Goldfish Article

[reptileguy2727]

Original article can be found at this link: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156661

Please post all discussion in this thread pertaining to the article.

What do you guys think?
Worth making into a sticky?

I think it could help a lot of people starting out with or who already have goldfish.

Any suggestions?

[T/N]

it's a good article.

it is well rounded an informative.

IMO.. it could be more concise and edited better. the topics should be organized with better flow; as is, they are scattered. You also repeat topics; (tankmates and water perameters). in filtration, you loose focus of the topic and how it relates to goldfish keeping. Plus, you should either take out your opinions and endorsements of Name brands to keep the article more objective or make a new paragraph describing your keeping habits in more detail. just some thoughts.

good job:clap:

[Flaringshutter]

I agree with T/N completely!
Very good info, could use some organization work, but overall i'm impressed - great job.
I know you love NLS but it's not appropriate to endorse it specifically in an article that is meant to be a general guide to goldfish - at least not when you state as fact that it is the best. Clarify that this is your opinion or take it out altogether.

A note on writing style. The article is really great, but it's a little wishy-washy. It's very passive and wordy, and as a result, it seems as though you're not sure about what you're saying. You use "in general", "it may seem", "it has been shown" where you really don't need them. The article is sooo long, and with a few changes it could be shortened without taking out any essential information. For example:


There are some species that have proven to be great tankmates for goldfish. These fish have compatible water parameter and temperature needs. They also have behaviors that make them very compatible with goldfish.

Could easily be made stronger with a little more active tone:


Good goldfish tankmates have compatible water parameter and temperature needs and get along well in a community setting.

Normally I wouldn't mention style, but this article has such great information, the passive voice really holds it back from having the impact it should. Haha, can you tell I've written a few too many essays and articles? You can leave it as it is if you like.
Anyway, I think you did a really fantastic job. Nice work!

[reptileguy2727]

I feel NLS is the best option. I mention other options because otherwise it will just end up as a buried thread full of debate about how I need to acknowledge that there are more than one way to succeed.

I tried to keep the tone neutral because otherwise everyone has a fit about how I cram my opinion down their throat as the only good option.

Thank you though.

[Inka4040]

I feel NLS is the best option. I mention other options because otherwise it will just end up as a buried thread full of debate about how I need to acknowledge that there are more than one way to succeed.

I tried to keep the tone neutral because otherwise everyone has a fit about how I cram my opinion down their throat as the only good option.

Thank you though.

LOL. Great article Reptileguy! Flaringshutter, from someone who has seen just the above happen on another forum (not like I wasn't involved), I see Reptileguy's word choice as him attempting to throw a bone to the rest of us (much appreciated btw) :D

And Reptileguy, don't worry about it, all articles in the article section will now have a separate thread for discussion so the article stands alone, and nobody gets to mire down the actual article thread anymore.

[BoredAgain]

Ugh, not the "NLS is the win" thing again. I appreciate any article that is written and love the effort, but I do agree with T/N and flaringshutter. With a bit more work this could be a very excellent article. Kudos.

[reptileguy2727]

This article is based on MY experience. That is the best resource to base an article on. Anyone can read some books and do online research to write a decent article. But the best are written based on first hand experience.

I made sure that NLS was not the only diet mentioned and acknowledge that there are other successful methods. But for me, the author of this article, NLS is the best choice. Feel free to try other things to verify it for yourself and use other diets if they prove to be better in your situation.

I did not write this as a diplomatic, safe, tip-toe around so there is nothing to debate kind of article. I wrote it based on what I have found to be best. That means that there will definitely be things that some people will disagree with, which is fine.

[Dangerdoll]

I'm going to sticky this for now, and we will get back to you on the Article option. Thanks ReptileGuy!!

[reptileguy2727]

Good. I think this could be very helpful for many people.

Any issues or comments on the actual information? (Not the exact format or the presence of specific brand names)

[Flaringshutter]

I'm going to sticky this for now, and we will get back to you on the Article option. Thanks ReptileGuy!!

Yargg, beat me to it DD! :swear: Just kidding! Thanks for sticking it.

[FishKing14]

Very good article. It was very informative. Your blog (the aquaticcommunity.com one) is very good also.

[reptileguy2727]

Thank you.

[standardbyker63]

Wow! This is a very well written article. There are so many helpful leads in this article. I wish I would have been able to read this when I first started with my goldies.

