Fishfriends 40 gallon tank build thread

Fishfriend1

Fishlover Extraordinaire
Dec 11, 2009
3,958
3
38
Southeastern PA
Real Name
Mr. Palmer
I am ready to be flamed for what I am about to post, but it would help immensely if you did not choose to do that.

I have 4 common/comet goldfish, 1 calico goldfish, and 1 black moor, all in a 20 gallon tank that I thought was 30 gallons. :eek: I know, bad setup. They have been in said set up for almost 2 years now, if memory serves, although the calico is a newer addition because my sister refused to listen to me and if I hadn’t added it to the 20gal it would have ended up dead in the bag or in a bucket or something, and it was just to cute to refuse. *Sigh* 1 of the common goldfish came from an experiment of my sisters. Don’t ask, it hurts me to even remember it. The Black Moor is mine, I got it when I still had only 2 fish in my 20gal tank. The 2 fish that were already in the tank were a survivor from before I came to Aquaria Central, the last ones from a bad mistake I made almost a year before I came to this site. Only ask if you promise not to flame me on it. The other inhabitant came in as a prize from a fair. Both were common/comet goldfish. Now we reach the last common/comet goldfish. This one came in with my idiocy. Plz, no flaming about that, it was from before AC as well. The Moor was originally in my 30 gallon tropical community tank, but I moved it in with the commons when it started to eat and dig up my plants. So that’s how my fish got there. Calico from My sister, Comet from my sister, 3 common/comets from before AC and 1 black moor, also from before AC. So that tank has been running at this level for quite some time, over year with the 3 commons and the moor. But recently, about 6-7 moths ago, she got the calico. It hasn’t stopped growing since, and my hopes that it would be eaten (better then suffocation) have long since gone down the drain. So now im getting worried that the tank may no longer be able to handle the bioload. I know it is very very overstocked, after all 4 commons would overstock a 20 gallon tank. So now I have the option of getting a 40 gallon tank, and I intend to take it. I intend to move the fish into the 40gal, even if that’s still overstocked, because its better then the 20gal.

The Stock list and sizes are as follows:
• 5 inch common/comet goldfish, survivor from my great mistake.
• 4 inch common goldfish, named Bubbles, from my sisters experiment.
• 4 inch common/comet goldfish, from before AC times.
• 3 inch common/comet goldfish, won at a fair.
• 3 inch calico goldfish, unwilling added when my sister got it.
• 3-4 inch Black Moor goldfish, from before AC times.

I know that you will be unhappy with the situation. I have attempted to give away the fish both on AC and elsewhere multiple times, but I cannot ship them and the local people, well, I don’t trust them. The only people I considered were this nice old couple that live up on top of the large hill nearby. They have a pond, but its filthy, and always partially empty. I don’t trust it to be a good environment for anything alive, let alone my large goldfish. The only other option is t put them in the district pond, which already has a small goldfish population. Its where the 5 incher came from, about a year before my big mistake.

That’s the situation, this is the build thread.

So, im getting the tank as soon as im done this post. There will be pics of the tank as I build it. Its going to be on the floor, mainly due to the fact that the table above it is both full and unable to support that much weight, at least it would scare me to do so.

let the flaming begin. If your gonna make a flame post, say so, it makes it easier to ignore you.
 
Ok, im stressing out right now. And im going to rant.

How do you NOT have 40 gallon tanks?! And how the hell do you not know when your getting new ones?! Dear god, i cannot believe how pathetic they are...

Ok, mini-rant over. So, as you can see, I could not get the 40gal. The goldfish will have to survive in the well filtered 10gal till tomorrow when im going to try Captain Nemos. Until then, hope they make it.
 
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Glad you are upgrading as should have been considered to begin with. Much advice available here...as you know considering your time here.

Not the stores fault for not having a tank when you need it...and even a 40 is way to small for your stock......take the fish back or find them adequate homes.
 
Because i totally haven't tried that. Re-homing them failed, and since most of the fish didn't actually come from the pet store they won't take them. And I've tried captain nemos, they won't accept them either. Thats just my **** life...

edit:Thats not meant to sound mean, im just stressed because i can't do **** for my fish and its very unnerving. The fish were fine until recently (fine in water quality and space to move), and i know the tank was/is overstocked, but my sister will literally try to kill me if she comes home to find her precious "Bubbles" gone... thats pretty much the only reason im keeping any of them, no where to send them, and nutcase sister that can't handle losing something.
 
I'm glad you're upgrading, FF. Good luck with the effort.
 
I'm sorry, per your request I am not going to flame you on this. My intention is not to make you feel bad about this, but like Bob said, a 40g is still WAY too small for that stock list. When you say you cannot rehome them, it seems to me (and I could be wrong) that you are being so picky about rehoming that maybe it makes it impossible? You say you cannot ship, and that you do not trust any of the people. What makes you not trust them? Why can't you ship? Why not continue to post sale threads until someone took at least a few of them? I really don't want you to see this as an attack, but I also know as I am sure you do from being a member of AC for quite a while, that people are not going to be happy about sticking a bunch of goldfish in a 40g tank no matter what the excuse is for doing so. Maybe you could find some way to make enough cash to get a big enough tank to support fish of that size and calibur? I think that you wanting to upgrade the tank is a really good thing, I just don't think it is big enough, and I know that you know that. I really am just trying to help. Maybe some of the other members will have better suggestions than I have. Good luck to you in whatever you decide to do. - Ash
 
Its not that i don't trust people, its that it was blatantly obvious that the couple with the pond did not take good care of their fish, not because they didn't want to, but the guy was about 80 years old, and the woman wasn't much younger.

Anyone here care to help me with the shipping? I've never shipped anything before, IDK where to start. What do you do to prep the fish? How do you send them, with some kind of special sending thing or stamp? I really want to get rid of them, it would make my life ten thousand times easier, but the only other option to the old couple is shipping, and i have no idea what im doing there. Or put them back in the man-made semi-wild pond that the big one originated from (i was fishing).

I have a 120 that im looking at on craigslist, but A)I can't trust craigslist, B)My mom basically said no and C)I don't have the money to afford the tank, not right now.

I know for fact that a 40 gallon tank is not large enuff, if i had the funds I would have gotten a 200+gal pond already, but I do not have the funds right now. I'm in a pickle and i know it.
 
This would be a good time for you to educate your sister on how goldfish should be kept. If she cares about the well-being of the fish, she'll understand that rehoming the fish to an appropriate situation, like a goldfish pond, is in their best interest. I agree that it sounds like you are being way to picky about a home for them. Just because a pond isn't pretty doesn't mean it would be a bad home for them. Much better than being crammed and stunted in a 20g. I would post an ad on craigslist and give them away for free to a proper living situation.
 
Hey lab, why don't you come over here and tell my sister that? If your lucky she will throw something heavy at you. She is currently at a "school" for people with anger issues and emotional instabilities, called Devero, and she has been in a strait jacket twice. Im actually scared of what will happen if i get rid of it. I have specifically told her many time, both before, during, and after she got the damned fish that i neither wanted it nor could have it in a tank.
 
Hey lab, why don't you come over here and tell my sister that? If your lucky she will throw something heavy at you. She is currently at a "school" for people with anger issues and emotional instabilities, called Devero, and she has been in a strait jacket twice. Im actually scared of what will happen if i get rid of it. I have specifically told her many time, both before, during, and after she got the damned fish that i neither wanted it nor could have it in a tank.


In that case, she's not there, maybe it happened to go to fishy heaven? A pond would be fishy heaven ya know...
 
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