hi i am new and would love some advice

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
hi, nice to see someone with goldfish. Those loaches look like chinese algae eaters to me, and they will actually probably stop eating algae as they mature, they can be quite aggressive and will probably attack the goldies. You're situation sounds like how i started, and now i 3 have tanks with a fourth on the way, lol. good luck with them, and glad that you are doing some research. The goldfish should live a very long time with the right care. Hope you enjoy them.
 
:welcome: to MFK!

Could you please tell us what variant of goldfish you got? For starters, we distinguish two groups of variants: fancy and pond. The fancy types comprise the orandas, fantails, ryukins, ranchus and pearlscales. There are dozens more but these ones are the commonly available variants. The pond ones are wakins, watonais, jikins, hibunas (common goldfish), shubunkins and comets. For fancy varieties, the smallest at 6-7 inches only are bubble eyes. They are far too delicate and best avoided by beginners. The largest ones are orandas, fantails, ranchus and ryukins with the first three gaining body length of 10 inches with a body width at 2/3 of the body length (mostly 5-6 inches). Ryukins on the other hand have a much taller body although they still attain a length of 8 inches at most.

For stocking guidelines, I suggest that with fancy varieties, aim for 15g per first fish. Each additional fish should have 10g of allocated space. It also depends on the variety you get because not all goldfish grow similarly as I already mentioned earlier. Pond types can easily attain 12-18 inches in length. Aim for 20g per fish. A 75g would be the minimum for at least 3-4 pond goldfish.

As already mentioned, goldfish do poop a lot. A 60 liters equivalent to 15g will still be very inadequate unfortunately. If you want your heart set on keeping goldfish, start saving up and aim for a 55g as the minimum tank size. Your 15g will work best as a quarantine/hospital tank and can house your goldfish temporarily only. My 75g houses only 2 orandas and a ranchu. Despite the enormous space allowance, my orandas are 5-7" in body length already. They gain more bulk as they grow which is one reason I have too much allocated space for my goldfish.

Do you have a test kit already? If not, please obtain liquid drops by API. Avoid the test strips which are grossly inaccurate for the most part. Check your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH daily. All four are basic but very important variables. For now, since everything is all new, get the test kit and do daily water changes. The clean water will allow your goldfish to grow much quicker and wastes diluted immediately as these are horribly toxic to the fish.

One issue I would like to address is stunting. Many people will tell you fish will grow only to the size of the tank. This is completely bunk. It is true that the fish may have appeared to stop growing however the internal organs particularly the eyes will not. You will notice most fish have abnormally large eyes which is not proportioned well to their body size. It indicates the fish has already been severely stunted. The internal organs may also be squashed inside their body and that is not easily noticeable unless you perform necropsy on the fish to check for the organ size. Such operation would kill your fish anyway in the process. Stunting brings more health problems to them and also cuts down severely their lifespan as a result.

As for feeding, it depends. I'd like to know the variant you have because most foods have ingredients with a big impact on the health of most goldfish varieties. However as a general rule, with young goldfish, always aim for protein content no less than 40% to allow them to utilize it for body growth. Fiber should not be lower than 4% in total. As commercial foods in general are very low in fiber, this can be remedied by adding vegetables and aquarium plants in their diet. My goldfish eat a lot of plants heavily. The commercial foods I feed my goldies are Hikari Lionhead and then the Mazuri 5M70 which is quite appropriate for young goldfish.

Please provide photos of the plecos and loaches. I am suspecting your butterfly plecos may actually be hillstream loaches in which case, I suggest rehoming the hillies. They need very clean water and keeping them with goldfish is not exactly the best idea even though both fish are temperate species. Hillies need fast flowing waters in order to thrive. Goldfish on the other hand will not appreciate the currents at all. As for the plecos, I'd avoid the plecos in general except the bristlenose. Only the bristlenose work very well especially as they do not eat the slime coat of the goldies, can tolerate the temperate conditions well and won't grow too big at all at 4-5 inches only.

Hope this helps.:)
 
dicarey84;3486061; said:
your right we wont be getting anymore, the tank looks so big and empty but i am sure they will soon fill it
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Hallo and welcome!
I started out with goldfish, carp and Plecos, and it got out of hand quickly!
Within 6 months i upgraded to a 180Gl and it didn't stop there.
Don't say I didn't warn you!!!:D:D:D
Make sure your plecos got some driftwood, they need it to digest their food.
My goldfish loved bloodworms, waterfleas and artemia very much.
They also took a habit in eating the soft parts of the zuchinni I fed my plecos!
They all went into ponds when I switched to predatory fish!:headbang2:headbang2:headbang2
 
thanks for all your help, the gold fish are fantails.

bought some drift wood they love it, also tried the cucumber and they dont seem bothered as yet.

not sure how to put pics on? i used imageshack earlier but it didnt work?
 
One of your goldfish is a fantail. The other is a shubunkin. I suspected it all along you have hillstream loaches which are often mistaken for "plecos" when they are not plecos but loaches of the Balitorinae genus. Your "loaches" look a lot like Chinese algae eaters (Gyrinocheilus aymonieri) indeed. I've worked out the advice for hillstream loaches and goldfish in my first post above. CAEs need to be isolated immediately before they pose a health hazard to your goldies by eating their slime coats away which CAEs are notoriously known for. I clearly remember that mistake with six CAEs ganging up on my fantails and shubs.
 
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