I've had my tank for a little over a year and have done a lot of trouble shooting. From personal experience, I agree with a lot of what has been said.

I switched to sand substrate about 6 months ago and it has made a world of difference. Like mentioned in the original article, the sand tends to keep the waste from settling down into the substrate. I monitor the tank quite a bit and I can never really notice the waste. It gets moved up into the water column and then pulled through the filter, making a world of difference in the overall appearnce and cleanliness of the tank. Also, I had a problem with algae growing and attaching to the original gravel substrate, making it very hard to keep a clean looking tank. After 6 months, there's no algae on the sand. The sand is actually quite easy to clean. I turn my net upside down and stir up the bottom a bit to release the waste into the water column just before using my gravel vac to clean the waste out of the tank for water changes. You can even run the gravel vac over the surface of the sand and suck up a very minimal amount of sand while still sucking up the waste.

I haven't noticed any adverse reactions from the goldies since I've put sand into the tank. As mentioned in the original article, the goldies tend to sift through it quite a bit. It doesn't look like they try to swallow any of it. They simply take a small bit in their mouth in search of food then just blow it out. A week after doing a water change, there's a bunch of little divets in the sandy bottom from the goldies sifting through the sand. I even have one goldie that likes to nap right down on top of the sand. He's found his own little place with very little current where he can put his belly down on the sand and nap.

I never had any problems with sharp decorations but read plenty of articles where they have caused problems. I got rid of my "fantasy" 'scape and replaced it with sand and smooth sandstone (I think). The sandstone looks great with the nearly white sand black back ground. There's no sharp corners and I haven't noticed any detrimental effects.

Food. My goodness, food can be a complicated thing for new hobbyist to figure out. My aquarium setup came with flakes, so I naturally started using them and continued to do so. After a few weeks I noticed my black moor was having buoyancy problems. After doing some research I decided to go with slow sinking pellets. LIFE SAVER! They're small so you can use them with your small goldies, and they will float for a brief amount of time so your goldies can track them down and then get a hold of them before they sink too far away. I tried pre-soaking the flakes and that just made a mess since it can be difficult to judge how many flakes to add. With the pellets, I can monitor who gets how much and I can also make sure there isn't a lot of wasted food that breaks up and sinks to the bottom, leading to decreased water quality. Once a single goldie gets a mouth full of 2-3 pellets, he (or she) isn't as interested in the other food going into the tank, allowing the others to get their share.

If you did manage to buy a general setup like mine, you probably were given the tank, stand, hood, light, and some sort of filtration device. Mine came with a bio-wheel power filter. When I changed over to a sand substrate, I also decided to double up on filtration. My power filter came with an extra media slot, so I bought extra cartridges and put two in at a time. I'm guilty of going nearly a month and a half at one (and I repeat ONE) time without doing a water change and my power filter never once overflowed. If you clean your filters every two weeks (for me, every other water change) you shouldn't ever have problems with the water flowing past the filters and back into the tank. Ideally, a cannister filter would be best, but we don't always start out with that option.

Re-read the original article again. It's a wealth of information that has proven to be quite true for myself over the last 14 months. Thanks again :)

[reptileguy2727]

Thank you very much. This is exactly what I wrote it for.

[standardbyker63]

One thing I forgot to mention that may be useful to others. The sand substrate is easily aggitated up into the water colum for cleaning any waste that may present. If you have a power filter, I would recommend turning it off before doing your water changes. I sucked sand up into the power filter the first time I did a water change and it got into the impeller in my filter. The sand is very very fine and it caused my filter to make an aweful sound. I turned it off right away and cleaned it out, but it still makes some horrible noise from time to time. I recently purchased a new impeller and am waiting for it to arrive. Hopefully this will solve my problem. I'll be sure to mention something once I get it installed and let it run for a while to see if that was my problem.

Bottom line, unplug your power filter before doing anything in the tank when doing your water changes. When adding water back into the tank, make sure there is a large rock or something that you can pour the water directly over, otherwise it will stir the sand up and cause it to settle on top of all your other decorations. Once it is all settled where you want it, then, and only then, you can plug your filter back in.

It may sound like a lot of possible hassle having sand substrate, but it really isn't. I would actually consider having the sand substrate a large benefit to the overall well being and appearance of my tank :)