The goldfish aquarium is a freshwater aquarium specifically designed for the maintenance of several goldfish. The first thing to consider is that it does not differ much from any other freshwater aquarium. It has the same requirements for the maintenance and/or breeding of any other freshwater fish. The mistakes made are the same as for any beginner aquarist.
How to keep goldfish in an aquarium? What water do they need to live long? What to feed them? How big an aquarium should I keep for 1 or 2 goldfish? These questions are answered here.
The goldfish aquarium consists of the usual technical elements such as a spacious bare tank, a filter for biological purification of the aquatic ecosystem, and an aquarium light that works 10 to 12 hours a day.
What equipment for the goldfish aquarium? The goldfish aquarium can (or should) include a heater to keep the water temperature above 18°C. While goldfish can live below this critical temperature, tropical aquatic plants would not be able to tolerate cold maintenance conditions.
How to keep goldfish in an aquarium? To keep the fish in the best possible way, a layer of sand, if possible fine enough, or round, non-cutting gravel, should be placed at the bottom of the aquarium to create not only the decoration of the tank, but also to plant aquarium plants. See also plants for beginners and real plants with goldfish.
12 tips with the goldfish aquarium:
No one is perfect, we all make mistakes. So here are twelve tips to follow to avoid gross mistakes with a goldfish aquarium. In fact, new goldfish owners usually make a lot of mistakes when they get their first goldfish and put it in their first aquarium!
The important thing, of course, is to learn and then become better goldfish owners over time. This means learning not only from our own mistakes, but also from the mistakes of others. And that's why we've compiled this list of 12 mistakes with PRs turned into tips to help beginning aquarists learn from the mistakes made by others.
1: Buy a real aquarium of more than 12 Gallon!
Why not buy a fishbowl? The most common mistake is to buy a goldfish fishbowl instead of a real aquarium that is not a nano aquarium. The first piece of advice is to admit that a goldfish measures more than 15-20 cm when it is a mature adult, it needs a corresponding volume of water, at least 8 gallon per fish, and ideally at least 12 gallon per individual for good swimming breeds.
Do goldfish need a large aquarium? Yes! Goldfish need a large aquarium. You should never keep goldfish in a fishbowl!
recommended volumes and sizes of goldfish aquariums are
- Fancy goldfish: an aquarium of at least 12 gallon and 60 cm front length for a single (and only) specimen. Add 8 gallon for each additional RP and increase the length of the aquarium (80 cm for 2 RP, 100 cm for 3 RP, etc.).
- Common goldfish: an aquarium of at least 20 gallon and 80 cm length for a first fish. Add 12 gallon for each additional RP and the length should increase accordingly (100 cm for 2 RP, 120 cm for 3 RP, etc.).
It should be noted that common goldfish are often more suited to a pond once they have grown larger to allow them to swim. Very few people have an indoor aquarium large enough to properly keep a fully grown goldfish! Don't forget that the record length of a PR is 43 cm!
Finally, don't forget that your goldfish tank needs a filter! Even a large tank will become polluted very quickly if it is not properly filtered or if you don't do enough water changes. If possible, get an external filter, as they have a larger filtration volume than internal filters, and install it outside of your aquarium so it doesn't take up valuable space inside the tank.
2: Don't put too many fish in the aquarium!
How many goldfish can I put in? As mentioned above, goldfish need a lot of space (volume) and can quickly pollute the water: they are good swimmers (so they spend a lot of energy) and eat like gluttons. So be careful not to overcrowd your tank: you must avoid overpopulation.
Calculate the size of your aquarium (if it is not a ball aquarium) and find out how many goldfish
3: don't
rush to introduce the fish!
So you've decided to get a goldfish as a pet, you've bought a suitable aquarium, a big enough filter and maybe some food, plants and aquarium decorations... all you have to do now is rush to the pet store and choose your new fish, right? Wrong!
When to introduce goldfish into the aquarium? Another very important step is the cycling of an aquarium, which you must follow in order to give your fish the best chance of living a healthy, happy and long life. It may seem complicated at first, but don't worry, it's not that bad and the cycling (nitrogen cycle) of your goldfish tank is very important, so be patient!
Like all animals, goldfish produce waste. This is not a problem for them in the wild, as there is so much water in rivers and the sea that their waste is diluted and does not harm them. However, in an aquarium, even a very large one, or even a garden pond, their waste will accumulate in the water (even if you make many water changes) and their health will suffer.
This is where cycling comes in! When we talk about "cycling the aquarium", we are talking about building up a colony of "good" bacteria in the aquarium, mostly in the filter (the bacteria attach themselves to the filter media) and the gravel-sand. These bacteria cause the "nitrogen cycle" and make the water safe for your fish.
At the beginning of the aquarium, the nitrite evolution should be followed to detect the nitrite peak with a NO2 kit. As soon as this peak is detected, with a NO3 test, check the nitrates. When nitrite is at 0 and nitrate is very low (less than 10 mg/l), the aquarium is cycled for the first time.
