Goldfish lying on bottom of tank

[Fatboyfish]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for the advice, really appreciate the quick replies. I did the water changes as suggested and tried the pea feeding, but I was too late. Sadly, my goldfish died yesterday evening. He was a great pet and I will miss him.

Sorry to hear. If you need a new friend look into fancy goldfish as they do not get as big. I love Ranchus and Lionheads. If you cannot find them locally there's a guy on ebay that sells a nice variety pretty cheap with free shipping. Livekoiforsalecom is the username. Search "live goldfish" and his multipacks usually come up right away.

 

[ssabina]

Thanks for the suggestions - I'm really debating whether to get new fish, and I was wondering how long I have before the "good bacteria" die, and whether it would be safe to put the new fish in the old tank (assuming the nitrates levels stay under control).
I'd probably be more inclined to get a few smaller fish (where I'd be more prepared to expect a short lifespan), but it seems daunting to think about the types of fish that do well together etc. I got the goldfish sort of by accident (friend moved away and left it with me a couple of years ago), but I got quite attached to it.

 

[Fatboyfish]

Keeping the nitrates under control is just a matter of doing water changes. Not very fun work but a necessity in this hobby. Limit your feedings to once maybe twice a day only what they can eat in about a minute. Avoid letting them sucker you into feeding all the time. Fish are opportunists and will eat themselves to death. Their thought process isn't very complex. Eat swim mate don't die about sums it up.

 

[Coursair]

Small fish can still live about 5 yrs. Cory Cats can live even longer.

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[ppo8820]

Id get another one. If you keep the tank clean and up on water changes, they can live forever. I know its a spendy habit and its not for everyone. If you arent that into it, you could sell your tank stuff on craigs list. Im sorry about your goldfish, I was really hoping things would turn around for him.

 

[Angela1108]

With a 20 gallon you might want to look into fish other than goldfish since they get massive- or like some else said look at the species that stay smaller



If you do some water changes now and get the parameters under control you should be good to add another fish in a few days but definitely make sure you get the nitrates down first


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[em1981ma]

Sorry to hear. If you need a new friend look into fancy goldfish as they do not get as big. I love Ranchus and Lionheads. If you cannot find them locally there's a guy on ebay that sells a nice variety pretty cheap with free shipping. Livekoiforsalecom is the username. Search "live goldfish" and his multipacks usually come up right away.

Fancy goldfish are great pets I'm a big fan and as Fatboy says don't get quite so big. Sorry for your loss but if you want to go for a smaller fish zebra danios are very hardy or if you keep a cold water tank try white cloud minnows. Good luck.

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