New to Hobby! Have two new goldfish, need help starting out!

MidnightsMelody

I am VERY new to all of this fish stuff. I had a very ugly betta for a year which lived in a bowl, until it jumped out of its bowl when I was not home and died . I decided very recently to get a couple Goldfish, knowing honestly nothing about Goldfish at all. I originally got these very small Goldfish and put them in a 5.5 gal tank. Well, I just so happened to be doing a project at school involving fish (the WORST and probably inhumane project my teacher could assign to us) and found out how huge Goldfish grow.

Well, I bought a 25 gallon tank which is equipped with a 200 gph filter and a hood/light and has two java ferns attached to a piece of driftwood along with a large fake plant. I have one black pop-eyed Goldfish and one fantail Goldfish, both about an inch and a half to two inches in length. I have now a bunch of questions and am hoping to get a lot of input.

First, is this set up acceptable? I don't want to get a year or two down the road and realize I really should have bought a 55 gallon tank for these two Goldfish. Secondly, can I add anything else to the tank? One of my classmates used a pleco for his project, and so far, it appears that it could work okay with my Goldfish, but I would like a better opinion. According to them, it should only grow to a maximum of 4 or 6 inches but they don't recall off hand the breed (they have a card with the breed on it that they are going to give me next class period). Honestly, I want to save it from its misery because it is currently housed in a cut open 2 L soda bottle with a HUGE plant of some sort in there and more algae than I would tend to believe it could eat in a month. I would love to adopt it to save it from its current what I would think of as torturous state, but if it will kill my Goldfish, or if my Goldfish will kill it, I'd rather rescue it to give it to a tropical fish store. And if it would be acceptable with the Goldfish, how do I get enough algae in my tank to grow? I have those two java ferns, but will that be enough in a 25 gallon tank for plants? I would obviously feed it other things and get more driftwood for it, but I want it to be happy. Plus, how many fish can I keep in this tank? My mom really wants me to get a Weather Loach because it looks cool, can I get one of those and keep it with my Goldfish? Would it be okay to get both the loach and the pleco? And finally, what should I be putting in my tank or be doing to it? I put in water conditioner, and I plan on cleaning 25%-33% per week, but should I be testing pH and nitrates and stuff? I have a thermometer on it, but that's it. If anyone can answer ANY of my questions, that would be EXTREMELY appreciated. I am getting very interested in this hobby but I would just love some educated opinions before I proceed. Thank you so much for your answers!

ladayen

haha need to actually post something, it doesn't register the red text as mine.

MidnightsMelody

Thank you so much. Well, currently I have this 25 gal tank, so I am hoping that will last them at least a while because they really do look small in it and i really can't afford a 55 gal tank for a while. And are all four (as long as they are small) okay in my 25 gal tank for now or just one more? At least, until they outgrow it, of which how big would they be to outgrow my 25 gal tank?

Tazman

First of all welcome to the forum.

Am sorry to be the bearer of bad news but they will not work in a 20g tank A 55g or bigger tank would be needed.

Also pop-eyes Goldfish should be kept by themselves.

Have a look here for the profile of Goldfish.

Weather Loach is an absolute NO as they need a 75g+ tank and grow to about 9-10".

thekoimaiden

Welcome to the hobby and the forum! It's always nice to have more Goldfish keepers around here. Goldfish are some of my favorite fish to keep. I'll try to answer as many of your question as possible. And don't worry about past mistakes. We all made them entering the hobby. What matters now is that you want to correct them and learn from them.

Startup
If you know nothing about cycling you will want to read this article: A Beginner's Guide to the Freshwater Aquarium Cycle You should also look into getting a water parameter test kit. The API masters kit (found at most Petcos and Petsmarts) is one of the best, and most of us here swear by it. Goldfish are very messy so once the tank is cycled weekly pH and nitrate tests are a must.

Housing
The 25 gal tank is great for right now (by right now I mean maybe a month or two), but upgrading to the 55 gal would be the best option. A 30 gal is the smallest tank a fancy Goldfish should be kept in. A 55 gal will also allow you to get another friend as Goldfish are social and enjoy being in groups of 3 or more. I currently keep my goldies in a 55 gal and wouldn't dream of keeping them in anything less.

Tankmates
Plecos are a bad idea. Depending on the species they can get larger than a foot. They are also messy little poop machines like Goldfish and will degrade the water quality even more. They also have a tendency to attach to Goldfish and eat their slime coats. It is best to leave the pleco to pet store. I had a bad experience with a Weather Loach and my Goldfish. The one that I got liked to eat the slime coats of my fish. But I have heard other people have good experiences with them. Either way I wouldn't get any more fish until you get a larger tank.

Tank maintenance
I have a 55 gal with 2 Goldfish, and I have to change 50% of the water weekly to keep the water parameters good. Until you can upgrade (and once your cycle is done) you should be doing at least 50% water changes weekly. Live plants will help, but only fast-growing ones like Hornwort, anarcharis, Duckweed, and Water Sprite (you can click on the highlighted name to see our profile on the plant). Java Fern is nice in that it is one of the plants Goldfish don't like to munch on, but it's not fast-growing enough to really help with the water quality. You should also do a weekly gravel vacuum. It will help get the Goldfish poop out of the gravel. You can buy a gravel vacuum at a local pet store.

I hope I was able to answer all of your questions. Please feel free to ask anything again that I missed. ^-^

thekoimaiden

A Weather Loach, a pleco, and two Goldfish in a 25 gal tank? No, that would not be a good idea even though they look small. Return the pleco as they are not compatible with Goldfish and getting the Weather Loach means you need a larger tank. Goldfish are best kept in species-only tanks. They may look small, but they grow very quickly. The quicker you can get them into a 55 gal the better.