Goldfish

[AaronW]

How cold can water get for goldfish? I just got a new tank for free from my friend. I live in southern ca and the weather is cooling down

 

[Rivercats]

If the tank is in your house the water isn't even going to get low enough for you to worry about them. What type of goldies are you going to do? Fancy's or Comets/Commons? We winter our hybrid comet-orando's out in one of the ponds here in MO and it gets very cold. Fancies are a bit more delicate when it comes to very cold temps but you won't have to worry about that in an aquarium.

 

[AaronW]

They are common. I have the tank in my garage. Which isn't insulated. The tank is pretty much a rescue from a friend who wasn't sure how to care for them.

I must say I am inclined to take on a pond project. I'd like to keep them permanently. I have a soft spot for goldfish

 

[Rivercats]

Common's are hardy! So are you keeping the fish in a tank in the garage? What size tank is it? How cold do your temps get? I have a 4000g pond and a smaller under 1000g pond that houses the comet/orando hybrids. They are probably close to 15 years old now. The koi have the big pond. You can see pic's in my album in the signature at the bottom of the post.

 

[AaronW]

Tank is a 10 gallon. I took all the decorations out to give them room to swim. I have an empty 50 that I could put them. Thoughts?

It's staying the garage.

 

[AaronW]

Tank is gonna be in the garage. It's a 10. I have an extra 50. It's empty.

 

[rmiller]

You definitely need to move them to the 50. First, common goldfish grow very large and are very messy fish. They need all the space they can get and excellent filtration. A pond is the only real place for them so I would start on one in the spring if you can. Second, the temp of the water will swing more drastically in the 10 than the 50. Although they can handle cold temps easily, the swings you'd see from day to night in a 10 will stress them.

 

[Rivercats]

A 10 is definitely too small and as already mentioned will have too great of temp swings. Use the 50g BUT honestly I would add a heater and set it at 68 in the event you'd have a large temp drop suddenly which is hard on the fish. A heater set that low would rarely run if at all but would be in place if you got a sudden cold snap. I actually kept a heater in each goldie tank, never on, but ready to plug in if needed.

 

[AaronW]

Yeah the swings are my biggest concern. I really don't have time to cycle a 50 gallon. Not sure that they will last in a 10g. What do you guys think?? Should I risk it?

 

[jlk]

I agree to move them to the 50g. Even if the 10g was cycled, it will never be able to handle the bioload of these guys. The 50 at least will have more dilute toxin levels due to the greater water volume.

If your in southern CA, I can not imagine it reaches drastically cold temps. What temp is the tank right now? I would keep tabs on the day time temps of the tank versus the overnight temps and see what kind of variation you are seeing. Unless its a huge variation or the tank is at risk of freezing over, I honestly would not be very concerned with heating the tank.

 

[Rivercats]

`I would not risk putting them in the 10g.

 

[AaronW]

Right it's too small. Now I can set that new tank up as my quarantine tank. So are you guys saying to forget about cycling that 50 gallon?

 

[rmiller]

If the 10 gallon is cycled just move the media from it to the filter in the 50. You'll be carrying over the existing bacteria and with additional space in the filter for the 50 you'll be able to grow your bacteria colony to a handle the bioload the goldfish put off.

If the 10 isn't cycled, you started a fish in cycle as soon as you put in the fish. The FIC will be less stressful on the goldies in the 50 gallon vs the 10.

 

[AaronW]

Honestly the tank was so filthy that I changed the water pretty heavily. I think the cycle might have just restarted. So I'll just move them in to the 50 gallon immediately.

My friend didn't know what water changes were... The water was pretty stagnant.

 

[AaronW]

The 2 gold fish look incredibly stressed. Swimming very erratically when I enter the room. They just sit on the bottom of the tank. Moving them in to the big one now. Wish me luck

 

[rmiller]

Good luck, let us know how things go.

 

[AaronW]

I've run in to a problem. The intended stand for the tank is bowing. Can I still use it?

 

[rmiller]

Uh oh! I'll leave that question to someone else. I'm no structural expert. If someone else deems it unusable I would suggest a cinder block stand as a quick, inexpensive alternative.

 

[AaronW]

Yeah I think so too.