"Don't worry, you'll be fine"

J

johnsl

AC Members
Aug 22, 2006
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Dublin, Ireland
"Don't worry, you'll be fine" said the Pet Shop Guy as I left with my arms full and youngsters in tow.

He said "don't worry, you'll be fine" quite a lot. He said it in a variety of different ways and several times with his eyes thrown up exageratedly as if asking his God why he had to deal with people like me who seemed to think that there might be something difficult about keeping a few fish in a tank.

So while the other family members were having debates about how best to name our six new companions; my wife's golden oranda, my eight year old daughter's blue oranda, my four year old son's bronze (chocolate) oranda and my own three white cloud mountain minnows, I started filling the 20L plastic tank part way with water.

Then I opened one of the two bags of gravel - the multi-coloured one - and poured it onto the tank. Aaagh, what's all that debris? Hmmm better rinse it first.

So I emptied the tank through a sieve and started again.

I part filled the tank and poured in the rinsed gravel. Then I rinsed and added the next bag of gravel - dark blue at my insistence - and tried to bury as much of the multicoloured stuff as possible.

Then I carefully added more water and checked that I could carry the tank. At about half full I was happy that I could carry it easly and that I could fill it the rest of the way in-situ.

I opened the two bags of dyed dried fern with the little lead weights attached to them - one red and one green - but not too bright - and rinsed them off and added them tastefully positioned left and right. Oops the red one floats - that's a bit dumb - I'll bury the weight in gravel.

Then I opened the bag with the living plant in it - no roots, just several strands joined at one end with another lead weight - Hmmm lead, well the folks who assemble these and the dyed ferns must know what they're doing, fish must be immune to lead poisoning. It floats too - so I bury the weight under more gravel and arrange the strands so they emerge shrub-like from the sides of the little gravel mound.

As I am carrying the half full tank into the family room to the shelf where I was going to leave it my wife asks "Didn't he say to feed them once every two days?".

"Yep, once every two days and not to leave uneaten food in the tank". I remember these because they were pretty much the only things he repeated. Those and the several versions of 'Don't worry, you'll be fine'.

"Well, it says here that we should feed them three times a day", she said reading the side of the small blue tub of food.

"Once I get this settled and filled I'll have a poke around the web and see if I can find out how often to feed them".

So I put the tank on its shelf - west wall of a north facing room so no direct sunlight - he did say 'avoid direct sunlight it leads to algae' when I asked about light. I topped up the tank to its final level and left it to warm to near room temperature.

I checked my little charges, still swimming in their plastic bag and I went off to see if I could find a site on the web to tell me about how often to feed goldfish.


Five days later I'm still reading - I know a bit about keeping goldfish - I know a bit about cycling tanks - I know my tank is way, way too small - I have a sort of plan to try and get from here to where I should be - in stages - I'm not sure that it'll all work out - I'll do my best to keep the fish alive and happy while I get there and if I fail in that objective then I'll reconsider what to do depending on how far down the road I've gone.


"Don't worry, we'll be fine", my wife says to me. I wish I shared her confidence in me.
 
Ive heard diffrent versions of this same story more times then I care to remember. Its so day that LFS employee's dont try to educate people rather than just make a buck. How big are your oranda's? 5 gallons wont hold them for two long but I would say you may have a month or two if there small before you really run into problems as long as you do a lot of water changes and moniter your ammonia and nitrites. I would say you probably need something around a 250 liter tank for your fish. Also be sure to get a lot of quality filtration on the tank as gold fish are very messy. Best of luck to you it truely is unfortunate how often this happens.
 
unfortunately, you won't be fine. you cannot possibly expect to keep 3 oranda and 3 white clouds alive for long in a 20 litre (5 gallon) tank. moreover, goldfish are not hardy to the inevitable ammonia and nitrite that will develop in a new tank. (the "cycling process).

