My fiance and I recently bought a small 3 gallon tank for our young son. We are thinking about having a goldfish or two in there and having it be cold-water. Are there any small algae-eaters that can live in cold water that don't get too territorial?
There's a rather large opening in the cover of the tank so any snails would be able to escape if they so chose.
Small goldfish tank is an oxymoron. With fancies you are looking at a minimum of 20g per fish or 55g for three. An with shubunkins and comets you can pretty much triple that. Quadruple it even. Goldfish are dirty, dirty, dirty fish. They produce a lot of waste from those convoluted stomachs!
The goldfish you see in stores are actually only fry. The smallest goldfish variety will reach an adult size of 8 inches, with most fancy types reaching 12 inches. Double that for comets. Furthermore, they need heavy filtration and tons of oxygen. Given proper care and space, however, a goldfish can easily live for 20 years.
Most pet stores would also tell you you could do white clouds but to be fair they need a group of 6 to be happy and are so active that they are better suited for a 20g minimum.
3g, however, would be an awesome size for a betta, provided you get a heater. They actually prefer warmer water than most tropical fish, but small heaters aren't that expensive. Plus, bettas are so nice and colorful, full of personality (you laugh now...) and are solitary so you have a good excuse not to take on any more fishies! When properly taken care of (ie NOT starving in a dirty peace-lily vase) your betta could be with the family for up to 7 years!
I'd also not suggest any goldfish in that size tank, but much rather a Betta, provided you wanna buy a heater.
There's really not too much you can do with such a small tank. You could set it up for Shrimp, a few of them, but while they're fun to watch in their interactions, I don't think they'd be enough fun for a kid.
Thanks, I did buy a small female betta and 2 small goldfish yesterday but for some reason all three were dead when I woke up this morning. I'm thinking either I didn't climatize them enough, or I didn' let the filter run long enough.
Once I get it running longer and get a heater, I'll try for just a betta. Thanks again for the advice.
That is why every person who replied advised against it. 2 goldfish alone can produce a lethal amount of ammonia in 12 hours, no sweat.
Seed the filter with squeezings from your running tank so you can jump-start the cycle in the new tank.
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