Advise on Filteration

kakkarg

Hi,

I am fairly new to the fish aquarium. I have at present 17 Gold Fish in my 33 Galon Aquariium (3ft * 1ft * 1.5 Ft) and am using a mechanical filter for filteration. I do feed my fish 2 times a day (morning & evening) and 2 spoons of Ruby Red.

Since few months i have been noticing that my water starts getting cloudy. Is it due to the filteration or due to excessive food. Please advise if i require to change my filter or any advise which i help me keep my tank clean and clear.

Thanks,
Gautam

jpbotha

I am not expert on Goldfish requirement, but water quality i suppose is the same.
What is your water change schedule and water parameters?
With regular water changes of 30-50% and cleaning the filter the water quality should increase drastically.
And maybe scale down on your feeding to only once a day

kakkarg

try to change the water once a month as earlier such kind of problem did not happen. Dont know if gravel is better or sand or onyx stone for decoration.

jpbotha

Once a month is maybe not enough. Should try and change at least 30% per week and scale down on feeding. Regarding the substrate you will have to wait for the Goldfish experts to comment.

Byron

Hi Gautam and welcome to Tropical Fish Keeping forum.

I'm afraid you have some issues with your setup. First, Goldfish need a lot of room, and 17 Goldfish in a 33g aquarium is way overstocked. If you read the Profile on this fish [click on the shaded name in posts to go to that fish's profile, or click on Tropical Fish Profiles in the blue bar and find the species] you will note they recommend 10 gallons of water for each fish.

Second, water changes once a month with so many fish in the tank is no where near adequate. A 50% water change every week is basic, but that works when the fish load is reasonable to balance. In your siutation, for the health of the fish, it should be changed more often than that if they are going to remain in the 33g. I would stongly recommend you upgrade to a very large tank or consider re-homing several of the Goldfish to create a more balanced bioload.

Goldfish produce a lot of waste and this affects the water quality, which I would guess is the source of your cloudy water.

Byron.

kakkarg

Hi Byron,

Thank you for your advise and suggestion. As you mentioned that i need to upgrade my tank, can you please advise on it which one to buy and what all things should be taken care while upgrading the same. Actually i do not have much of knowledge and don't want to invest in an incorrect tank.

Also, can you please advise on the quantity of feed how much should be given.

Regards,
Gautam

iamntbatman

What type of Goldfish do you have? The fancy varieties stay smaller (though can still reach eight inches or more) and are slower swimmers so can be kept in smaller tanks, but varieties like comets and shubunkins grow larger and swim faster, requiring even more room. Even for 17 fancy goldies I would think you'd need at least a 180g tank, perhaps larger, while for 17 of the larger types you'd need an even bigger tank (a pond, preferably).

Byron

Agree with iamntbatman.

And on the food question, once a day, and only what they eat in a few minutes. Fish will naturally (if they are really healthy) always appear "hungry" and that is good. Don't let them fool you into feeding them more. Fish will eat what you give them far beyond what they actually need. And that makes things worse both from the overeating aspect, but also from the water quality worsening, and their need for oxygen increasing...all of whch in too small a tank is made worse still. Once a day, or even alternate days for mature fish (fry need more frequent feedings to develop).

kakkarg

17 Gold Fish include :

One Black Morr
Two Red Cap
Three Blue Gold
One Brass Gold
Ten Gold Fish

Would it be possible for you to please share the specification of the tank i should purchase. By Specification, i mean L*B*H and also what kind of filter to be used. Somone recommended me to feed them with Bloodworms twice a week. Is it advisable.

kakkarg

Can somone please advise what specification of aquarium should i order.