4: don't overfeed!
When and how to feed goldfish in the aquarium? Goldfish (like all fish) do not have a stomach, which means that food passes through their digestive system very quickly. In addition, goldfish will continue to eat and eat as long as there is food, without ever being "full". For this reason, you should feed a goldfish a few small meals a day, rather than giving them a lot of food at once. Too much food at one time can cause constipation and swimming problems. Beware of overfeeding (overnutrition)!
Goldfish foods contain less protein and more carbohydrates than other tropical fish foods. Feed manufacturers have produced feeds that meet the specific dietary needs of goldfish. So don't just grab a fishbowl of generic "fish food". Your goldfish should be fed a food that is tailored to its specific needs.
5: Change the water regularly!
Why change the water in the aquarium? As a general rule, you should change some of the water in the aquarium once a week. Use a test kit (nitrite test, nitrate test, GH test) and keep an eye on your water parameters and change the water more regularly if you notice ammonia or nitrite peaks. See the partial water change.
Following the proper process of changing your goldfish's aquarium water can make the difference between keeping your fish strong and healthy in water quality perfectly suited to its needs and keeping it in poor quality water that is hazardous to its health.
6: don't
change too much water at once!
How much water should be changed each week in the aquarium? You should not change all the water at once. We suggest regular partial water changes of about a quarter to a third of the aquarium water. Use an aquarium siphon to suck up the waste deposited on the sand (but don't "crush" the sand, never move it except to plant aquatic plants!) and dispose of the water to be changed.
7: treat
the tap water!
Why wait 24 hours before putting the new water? Domestic drinking water contains chemicals (bleach in particular) that can harm the colony of "good" bacteria in the filtration. Therefore, you must use a product called a water conditioner to treat your tap water and remove the harmful chemicals before adding fresh water to the tank.
8: Clean the filter, but not too much!
How to clean the aquarium filter? Cleaning the aquarium's biological and mechanical filters is part of normal aquarium maintenance. But the filter media, sand and decoration are where the good bacteria live. In conclusion: Never wash out the filter completely, only clean the sand superficially and do not move the decoration elements.
In any case: never use tap water for any cleaning operation! Instead, take a bucket of water (during a weekly water change) from the tank and use it to partially clean the filter media (and never all at once).
9: Do not put any other fish species than goldfish!
Therefore, it is important to remember that:
- Goldfish like relatively low water temperatures. PR are not tropical fish and will not be comfortable in a warm temperature environment.
- Goldfish can get very large and need a lot of space. Any other fish you add will take up valuable space in your G.P.
- Goldfish eat a lot and will try to eat anything that will fit in their mouths...including small fish (fry, micro fish)!
- Goldfish produce a lot of waste. This waste pollutes the fresh water in the tank and other fish add even more pressure to your filtration system.
- Goldfish scales can be damaged quite easily. Also, some fancy goldfish have large eyes (Bubble Eye or Telescope Fish for example) that can be easily damaged.
10: buy good quality (and healthy) fish!
Sometimes you can do everything right and take very good care of your goldfish, but it lives for a short time? This can be due to buying "poor quality" fish that are already weak, sick or stunted before you even bring them home from the pet store.
Even with your best PR care, the choice of purchasing your goldfish can make all the difference between owning a fish that lives a long time and reaches its full potential with normal goldfish growth and owning a fish that dies (or has to be euthanized) a few days or weeks after purchase.
Buying poor quality goldfish is one of the most common mistakes made by goldfish beginners!
Where to buy good goldfish? You can buy goldfish from the big chain pet stores. However, we do not recommend this option. Buy your goldfish from a "small" store or a quality independent breeder rather than a chain.
11: Quarantine your new fish!
New fish can sometimes carry diseases, which can spread to your other fish if you add them immediately to your community tank. For this reason, you should quarantine all new fish in a separate tank for two to three weeks to make sure they look healthy and that no diseases appear.
12: Ban plastic plants and decorations!
The watchword is: natural. If many items are sold in pet stores, they do not contribute to the biological ecosystem of the aquarium. Make a natural aquarium instead. Plant real goldfish plants! Real plants bring a real "plus" in the biological stability of the water by directly consuming nitrogen in the form of ammonia (very dangerous). In doing so, these green plants offer both a nice natural decorative element but also help to space out water changes for example (or to decrease the volume changed).
Example with a 25 gallon aquarium for 2 or 3
goldfish:
You have all the material for an aquarium of about 25 gallon (usually 23.5 gallon in the trade): be aware that there will really only be 80% of this volume that will be water, or about 19 gallon of available water. The rest is made up of the decor (sand, rocks...) but also the 3-5 cm of height left at the top of the tank.
As mentioned before, goldfish produce a lot of waste, which can pollute the water in their aquarium. You should always use a filter to create a colony of bacteria in your filter media and keep the water safe for your fish. Make sure you buy a filter large enough for your aquarium! Some well-known filter brands offer different filter sizes.
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