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| Kelvin (with black caudial and pelvic fins) and Rossby (top) when they where little |
So, one night we where at the fair and I saw little fishies. It's cruel, but I won't go into why they shouldn't have been there and why it is unethical, but courtesy of my boyfriend, I got 2. If I could have, I would have taken all the wee critters, but due to lack of space and how messy I knew they where, the others had to stay :(. But, anyway, I named them Kelvin and Rossby (see pic) after the names of two types of wave, and, after a night in a basin set in the bottom of the shower so the cat wouldn't eat them, I went and got them a little tank. Then, I didn't know a huge amount about goldfish keeping, but I did know that fish bowls are unethical and are not allowed in many countries as putting fish in them is classed as animal abuse... I now however, do know why the ones we had when we where young didn't seem very... happy...
Turns out, each goldie needs up to 10 gallons of water each, and a large surface area for sufficient oxygen diffusion into the water, with which a filter will help by agitating the surface. It will also keep the water clean for longer, reducing the amount of cleaning needed. So, as my two fishies grew (very fast), I had to go out and buy a bigger tank...
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| Kelvin and Rossby in their new tank. Filter eventually had to be...improved. |
So, bigger tank = happy fishies and happy Kylie, until the water went all cloudy and I couldn't see the fish, so I assumed the tank needed cleaned, as this is what we done when we where younger. Mistake, and the reason we had 'unhappy' goldies before! The cloudiness was the tank cycle...yes, a fish tank cycles (ammonia/nitrate/nitrite cycle) to establish 'good bacteria' (biological, nitrate) in the gravel and filter sponge to turn the 'bad bacteria' (nitrite) and fish waste (ammonia, food - they are also messy buggers) into more 'good bacteria....' making it fishie safe...kind of like your Yakult drinks and the good bacteria in your tummy :D.
After changing the filter to a stronger, better one, I changed 10% of the water daily/every other day until eventually, the tank cycled and now it stays crystal clear most of the time. Some water is changed weekly and the filter sponge is replaced monthly, and my fish are still happy. Rossby however has swim bladder disease, where the air in his swim bladder (if you don't know what it is, look it up) gets stuck and he floats at the surface, wiggles, splashes and panics (its quite scary). He isn't too bad now he's bigger but both fish still get peas (frozen and defrosed) frequently (it helps), and they love it. Kelvin also lost all his black bits as he grew...
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| Kelvin (right) and Rossby (left). Camera glare makes it look crappy, and the tank looks smaller than it is. |
So, now I have a cycled tank and healthy fish, I could sit and watch them all day. Its so calming and there is so much stuff that can be added to the tanks to make it look pretty, and give the fish places to hide and stuff to investigate, which is what goldfish like...
This took forever, and they nearly died a few times, but for now, its 'Go Me!'
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| From above, a while back |
PS. Fish are smarter than they look, and NO, they don't have a 3 sec memory span! Its more like 3 months, and my two know every night when it is feeding time!
Sources:
http://www.firsttankguide.net/goldfish.php
'Educated' marine scientist
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