I have had to change the water in my aquarium more often lately. I was casting about for a reason why and decided to actually see if I could find information on the net that might help.
I found a nice article which mentions that goldfish poop in the water. Now THERE’S a news bulletin! It would seem to me that ALL fish poop in their aquariums…. But, it did go on to say that goldfish poop a LOT in comparison to other fish.
The article suggested that one should start with a 75 to 100 gallon tank. When I finished laughing, I read on. Apparently, the rule of thumb is 20 gallons for each goldfish. (I have three goldfish. Even if I “offed” two of them, my tank would STILL not be considered adequate. I was really trying to get some information that I could USE so I continued.
The article said, “Goldfish can generate copious amounts of waste.” (An understatement.) What I finally got is that I should change the filter cartridge OFTEN, like at least once a week). The cartridges say they should be changed once a month.) So this is one thing I can do differently.
They also suggested that I use Pea Gravel, rather than sand or finer gravels, as the fish can more easily avoid ingesting it when slurping bits of food from the tank floor. (This means my change to the glass beads was a good thought!)
Finally, there was a nugget of a thing I had no idea about – they said if you are feeding goldfish flaky food, you should pre-soak the food! I’ve never heard of this. It says when the food flakes sit on top of the water, it causes the fish to gulp. This can upset their swim bladder and equilibrium, causing them to float upside down.
They said to fill a cup with some water from the tank and swirl the fakes around. Then dump the whole cup into the tank.
This is probably more than you ever wanted to know about goldfish. I have some good suggestions to make mine happier.
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