wow, I guess some of you were posting while I was writing that last message. I see now some of my above questions are answered. I think I'd better advertise for a new owner. As for the goldfish, one is round-bodied (I think), and one is a feeder (I know this, because my friend initially described him as a feeder). So, all in all, after reading your responses (thank you!) I guess I'll contact a fish shop and see if they'll take these fish off my hands for me. As for the feeder, there's several koi ponds at the local university--maybe I'll contact the groundskeeper and see if I can release it there. Ideally, I'd keep the 2 goldfish and give away the gourami, but you say that the two kinds of goldfish can't live together? If this makes a difference, they lived together for at least 3 years, when in my friend's care. I've kind of grown attached to the fish in the last 2 months, but this doesn't seem to be working out too well, does it? :headshake2: Thanks again for your help.
sea monkeys in tank gravel?
- Thread starter LeahK
- Start date
Oh... and I have no clue about what the shrimp may be. But if the Gourami aren't a dwarf, a 10G is pretty much stocked with just them.
Gouramis are tropical fish, meaning their temperature requirements are in the upper 70"s, while goldfish are temperate - room temperature is fine (high 60"s low 70"s). when out of their normal temperature ranges, fish are more susceptible to diseases, and their growth patterns are not normal.
Fancy (round-ish) goldfish can get very large. Regular fantail goldfish can get as big around as a 1-liter bottle. To be able to live and grow, they both could be put into a 55g tank. a 30g would do well until they get bigger though. The gouramis could probably stay together in the 10g, unless they beat each other up. Are they kissing gouramis? Those actually get quite large and would need a larger home accordingly.
Fuzz is not normal growth on fish. It is fungus, and you did good to treat it.
Water changes are very good for fish, and very important. Living in a fishtank is for fish what living in a airtight shed is for you - changing tank water is like turning a fan on in your shed and getting fresh air. Unfortunately, sometimes the fish get so used to the old dirty water that changing it too quickly can be harmful - like if you adjusted to breathing polluted air and then got pure oxygen. You'd want to just fall over and die. I know that the water has already been changed, and I am glad the fish are doing alright. Continue doing water changes, slowly, and in small amounts until you feel that a lot of the old water has been diluted/replaced and the gravel is free of gunk.
Instead of buying bottled water for the fish, go to petsmart (or another fish store) and buy tests kits. liquid ones, NOT strips. i mention petsmart because you can go online to the website, print out the prices of things you need, and they will match the prices in the store. a test kit with everything you need is about $15 online. test kits are important because they measure the quality of the water in the tank. fish produce waste in the form of ammonia, and there are bacteria that convert this ammonia (toxic) into nitrite (toxic) and then into nitrate, which is not toxic but has to be removed with water changes. if you test and there is ammonia, there is something wrong with the bacteria which live in your tank, because either they are not doing their job or the job is too big to handle. if you test for nitrates and, you can determine how safe the water is and if it needs to be changed. nitrates under 20ppm are considered safe, and most people time their water changes to keep the nitrates low.
why are you using bottled water?
snails are harmless to the fish, but they eat your plants and multiply like crazy. if you are averse to killing them, be careful not to feed the fish too much, as snails eat the leftover food. without extra food, they won't breed so quickly. keep the gravel clean for this reason as well.
sea monkeys? no. probably hydras or some other kind of bug. generally having bugs means the tank is not clean. if the fish were going to eat them, they would have, and you wouldn't see so many.
Fancy (round-ish) goldfish can get very large. Regular fantail goldfish can get as big around as a 1-liter bottle. To be able to live and grow, they both could be put into a 55g tank. a 30g would do well until they get bigger though. The gouramis could probably stay together in the 10g, unless they beat each other up. Are they kissing gouramis? Those actually get quite large and would need a larger home accordingly.
Fuzz is not normal growth on fish. It is fungus, and you did good to treat it.
Water changes are very good for fish, and very important. Living in a fishtank is for fish what living in a airtight shed is for you - changing tank water is like turning a fan on in your shed and getting fresh air. Unfortunately, sometimes the fish get so used to the old dirty water that changing it too quickly can be harmful - like if you adjusted to breathing polluted air and then got pure oxygen. You'd want to just fall over and die. I know that the water has already been changed, and I am glad the fish are doing alright. Continue doing water changes, slowly, and in small amounts until you feel that a lot of the old water has been diluted/replaced and the gravel is free of gunk.
