How long could I keep 3 fancy goldfish in a 30 gallon before needing to upgrade?

[venymae]

I am wanting to do goldfish, and I have a 30 gallon ready to go. I am wanting 3 fancy goldfish, just going to get cheap little derps from the local place. How fast will they outgrow a 30? My father has a 55 gallon, but I'd need to drive down to get it, reseal it, and get a new stand. He doesn't live super close and I've got a life besides fish, so that might take a while. Just wanting to look at my options. After that I'd be upgrading to a 90, which I will just need to buy. I appreciate your input and experiences!

[BBradbury]

Originally Posted by venymae

I am wanting to do goldfish, and I have a 30 gallon ready to go. I am wanting 3 fancy goldfish, just going to get cheap little derps from the local place. How fast will they outgrow a 30? My father has a 55 gallon, but I'd need to drive down to get it, reseal it, and get a new stand. He doesn't live super close and I've got a life besides fish, so that might take a while. Just wanting to look at my options. After that I'd be upgrading to a 90, which I will just need to buy. I appreciate your input and experiences!

Hello ven...

If the Goldfish are fairly young, under six months or so, they'll be fine in 30 gallons of water for several months. I've been keeping Goldfish for some time and have found that most won't outgrow their tank. I've kept 18 in a 75 gallon tank for more than two years and with the exception of one larger fish, the rest have stayed under three inches. Goldfish are heavy waste and oxygen users, so you'll need to remove and replace most of their tank water every few days. I change out half or more every week.

B

[Autumnsky]

Kept in optimum conditions fancy GF can grow very large. The pics are a year difference. So they can grow really nicely and pretty quickly.

By ready to go you mean cleaned up and ready to put some fish in?

Or have you cycled the filter for 6-8 weeks monitoring the changes in ammonia, nitrite and nitrate to grow a colony of beneficial bacteria and it has completed the nitrification cycle and is ready to house fish?

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums...ve-265871.html

There is quite a big amount of work required to take a tank of 3 fancy GF in a 30 to go through a fish in cycle.

Mainly because of the amount of waste these guys can make from fish poo and uneaten food building up.

A 90G would be appropriately sized tank for them. Filtration is another key factor.

Unless you can set up a continuous water change system you would need filtration with a change over of minimum 10 times the quantity of tank water.

30 gallon would need a rate of flow per hour of 300 gph minimum. A good filter is a Aquaclear 70 has 300 gallons per hour and the Aquaclear 110 is 500 gph and you can adjust their flow so the bigger one would be able to grow with your fish better.

This is a great resource for learning about the basics for fish - also with links for fish in (the tank) cycling or a fishless cycle getting the beneficial bacteria in the tank before the fish go in.
Guide to Starting a Freshwater Aquarium - Aquarium Advice