TryingMyBest
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Hello to everyone, since spring 2010 I've been the owner of 7 goldfish! Sadly, only two are still with us, and I've joined your forum in hopes of keeping it that way as long as possible.
I guess I should explain about the ones that didn't make it. Last spring, I decided to toss a few cheap goldfish in my mother's 100 gallon rain water barrel to munch on any of the mosquito larvae that usually plague it. Originally I had four in there, and they seemed to do fine for a week or two, but as time went on I come out to give them their daily feeding and find that one was floating at the top, and then another a few weeks later. Then, following a rainstorm, a third one turned up missing, leaving one survivor out of the original four.
I had hoped all four of them would be just fine so long as I kept the water air-rated, but as the other three hadn't made it, I expected the lone survivor to pass no matter what I did. So I just kept feeding him and checking on him to try and keep him alive as long as possible, and to my delight he actually hung in there right on up to summer! It was at this point that my mom thought the heat would finally do him in, so I got him a cheap 10 gallon tank, fished him out of the barrel and put him in a proper home. He'd grown from a little over an inch long to about three, maybe three and a half inches.
I didn't want to leave him in there alone though, so I got a couple of fancier goldfish to keep him company. Unfortunately, the guy who told me the three of them would be ok in a 10 gallon tank forgot to mention how meticulously I'd have to keep an eye on the conditions for the fish to keep them healthy. It was only later in the fall when the smallest one, a black moor, took ill and died that I started nitpicking over their health. Now I check ammonia levels regularly, and take notice of anything that's out of the ordinary.
So that's my story, if anyone has any thoughts or advice for me (other than get a bigger tank for them, I'm saving up for that) please feel free to shoot me a private message or respond here, I'd value any ideas that keep my little friends alive!
I guess I should explain about the ones that didn't make it. Last spring, I decided to toss a few cheap goldfish in my mother's 100 gallon rain water barrel to munch on any of the mosquito larvae that usually plague it. Originally I had four in there, and they seemed to do fine for a week or two, but as time went on I come out to give them their daily feeding and find that one was floating at the top, and then another a few weeks later. Then, following a rainstorm, a third one turned up missing, leaving one survivor out of the original four.
I had hoped all four of them would be just fine so long as I kept the water air-rated, but as the other three hadn't made it, I expected the lone survivor to pass no matter what I did. So I just kept feeding him and checking on him to try and keep him alive as long as possible, and to my delight he actually hung in there right on up to summer! It was at this point that my mom thought the heat would finally do him in, so I got him a cheap 10 gallon tank, fished him out of the barrel and put him in a proper home. He'd grown from a little over an inch long to about three, maybe three and a half inches.
I didn't want to leave him in there alone though, so I got a couple of fancier goldfish to keep him company. Unfortunately, the guy who told me the three of them would be ok in a 10 gallon tank forgot to mention how meticulously I'd have to keep an eye on the conditions for the fish to keep them healthy. It was only later in the fall when the smallest one, a black moor, took ill and died that I started nitpicking over their health. Now I check ammonia levels regularly, and take notice of anything that's out of the ordinary.
So that's my story, if anyone has any thoughts or advice for me (other than get a bigger tank for them, I'm saving up for that) please feel free to shoot me a private message or respond here, I'd value any ideas that keep my little friends alive!
You have come to the right place for advice, encouragement, and information about fish. I have not had any goldfish since I was a teen, and that was many long years ago, but I can give some tips on fishkeeping, in general. First of all, you may want to check out some great articles on water quality, and how to keep it healthy for your fish:
