Hi, everyone!! I'm new here and my name is Timberlee!!
I have been keeping fish for 16 years now and just got my first fish tank in a little over a year!
I just recently purchased my fish and she is a Calico Fantail Goldfish. I have kept Goldfish before and I know she is going to outgrow her tank. She is currently in a ten gallon but at 1.5" she has more than enough room to swim about and produce waste in. Currently it is bare bottomed but I am going to be adding a finely ground gravel (Petco brand sand) with a light mixing of pea gravel (just from the local hardware store), a solid bubble wall against the back and false plants to cover the filter intake and tubing from the bubble wall. I have a 29 gallon lined up for when she outgrows this tank and that will likely be her permanent home. The tank set and fish were a gift from a co-worker for my birthday, so I don't have my test kit, proper fish food or the aquarium set up properly/cycled (YIKES!) as of yet. I had a couple questions about her, though.
She spends all of her time in the bottom half of the tank. I have never seen her in the top half. She is very active and swimming around but I thought this was a bit odd for a Goldfish. Even during feeding, she waits for the filter outtake to push her flakes down and she eats them as they float about in the current and off of the bottom. Is it just a matter of personality? I'm not complaining, I love that I don't have to worry about her ingesting air with her food. When I get paid, I'm going to get her some Hikari Goldfish Pellets (assuming they sink, I don't remember as it has been a while since I kept goldfish) but for now she is on TetraFin Goldfish flakes (that came as a sample with the tank). I also have some TetraFin Goldfish Crisps that I mix with the flakes but they don't sink until they soften up a bit so she doesn't get many.
I was wondering if anyone has any adult fantails with her body shape or any adult goldfish in general with similar coloring. She is shaped like a mushed-up comet. It's a very egg-like silhouette without the bulk. She is a calico but I'm not so much interested in seeing the tri-color fish but one with similar "peppering". She has extremely fine black peppering covering her body - and that is ultimately why I chose her out of all the other healthy fish swimming about in the store tank. It's a very interesting pattern and I was scoured the internet but couldn't find any larger Goldfish with her body shape or color. (I've attached photos.)
How often should I be doing WCs on her tank? I know Goldfish produce a lot of ammonia and I want to make sure I keep my water pristine, especially because it's not cycled. The filter is the one that came with the tank - a tetra filter rated for 5-15 gallons.
Also, just to further explain why I even got the fish, knowing the tank wasn't cycled, my friend picked me up to go pick out a fish for "his tank". He knew that I know more about fish than him and wanted to ensure the healthiest fish possible. We went to the store and picked out Nana, then returned home (I didn't understand why we went to my house.) and he told me to unwrap the gift he'd brought with him. It was the tank starter kit, the goldfish crisps, a net, and extra filter cartridges. He tricked me into picking out my own fish, essentially. I was a bit frustrated that he didn't tell me first so I could properly cycle and set up the tank, but the pet store is two hours away and I was worried the fish wouldn't make it to a return still in that bag. So she is here to stay!
I apologize for the long post! Any input and/or photos are greatly helpful. I, unfortunately, do not know my parameters or even my pH due to a lack of a test kit (I am expecting a child and $40 for an API Master Test is not an option at the moment).
Thanks in advance,
Timber
I have been keeping fish for 16 years now and just got my first fish tank in a little over a year!
I just recently purchased my fish and she is a Calico Fantail Goldfish. I have kept Goldfish before and I know she is going to outgrow her tank. She is currently in a ten gallon but at 1.5" she has more than enough room to swim about and produce waste in. Currently it is bare bottomed but I am going to be adding a finely ground gravel (Petco brand sand) with a light mixing of pea gravel (just from the local hardware store), a solid bubble wall against the back and false plants to cover the filter intake and tubing from the bubble wall. I have a 29 gallon lined up for when she outgrows this tank and that will likely be her permanent home. The tank set and fish were a gift from a co-worker for my birthday, so I don't have my test kit, proper fish food or the aquarium set up properly/cycled (YIKES!) as of yet. I had a couple questions about her, though.
She spends all of her time in the bottom half of the tank. I have never seen her in the top half. She is very active and swimming around but I thought this was a bit odd for a Goldfish. Even during feeding, she waits for the filter outtake to push her flakes down and she eats them as they float about in the current and off of the bottom. Is it just a matter of personality? I'm not complaining, I love that I don't have to worry about her ingesting air with her food. When I get paid, I'm going to get her some Hikari Goldfish Pellets (assuming they sink, I don't remember as it has been a while since I kept goldfish) but for now she is on TetraFin Goldfish flakes (that came as a sample with the tank). I also have some TetraFin Goldfish Crisps that I mix with the flakes but they don't sink until they soften up a bit so she doesn't get many.
I was wondering if anyone has any adult fantails with her body shape or any adult goldfish in general with similar coloring. She is shaped like a mushed-up comet. It's a very egg-like silhouette without the bulk. She is a calico but I'm not so much interested in seeing the tri-color fish but one with similar "peppering". She has extremely fine black peppering covering her body - and that is ultimately why I chose her out of all the other healthy fish swimming about in the store tank. It's a very interesting pattern and I was scoured the internet but couldn't find any larger Goldfish with her body shape or color. (I've attached photos.)
How often should I be doing WCs on her tank? I know Goldfish produce a lot of ammonia and I want to make sure I keep my water pristine, especially because it's not cycled. The filter is the one that came with the tank - a tetra filter rated for 5-15 gallons.
Also, just to further explain why I even got the fish, knowing the tank wasn't cycled, my friend picked me up to go pick out a fish for "his tank". He knew that I know more about fish than him and wanted to ensure the healthiest fish possible. We went to the store and picked out Nana, then returned home (I didn't understand why we went to my house.) and he told me to unwrap the gift he'd brought with him. It was the tank starter kit, the goldfish crisps, a net, and extra filter cartridges. He tricked me into picking out my own fish, essentially. I was a bit frustrated that he didn't tell me first so I could properly cycle and set up the tank, but the pet store is two hours away and I was worried the fish wouldn't make it to a return still in that bag. So she is here to stay!
I apologize for the long post! Any input and/or photos are greatly helpful. I, unfortunately, do not know my parameters or even my pH due to a lack of a test kit (I am expecting a child and $40 for an API Master Test is not an option at the moment).
Thanks in advance,
Timber
