Help with spray bar positioning with fancy goldfish

[AzureJasper]

Hi. I have an Aqua one 800 canister filter that came with a spray bar (two tubes with holes along their length). We’ve just finished fishless cycle and now have two (very small for now) fantail goldfish. When added to the tank they seemed to hang out in one corner, farthest from the filter spray bar. I read a lot about fancy goldfish not being strong swimmers, and wondered if the current from the filter was too strong. Had the spray bar along back wall of tank, just below surface of water, angled slightly upwards so as to agitate the surface slightly.

I rotated the tubes so the holes were pointed directly at the back wall/glass, an attempt to minimise the water flow/current. Soon after I did this both fish began exploring more of the tank. Of course that could just be a coincidence.

My question is what’s the best way to position a canister filter’s spray bar with small/young fantail goldfish in the tank? Thanks

 

[Andy Sager]

If the fish are still swimming around happily, I'd leave the spray bars just as they are. There is no "correct position for a particular fish" adjustment. You just have to make adjustments that fit your fish. You DO want to have some agitation of the surface so if your adjustment took that away, you'll want to adjust them ( or one of them at least) so that there is the agitation at the surface for gas exchange.
Hope this helps.

 

[Alianablue]

Fancy Goldfish like to play

I have 11 (R.I.P. Flip) fancy goldfish that 'appeared' in my 250l wildlife pond after I bought some Elodea for the frogs to eat... The pond had a solar air stone, some oxygenating plants, 3 frogs, 400 snails(...) and no filtration or water changes. I filled the pond from the hose pipe - no de-chlorination, didn't provide food, no water changes and since it was summer the water was hot. Essentially I did everything wrong and 11 little fishes spawned and thrived for their first few months. Poor flip spawned in a bucket as I had cut some of the elodea back and succumbed to bloat problems.
With the pond being too shallow to survive winter and too small for mature fancies I brought them into a 100l indoor tank. I know WAY too small for 2 fancies, nevermind 11. They're around 3 months old now and I'm splitting the group up into 2 tanks, then later a third. Once they're full grown I'll let some of them go, for now I want to see what they grow into (looks like Ryukin and mixture of fantail and butterfly).
I keep a spray bar above the water line. The goldfish play in the stream, but sleep away from it. The agitation helps the air content in the water as well as moving the waste to the outtake hose which, given 11 messy goldfish, is essential. The bar runs back to front not side to side so the fish have plenty of quiet water to rest, plus the ornaments and plants provide a barrier and hiding.

My current tank contains elodea and a java fern, but gravel substrate with algae cover decor. Next two tanks will be full planted - the goldfish are welcome to eat the plants, they'll never get through them all (probably...)

From zero interest in fish to slightly obsessed in 3 months...