fine.

they have been in their 20g for over half a year now and are still healthy and active!

so basically, don't worry, i'm sure you will sort it all out in a bit of time.
 
It's definetly being an education being around here!

I had no clue gold fish needed so much. You see so many in the shop and they look so... the typical fish to get! that I got them *mainly* because I thought they would be the easiest to start with.

I have no clue what I can do at the moment because there is not that much chance of moving them into anything bigger :(

I wish the shop where I got them would have been this helpful :(

Yes, exactly the same here. We had goldfish at first as you naturally think, since they are coldwater, they are going to be the easiest to keep, and they'll be the ones most suited to the smaller end of the tanks. But that's not so at all!

Your tank isn't massive, but again it isn't the smallest in the world either. To start off with I had a 6.6 gallon tank I was told by the shop I could keep 3 goldfish in without any problems!

As long as the tank is fully cycled, and the ammonia and nitrites are zero and you do frequent water changes, of the order of 50% per week. Then you should be able to keep goldfish in that tank for a year or two?

Problem is when they get big they won't have the room to move in that tank and keeping them in there would be cruel. Although perhaps in a years time you might find somewhere bigger for them?
 
Your goldfish does not need a heater and probably does not prefer one as they generally prefer colder temperatures.
 
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