my rfiend got me two 'feeder fish' that turned out to be baby comets,my lfs wont take them and i dont know what to do.they are about this long -------- each,tiny little guys,they are in a ten gal ATM(i know that they will probably need about 100 gal when they are grown). how long can they stay in the tank?i am already in love with them and i dont want them to get stunted,would they last in the tank until i can get a pond this spring?? im really worried about them,one is almost all white the other is orange and white.
goldfish issue......
- Thread starter bettagurl
- Start date
I'm thinking they will be busting out of the tank by the time the spring comes... I believe Virginia weather isn't too much different from Jersey weather, give or take a few degrees. The problem with comets are they grow rather quickly and release hormones as well as bio-wastes into the water that competes with the fish(es). Your water changes are going to have to be quite often and volumnous (word?). For comfort, these fish would need a minimum of I'd say a comfortable 50 gallons at the very minimum. Don't you have a 50 gallon drum to keep them in since you will be putting them into a pond in the spring anyway? It will be loads off your back in maintenance at the very least and give them the growing room they will need without you having to worry about stunting. The drums are pretty inexpensive from what I hear.
As they have adult colours they are probably stunted but if given the correct room can grow again though an adult size of a foot long may not be reached.
For the winter anything more than 30 gallons will be fine with lots of clean water. The plastic tub sounds a good idea, is it more than 30 gallons?
You will need a good filter with lots of media for bacteria growth as well. Externals are the best for this job.
For the winter anything more than 30 gallons will be fine with lots of clean water. The plastic tub sounds a good idea, is it more than 30 gallons?
You will need a good filter with lots of media for bacteria growth as well. Externals are the best for this job.
its probably bigger than 30 gals,they were in a ten gal with about 50 other feeders,i figured they may have been stunted when i got them yesterday.the filter i could get for the tub(marked for a 50 gal)costs about $30,do i need to cycle the bucket or just use used filters?
anything you use for fish would need to be cycled. If you have filters running on a cycled tank, by all means use them.
If you already have a spare filter thats running on another tank then put it in with the new one.
Having old filter media helps as well as you can put some in with the new media.
Test your water each day to keep an eye on ammonia and nitrites. If you dont want to cycle with the fish then adding small amounts of fish flake each day to the outlet will help the filter to cycle.
The fish are sarasa comets. I have two in my pond and the biggest is around 9 inches.
Having old filter media helps as well as you can put some in with the new media.
Test your water each day to keep an eye on ammonia and nitrites. If you dont want to cycle with the fish then adding small amounts of fish flake each day to the outlet will help the filter to cycle.
The fish are sarasa comets. I have two in my pond and the biggest is around 9 inches.
