Sharpchick
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I think I have to get this off my chest.
Goldfish aren't throw away fish. They aren't expendable fish for cycling a tank, where it doesn't matter if you do water changes because you're just going to "get rid" of them anyway.
They aren't tropical fish. They don't have the same dietary or space requirements as tropical fish. Comparatively speaking, one goldfish contributes a HUGE bioload to a tank.
In fishkeeping, we've done away with that useless "one inch per gallon rule" for tropical fish, and never used it for marine fish, so why would anyone apply it to goldfish?
For goldfish, it's gallons per fish. And it's more gallons per fish for slim bodied single tailed goldfish such as commons, comets and shubunkins, which are better suited for pond life unless you can afford a big honking tank. Use Google images to be able to tell the difference before you set out for the store.
If you're buying "feeder fish," i.e., comets in most of the big box stores, then please make sure your oscar or piranha is a fast and efficient killing machine. It's not amusing to watch an immature carnivore ineffectively chase and terrorize a goldfish. And please don't talk about how that happens in nature. Oscars are cichlids from South America, and the largest market for piranhas is from Brazil. That goldfish from China and those carnivores would never meet in nature.
Please do the homework necessary to be a responsible goldfish or koi owner before you buy.
Goldfish aren't throw away fish. They aren't expendable fish for cycling a tank, where it doesn't matter if you do water changes because you're just going to "get rid" of them anyway.
They aren't tropical fish. They don't have the same dietary or space requirements as tropical fish. Comparatively speaking, one goldfish contributes a HUGE bioload to a tank.
In fishkeeping, we've done away with that useless "one inch per gallon rule" for tropical fish, and never used it for marine fish, so why would anyone apply it to goldfish?
For goldfish, it's gallons per fish. And it's more gallons per fish for slim bodied single tailed goldfish such as commons, comets and shubunkins, which are better suited for pond life unless you can afford a big honking tank. Use Google images to be able to tell the difference before you set out for the store.
If you're buying "feeder fish," i.e., comets in most of the big box stores, then please make sure your oscar or piranha is a fast and efficient killing machine. It's not amusing to watch an immature carnivore ineffectively chase and terrorize a goldfish. And please don't talk about how that happens in nature. Oscars are cichlids from South America, and the largest market for piranhas is from Brazil. That goldfish from China and those carnivores would never meet in nature.
Please do the homework necessary to be a responsible goldfish or koi owner before you buy.