Instead of buying bottled water for the fish, go to petsmart (or another fish store) and buy tests kits. liquid ones, NOT strips. i mention petsmart because you can go online to the website, print out the prices of things you need, and they will match the prices in the store. a test kit with everything you need is about $15 online. test kits are important because they measure the quality of the water in the tank. fish produce waste in the form of ammonia, and there are bacteria that convert this ammonia (toxic) into nitrite (toxic) and then into nitrate, which is not toxic but has to be removed with water changes. if you test and there is ammonia, there is something wrong with the bacteria which live in your tank, because either they are not doing their job or the job is too big to handle. if you test for nitrates and, you can determine how safe the water is and if it needs to be changed. nitrates under 20ppm are considered safe, and most people time their water changes to keep the nitrates low.
why are you using bottled water?
snails are harmless to the fish, but they eat your plants and multiply like crazy. if you are averse to killing them, be careful not to feed the fish too much, as snails eat the leftover food. without extra food, they won't breed so quickly. keep the gravel clean for this reason as well.
sea monkeys? no. probably hydras or some other kind of bug. generally having bugs means the tank is not clean. if the fish were going to eat them, they would have, and you wouldn't see so many.
thanks again. so, one more question: following the advice I've received here, I think I'll give the goldfish to a pet store and keep the gourami. But, like I've said, I think the elderly blue gourami is dying. Will the remaining yellow gourami be lonely? Or might it even be happier with a tank all to itself? Do fish get lonely? I thought of buying a new gourami to replace the blue one when he dies, but the yellow one is still recovering from the fungus. I may treat the tank with another cycle of Maracyn, and I don't want to put a new fish in there until the yellow one is fully fungus-free.
One Gourami would be fine by itself. I like your plans of rehousing the Goldies.
If you wind up with the one Gourami you could add some tiny shoaling fish , eg 5 neons , but only after doing several water change/gravel vacs and getting the water parameters stable. The little`bugs' should dissappear as the water quality improves.
If you wind up with the one Gourami you could add some tiny shoaling fish , eg 5 neons , but only after doing several water change/gravel vacs and getting the water parameters stable. The little`bugs' should dissappear as the water quality improves.
Thanks again to everyone who replied so quickly to all my questions. I have already delivered the two goldfish into the hands of a very reputable pet shop. I can't stand to hear about animals being mistreated, so you can imagine I really can't stand to hear that I'm the one mistreating them!
I figured I should get my goldfish into better conditions sooner rather than later. And the ladies at the pet shop also told me that I was doing the right thing to give them the goldfish, which they said were already too big for my 10-gallon tank. Now I've got two gouramis, one of which I'm pretty sure will die within a day, although I do sincerely feel that this is of old age and not because of anything I did. The other gourami is also very old, so I think I'll just let him chill out and have the tank to himself (but maybe I'll eventually get those neons, like gmh said). And, thanks to what I've learned in my short time at this forum, from now on I'll be diligent about cleaning and vacuuming the tank regularly. I definitely feel that the goldfish are better off, and that my remaining gourami is going to be much happier, too. Thanks again to everyone for helping me out!
I figured I should get my goldfish into better conditions sooner rather than later. And the ladies at the pet shop also told me that I was doing the right thing to give them the goldfish, which they said were already too big for my 10-gallon tank. Now I've got two gouramis, one of which I'm pretty sure will die within a day, although I do sincerely feel that this is of old age and not because of anything I did. The other gourami is also very old, so I think I'll just let him chill out and have the tank to himself (but maybe I'll eventually get those neons, like gmh said). And, thanks to what I've learned in my short time at this forum, from now on I'll be diligent about cleaning and vacuuming the tank regularly. I definitely feel that the goldfish are better off, and that my remaining gourami is going to be much happier, too. Thanks again to everyone for helping me out!
Don't listen to Lukee! Snails are harmless critters that eat algae, look cool, require no special care and really help you're water quality! I've had them in my tank for over a year now with no form of population control and they have never "taken over the tank" like many ideotic 'know it alls" will tell you. As for the shrimp as long as they're not ataching themselves to the fish they're not parasitic and harmless in which case put them back in and they will live hapy full lives until your'e fish eat them.{btw i was refering to an article on a diferent site that said you have to micromanage your,e snail pop and i WAS NOT calling lukee an "ideotic know it all"so no ofense.
