Goldfish Question

[steves]

Hello, I just have a quick question about my goldfish.
This is my first aquarium, so I'm a little clueless. This fish used to be in my pond, but disaster fell and he was the only survivor. He's about 4 inches and it's been about 6 months since I got him from the pet store.

This is the first fish I've ever had in an aquarium and I've noticed some odd things. He will, on occasion, "yawn". He doesn't freak out when he does it, he just kind of pauses from swimming, and gapes his mouth wide open. He looks totally healthy, nice and shiny with no blemishes, and he's not flashing. He's only done this a few times, I'm just a little paranoid.

The other odd thing he does is hit his head on the glass. I'm not sure if this is normal. He doesn't go full ramming speed or anything, he's just been swimming along the edge of his tank and when a corner comes up, boop, hits his face into it. He also seems to be swimming with his nose either touching or almost touching the glass, like it's a hand rail. Again, I haven't seen him making any attempts to rub anything else against the glass

Thanks for any help, I'm just a little worried because of all the shock he's had to go through in the past few days.

 

[Roz]

Hiya, I'm no expert, but I'll see if I can help.

Your little guy might be bumping into the glass as he is no longer used to seeing glass edges. Being in a pond, and I suspect in winter with less daylight, he may not be seeing too well at the moment with the very different lighting and edge conditions he now finds himself with. Just a theory.

As far as his off angle goes, could it be due to the current from the filter? It took me ages to work out why all of my fish swam at an angle on one particular side of the tank - finally realised what it was when I moved them to a new tank with different filter

Also - with the yawning, I have read different reasons for it. My fish do it all of the time and they are healthy (fingers crossed!).

Hope this is a little useful.

 

[steves]

Thanks for the quick reply Roz

I'm thinking you may be right about him not being used to the glass. I'm think about finding something to cover the back and maybe the two adjacent sides.

Your idea about the filter also seems very likely. I never would have figured that one out haha.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[Roz]

No worries

He may settle in better if the lights are kept low in the room for awhile.

Please do let us know how he gets on.

 

[cnicole516]

My goldfish yawns all the time. Seems to be a common thing and probably not something to worry about

Mine also runs into the glass lightly, I believe this to be because he is a telescope and doesn't see well anyways.
I don't think you should worry too hard about either

 

[Roz]

How's the little guy going?