Goldfish

Every family has owned a goldfish at some point for a short period of time, it may surprise you to learn that a goldfish’s' life span is estimated to be 10 - 15 years with some breeds reaching up to 30 years! Unfortunately, fish are kept in inadequate environments and often don't live to their full potential.

Try to gather as much information as you can about an animal before purchasing one as a pet, as trivial as it seems a goldfish is an animal and are capable of feeling pain.

The first problem I need to address is the myth that goldfish will only grow to the size that suits the enclosure they are provided, Goldfish can actually grow quite large and you need to keep this in mind when deciding on a tank. When goldfish are placed in a small bowl it may grow slowly compared to when given adequate space but as you can imagine, stunting your fish’s growth isn’t good for his health. The bigger the tank the better, like us, fish need exercise too!

To go with your decent sized tank you will need to purchase a good filtration system as goldfish produce a high amount of waste, any pet shop should be able to give you advice on what filter would suit your aquarium, I would also recommend an aeration system such as air stones to better oxygenate the water. To optimise your pet’s health change NO MORE THAN 10-25% of water weekly, remove waste from the tank using a gravel siphon and avoid placing the aquarium in direct sunlight as this promotes algae growth. Only rinse the filter once a month or when the filter gets clogged, washing the filter more often than needed and/or replacing too much of the aquariums water when cleaning will wash away beneficial bacteria which is necessary to break down the ammonia from the fish’s waste into nitrates which are less harmful.

Another helpful tool is a simple test kit, regularly test ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels and keep an eye on pH, KH, GH and water temperature.

The following are correct water parameters according to the RSPCA

Ammonia                    <0.1ppm

Nitrite                          <0.2ppm

Nitrate                         <50ppm (<110ppm tolerance)

pH                               6.5-7.5 (tolerance range: 5.0-9.0)

KH                               KH                               70-140 ppm

GH                              GH                              150ppm

Temperature               20-24^oC (tolerance range: 8-30^oC)

 Please be advised that the above only applies to goldfish, specific fish require different water conditions.

Provide lots of aquarium plants, both real and fake, for your goldfish as they are naturally prey animals and prefer to have somewhere to hide, real plants also provide some environmental enrichment and extra nutrients.

After you have created a lovely space for your goldfish to live you may want to get him some friends, fancy goldfish are unable to swim as quickly as others and are therefore prone to being picked on. It is advisable to keep fancy goldfish by themselves and goldfish with a single tail such as comets with likewise. Try to feed a variety of specialised goldfish flake & granules and supplement this with a mixture of frozen brine shrimp, daphnia and veggie mix, only feed as much as your fish will eat within 30seconds to reduce waste.