Goldfish are often cited as one of the easiest types of fish to care for in an aquarium setting. Goldfish are relatively hardy, being able to tolerate fluctuations in temperature and water quality. In addition to this, goldfish can live in an aquarium setting for as much as 10 years! However, many people mistakenly believe that goldfish do not require as much care and attention as some other types of fish. Here is a general guide to help you to better understand proper goldfish care.
Water Quality
Goldfish are notorious for producing a large amount of waste. While some of this waste (especially fecal material) may be due to a diet that is too high in protein, this is not the only type of waste that goldfish produce. Goldfish secrete harmful chemicals through their gills as well, which can quickly reduce their water quality. To help prevent your goldfish from dying unexpectedly, it’s important to closely monitor the water quality. Replace at least 10% of the water in your goldfish’s tank once per week, using a siphon to remove waste from the bottom of the tank.
Feeding
Goldfish require a diet that is slightly lower and protein, while higher in carbohydrates than the diet of most other fish. This is because goldfish aren’t able to completely digest a diet that is high in protein. To give your goldfish a proper diet, be sure to purchase either a flake or pellet food that is specifically designed to be fed to goldfish. Since goldfish are opportunistic eaters, they generally will overeat if given too much food. As a general rule, only give your goldfish as much food as they can consume in a period of 3 – 4 minutes.
Types of Goldfish
Due to selective breeding, there are many different types of goldfish that can be kept both in aquariums and in outdoor ponds. Most of the variations are referred to as “fancy goldfish”, and are not as tolerant of varying temperatures or water quality. In addition to this, some goldfish that have been selectively bred to display a specific body shape may have swimbladder problems, which may affect that fish’s ability to swim. In addition to this, certain “telescope eye” goldfish have notably poor eyesight, and may not be able to compete for food with some other goldfish types. When selecting the right type of goldfish for your tank, it’s important to choose carefully.
10 Responses to “Taking care of a Goldfish”
there are some fishes like the red rosy barb etc which are aggressive against goldfish specifically
as long as these aint in wid ur goldfishes,it’l do well with ur other fishes :]
can we put gold fish along with other fishes like black moly, white angel fishes. In my tank i have 20 fishes with 5 different types? Is this cause problem?
I won a goldfish at our fair like the person above.
I made sure it was fed properly it was swimming fine, then all of a sudden I went to check it (had just checked it a couple hours sooner) & it was dead.
I made sure it was dead, not just laying at the bottom like you all said yours have been doing.
My boyfriend says it’s because we needed to get a filter & heater and all of that for it. To me that seems silly for one goldfish in a bowl by itself.
Should I have gotten those things?
Hi Sophie,
the biggest problem is the water, tap water is no good for fish, so you have to use something called water ager, from pet stores or the supermarket pet section. Follow directions on the bottle but its usually about 5ml/20 liters. You have to put some in every time you change the water.
Reguards the filter, that would be a good idea otherwise you have to do it manually with a tube (like siphoning petrol) which is pretty yuk and also get some waterweed to put a bit of oxygen back into the tank.
So for the next fish fill his tank and add the water ager, put his bag in the tank still sealed and leave him there for 20 mins, then open the bag and put half a cup of the tank water in with him and re seal the bag (with a bit of air) and leave for another 20 mins. Then you can let him out.
If he does ever get sick, tonic salt (NOT table salt) works wonders, pull him out and put him in a 2 liter container with 1/4 teaspoon of tonic salt mixed in the water and he should come right. Ive left mine like that over night and they recover nicely.
Anyway, enough of my rambling,
Good luck!
Kiwifish
Hey there.
A goldfish generally won’t need a heater unless you’re keeping it somewhere seriously cold, like a refrigerator. They’re coldwater fish.
The filter is another story. Not providing your fish with at the very least a filter that produces bubbles (or preferably a dedicated filter and a dedicated aerator) is like keeping a dog in a sealed box and not bothering to drill air holes in it because “it seems silly for one dog in a box by itself”.
If your goldfish was eating, it was also producing waste. Without a filter working to help deplete the buildup of waste chemicals in the water (only helping–you’d still have to change the water periodically) and an aerator re-introducing oxygen, your fish probably either suffocated to death or was poisoned by toxic waste buildup.
i know what you mean. i just won a fish at my local fair and all it does is lay at the bottom ….the food i give him usually floats at the top…..but when i get home, its all gone. i never see him go to the top, but either he does, or the food sinks and he eats it.
he’s probably dead!
No!! We had a fish that was laying for days like he says .. We thought he was dead but after some time he randomly came back up..
My gold fish has been laying at the bottom of his tank for a day or so, the water was cloudy so we changed the water and it has been a day and he still just lays on the ground. Why?
he is probably sick and about to die (maybe) or if not try putting your fish in tonic salt
and it is best to have a filter
heater is optional cuz they are cold water fish
hope your fish gets better:)