I'm not sure that it'll all work out
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it won't. goldfish require a minimum of ten gallons per fish. they have a large mass and exhaust a significant waste load ... far more than can be neutralized by even a fully cycled biological filter in 5 gallons of water.

feeding every two days is not sufficient for a goldfish's metabolism. once a day is minimum and most people would probably suggest that twice a day is more like it.

remember that goldfish and white cloud mountain minnows are not tropical fish. they prefer temperatures in the mid 60's to low 70's (18-24°C) with high oxygen levels.

if I fail in that objective then I'll reconsider what to do depending on how far down the road I've gone.
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to me this smacks of "hey, if they die, they die and i can always buy more and try again". that's just not right. fish are living things. when you 'adopt' a pet, be it a fish or a dog, it becomes your responsibility to insure that they thrive and live a long and healthy life.

goldfish can live for 30 years. you need about 200 litres to keep those fish healthy. i strongly urge you to head back to the store and get that larger tank. what will your kids think when their fish die. will you explain that you just didn't maintain them properly or will you dodge the truth and suggest that 'fish die and that's life' or some such.

c'mon .. do the right thing. you can keep the white clouds in the 5 gallon tank. that OR a single betta is about all that you can keep alive in such a small volume of water. that's the unfortunate truth of it.
 
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I'm sorry that it sounded as if I was blase about the survival of these fish. I'm not.

I've been reading and trying to work out what to do and it seems to me that people who know what they're at have difficulty with some of this. So I am just acknowledgeing that as a complete novice I may not be able to keep on top of things.

The orandas are quite small - only one inch long excluding tail - I have ordered a filter, an airpump, water testers and other items online and am hoping that they will arrive tomorrow.

It is entirely impractical to order an aquarium online. Maybe not where you are, but where I am there's no option for it.

I'm currently trying to find who has aquariums within driving distance and I'm trying to work out how big an aquarium I can accomodate.
 
Perhaps I should add that the purpose of this post was to tell the story of how I got here.

Despite the poor light that it shows me in I did think the tale of the first few hours was worth telling because folks here probably encounter people like me and wonder how we could be so stupid.

All the guy in the pet shop had to do was point me at a book and tell me to read it and come back next week.

He had a couple of obviously much larger tanks up on a high shelf and I asked about them and he told me I didn't need one for a few goldfish. If it comes down to it I may have to go back and buy one of them - but I'm really hoping I can find somewhere else.
 
Keep an eye out on the classifieds for people selling what they do not need or no longer want. Even yard/garage sales. Sometimes even at wal-mart you will find a 55 gal set up or kit very cheap. It will have the bsics that you can always upgrade the equipment on a little at a time. But the 55 will still be too small for 3 goldies, but make a nice community tank with a wide variety of fish.
 
johnsl said:
Perhaps I should add that the purpose of this post was to tell the story of how I got here.

Despite the poor light that it shows me in I did think the tale of the first few hours was worth telling because folks here probably encounter people like me and wonder how we could be so stupid.

All the guy in the pet shop had to do was point me at a book and tell me to read it and come back next week.

He had a couple of obviously much larger tanks up on a high shelf and I asked about them and he told me I didn't need one for a few goldfish. If it comes down to it I may have to go back and buy one of them - but I'm really hoping I can find somewhere else.
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johnsl, I have to say that upon reading your tale of woe ("don't worry, it'll work out"--priceless) I was laughing at the entire unfolding of events. Aye, it's a wry sense of humor you possess, and, personally, I've always appreciated and enjoyed a dry wit, yet I also understood what you were communicating. What a mental picture you painted, all of you going to the shop together, coming home, consulting one another, your attempts to cover up the multi-colored gravel. . . . yes, this is an unfortunate experience many of us share, and the stores have no scruples in what happens to the poor creatures they sell, but to maintain your humor along with the experience is champion. Thank you!!!
 
You may want to check the classifieds and www.craigslist.com foir North Carolina. You can find used aquariums for much cheaper than new ones. It is amazing how many people get into fish keeping and then seem to just quit once they have gotten around to getting the good stuff.

Good luck.
 
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