Discussion
I am looking to get the kids a couple of Goldfish and was after some advice.
Do we need anything fancy such as a pump etc or can we just put them on a tank and put some pond cleaning plants in like we did in the good old days? When we were kids we just had a round bowl and some goldfish from the fair and they lived for years!! We have recently bought a £20 'kit' from Aldi (!!) but the pump has been running for just the weekend and sounds like it's about to go pop!!
Do we need anything fancy such as a pump etc or can we just put them on a tank and put some pond cleaning plants in like we did in the good old days? When we were kids we just had a round bowl and some goldfish from the fair and they lived for years!! We have recently bought a £20 'kit' from Aldi (!!) but the pump has been running for just the weekend and sounds like it's about to go pop!!
Fishkeeping has changed massively over the last few years and there is a lot more to it than most people think.
First of all, what size/capacity is the tank - and when you say pump, is it just an air bubbler? I suspect it will be and to keep fish you need a proper filter - either an internal filter, external filter or an under gravel filter (the latter is rarely used these days as internal filters are more efficient.)
Secondly, don't get gold fish. I can pretty much guarantee that the tank you bought won't be big enough for them, and they're messy - they put out a lot of waste. Go tropical. Tropical fish are no more difficult to keep - all you need is a £5-10 heater, but:
a) there are many more varieties and stocking options (particularly for a small tank)
b) they are more colourful
c) they produce less waste
Even fancy gold fish (the ones with long fins) outgrow small tanks, and common goldfish will carry on growing until they need a pond. For some sort of example, I've had my oldest common goldfish for 4 years and he's now in a 4x2x1.5ft / 340L tank and he's still growing, and will be rehomed in a pond when I can find somewhere suitable.
On to tanks/equipment: Ebay is a brilliant place to pick up a cheap, good condition second hand tank - I've had around 15 tanks pass through my hands and all have been second hand with no issues. You can get a 18x12x12 or 24x12x12 inch glass tank on ebay second hand for anywhere between £5-10. Add a 50W heater (£5) and a small internal filter such as a Fluval 2+ or similar (£10) and you've got almost all the kit you need. If you buy play sand from Argos as a substrate instead of gravel (£3 for more than you will ever need) and order some plants off the internet (most sold in fish shops aren't genuine aquatic plants and will rot and die) and for £35 you can have the complete setup. Much better than the 'beginners fish keeping' type kits.
Next subject - cycling. Probably the most important subject. To over simplify, fish waste (ammonia) is poisonous to fish and will kill them. Some are hardier than others but all suffer in tanks that have any ammonia in them. Bacteria over time will build up in the filter media that breaks it down into something harmless. This is a slow process and takes several weeks unless you can get hold of some mature filter media from an established tank. The link below explains it in detail - please take the time to read it.
http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/175355-...
Oh, and don't take the advice of fish shop workers - I spend a fair bit of my time on other forums correcting bad advice given in such places. Whatever the reason, very few places can actually be trusted to give good advice - always do your own research as to what fish are suitable and can be kept together - even if it's just asking on here. There are enough experienced fish keepers who will take the time to help you out.
Finally, once you've cycled your tank then you're on to stocking it. To give you a flavour of some of the sort of fish that can be kept, I've linked a few photo's:
Endlers:
Ember tetra's:
Pygmy Corydora:
Honey Gourami:
Apistogramma agassizii:
First of all, what size/capacity is the tank - and when you say pump, is it just an air bubbler? I suspect it will be and to keep fish you need a proper filter - either an internal filter, external filter or an under gravel filter (the latter is rarely used these days as internal filters are more efficient.)
Secondly, don't get gold fish. I can pretty much guarantee that the tank you bought won't be big enough for them, and they're messy - they put out a lot of waste. Go tropical. Tropical fish are no more difficult to keep - all you need is a £5-10 heater, but:
a) there are many more varieties and stocking options (particularly for a small tank)
b) they are more colourful
c) they produce less waste
Even fancy gold fish (the ones with long fins) outgrow small tanks, and common goldfish will carry on growing until they need a pond. For some sort of example, I've had my oldest common goldfish for 4 years and he's now in a 4x2x1.5ft / 340L tank and he's still growing, and will be rehomed in a pond when I can find somewhere suitable.
On to tanks/equipment: Ebay is a brilliant place to pick up a cheap, good condition second hand tank - I've had around 15 tanks pass through my hands and all have been second hand with no issues. You can get a 18x12x12 or 24x12x12 inch glass tank on ebay second hand for anywhere between £5-10. Add a 50W heater (£5) and a small internal filter such as a Fluval 2+ or similar (£10) and you've got almost all the kit you need. If you buy play sand from Argos as a substrate instead of gravel (£3 for more than you will ever need) and order some plants off the internet (most sold in fish shops aren't genuine aquatic plants and will rot and die) and for £35 you can have the complete setup. Much better than the 'beginners fish keeping' type kits.
Next subject - cycling. Probably the most important subject. To over simplify, fish waste (ammonia) is poisonous to fish and will kill them. Some are hardier than others but all suffer in tanks that have any ammonia in them. Bacteria over time will build up in the filter media that breaks it down into something harmless. This is a slow process and takes several weeks unless you can get hold of some mature filter media from an established tank. The link below explains it in detail - please take the time to read it.
http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/175355-...
Oh, and don't take the advice of fish shop workers - I spend a fair bit of my time on other forums correcting bad advice given in such places. Whatever the reason, very few places can actually be trusted to give good advice - always do your own research as to what fish are suitable and can be kept together - even if it's just asking on here. There are enough experienced fish keepers who will take the time to help you out.
Finally, once you've cycled your tank then you're on to stocking it. To give you a flavour of some of the sort of fish that can be kept, I've linked a few photo's:
Endlers:
Ember tetra's:
Pygmy Corydora:
Honey Gourami:
Apistogramma agassizii:
Also be warned that kids will bore of a fish very fast - I had a reef tank that my 4 kids could all swim in....but after a week they never looked at it. The VAST majority of trop tanks are nasty green water things that sit in the corner of a room and get ignored....some trop fish are very tough and will live in that and make the useless owners think they are doing a good job.....my point being, if you are "into" it - get a great set up and enjoy it, but make sure you are first because a fish is the easiest pet in the world to treat badly through lack of enthusiasm. Just check out ebay...full of tanks, most green!
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