Pictures Anyone?

[ltopper]

Hi guys.......I'm coming over from the SW forums. I'm picking up my 125 gal tank on Monday. It will be the future home to a few fancy goldfish (orandas, maybe pearlscales). Substrate will be sand.....few "fake" plants, and maybe a decoration or two of somesort (still figuring all that out). I plan to have 2 of the Fluval Fx5 filters which will be housed in a custom unit to hold the tank.
I was hoping to see some full tank shots of some of the goldfish folks here (any variety of goldfish) to help with some ideas I have etc. Also, what type of lighting would you recommend for the fish. The room is well lite but no direct harsh sunlight will be near the tank. I'll have a timer on them for "bedtime" as I do with my 125 gal marine tank. Look forward to some pics.....some advice....and some experienced goldfish knowledge!



Lisa

 

[ltopper]

22 views and no one has pics to share :tropicalfish: Bummer
Well...Happy Easter to everyone.

 

[~Kswords~]

Well no pics at the moment. But I just have a tank with blue gravel as the substrate. And I have 4 18inch tall plants. 2 plants are mounted to a tetra coral base and two others are just placed in the gravel. However the goldfish tend to dig the ones up just placed in the gravel. They like to sift through the gravel a lot so it's good for keeping the substrate disturbed and they get all their food eaten quite easily.

I had seen a picture of a goldfish tank that was fancy goldfish only and they just had like PVC piping pipes that were large enough for the goldfish to swim through to have fun with.
Also when choosing substrate, I'd go with gravel b/c of the goldfish always digging it up and spitting it out, because sand may ruin filters sometimes and may keep your water cloudier.

 

[THE V]

Still a work in progress. I need to move out the koi, add live plants, add more slate, upgrade the lighting, and add more fish but here's a poor quality photo I just took.

I'm only using one 40W bulb at the moment because I don't have any plants or snails in there to keep the algae out. I plan on upgrading to 4 40W grow lights when I add in plants (after the koi leave).

I run two Magnum 350's on the tank and a bubblewand with weekly 80% water changes.

The oldest fish in there is the lady kamakazee (after she attempted to take me out and commit suicide) who's getting close to 8 years.

 

[Firebelly__girl]

What kind of sand are you going to buy? I found my sand at my petsmart and its great for my goldfish but they never got it back in stock.

 

[OrandaRookie]

My tank may look bare but the fish are getting big and the more swimming space the better. The plants are fake, if they were real I'd have no plants left by now. The gravel is fine and easily dug through

 

[ltopper]

Lovely tanks! Thanks for sharing. What size aquariums do you have? I have read that the fancy varieties of goldfish should have a tank which is longer and not as high due to the fact that they swim slower? BUT....I would think that if food is fed pre-soaked and drops to the bottom that they would spend the majority of the time towards the bottom anyway looking for food. i LOVE the lemon cap oranda....that's one of the first fish I'd love to get. Do you quarrantine all your fish and if so, for how long? They seem to be "hardier" than most of the marine fish so I wonder if the length of time is similar. I have a 5.5" yellow tang in a 30gal Q-tank now...going on 2 weeks and will remain for at least another 2. But, they are prone to ich so I want to really monitor this fish before adding him to the main tank.

The sand I was going to use is the Estes (sp?) marine sand. I have read that several goldfish owners use this and like it alot. It's a bit heavier and easy for the fish to dig around to look for food. I have a finer sand (from Home Depot) which was seeded with sand from an established marine tank and my live rock in the 125gal marine tank I have. BUT.....most say not to use that sand as it is too fine.


What about lighting....what do you use and/or recommend?


Lisa

 

[THE V]

Mines a 125gal 72" x 18"x 24".

The lighting that you use all depends on what you want to grow. If it is not planted try to keep the light level low to control algae. Even with only having 40W on my tank I still get a little.

I quarantine my fish for the standard 4 weeks. I have mostly feeder fish so I assume that they come from the pet store with all sorts of hitchhikers and do a mix of medications in the first few days (antiparasite/fungal/bacterial). I also fatten them up during this stage, my last batch of 4 grew 1/2" in the 4 weeks.

 

[ltopper]

"V", I see that you do 80% weekly water changes....that's alot for a 125 gal. Do you think that I could get away with less of a weekly change going with the 2 Fluval Fx5 filters? The plan is for no more than 5 fancies (all orandas or a mix of pearlscale and orandas).

No plans for live plants......just a few silk ones for decoration but want the fish to be the main attraction.

 

[THE V]

The main reason for my 80% weekly water changes is the two koi that are residing there currently. Each has a bioload of about equal to about 3 fancy goldfish (mature). I also have 7 other goldfish in the tank with them. I am currently overstocked but I have a pond for the koi to go to next month so it's no big deal. Besides I picked up a python from walmart for $30 so it just takes a little more time while it drains and fills. I could probably do less if I actually was bothered to go pick up a test kit. But why mess with it if doing larger changes is no more work?