Yes, I see your point Atomiclord, and I very much agree, but tropical fish require much less work than goldfish. I'm quite certain that if (or when I should say) something happens to me; my goldfish are doomed...............
Here's a little story that might interest you guys. It will never cease to fascinate me.
A few years ago, I went to visit a friend; she'd just bought 5 tiny goldfish at the five and dime. They were comets; brilliant splashes of color painted the fish calico. Being an expert on the subject, I offered my advice on keeping goldfish; and even gave her a spare pump; for she had no filtration, no pumps, no mechanics whatsoever.
The plastic tub the fish called home; was a forty gallon, plastic tank; cut lengthwise. One side of the cut was the tank; offering less than twenty gallons of water and the other side became a hinged top, she explained; a deterrent for cats and bad weather. However, I never saw the tank with its lid closed. It sat on her small front porch; just at the end of its cover; getting between two to three hours of sun (depending on the season) each day.
Benefits of Chlorophyll
Each time I went to visit; I became more and more frustrated with her for not adding the small pond pump. When I asked what she was feeding; she confessed she'd quit feeding them since they had expressed no interest. "You've got to feed them something," I told her politely, but firmly, explaining the need for surface action and oxygenating the water. I did my best to convince her to perform weekly water changes, but her response was; "but the water looks clean," she defended.
After a while I gave up on her, and waited for the bad news, but it never came. The goldfish grew bigger and bigger; their coloration deepened. They thrived feeding off the lush growth of substrate algae lining the tank.
Is dumb luck the key to my friend’s accidental success, or is Mother Nature to be credited. She was fortunate that the tank cycled before the goldfish were poisoned by toxins; she was lucky with her choice of location because the sun played a very important role in the survival of her goldfish. Algae formed; grew fast and furiously feeding off nitrates; offering the goldfish a safe and natural environment. It provided bountiful nourishment with high roughage and last, but not least; an endless nesting ground for beneficial bacteria.
The algae substrate formation was encouraged by the sun; consuming carbon dioxide and producing oxygen in the water; the tank needed no surface action; the fish needed no additional food. They had everything they needed inside this twenty gallons.
Some forms of algae unintentionally suffocate or eliminate oxygen from water. Some, by covering the top surface such as string (blanket) algae. Some species of algae reduce oxygen levels in the water just because they take up space; rapidly reproducing; pushing oxygen out of the water; such as green water algae. If these types of algae had been growing in my friend’s tank, it might have been a sad outcome.
Amazing
Forgive the lesson in algae; this was cut and paste from one of my articles
Unfortunately, the story has a terrible ending. My friend was in the process of moving; taking more time than her landlord preferred, and he dumped the tank out in the yard. She's refuses to get fish again. She says she knows she could never be that lucky again. The fish were three years old when they died. Please don't ask how the fish managed to make it throught the winter months; it's a complete mystery; we're in Missouri and the winters are pretty cold here.
She's a strange bird.