small goldish in my tank?

sxepunk13

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Jan 1, 2006
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so my mom bought 3 goldfish for a Vacation Bible School presentation and put them in a bowl, despite my warnings. we're about to build a new house at the beginning of the year, and she says the goldfish could go into a pond once we get the house built, assuming the goldfish could stay in a bowl (three in one bowl is obviously too much) or in one of our tanks here. how would these goldfish do in these tanks?

my dad's 30-gallon community (tetras, cory, platys, etc.)
my 40-gallon "semi-aggressive" (angels, opalines, african brown knifefish, keyhole cichlid)
my 10-gallon community, that unfortunately only has 2 harlequin rasboras at the moment because everything else died.

would putting one fish in each tank work? or would they grow too fast, be too aggressive, etc?
 
Goldfish are not tropical fish, they are coldwater fish. The only tank on your list that is even suitable for a temporary home is your dad's and it's only big enough for one fish.

Do not put the fish with your cichlids. They will most likely kill it. The 10g is too small.

Goldfish need 20g per fish, even when they are small. They grow *very* quickly and if are not kept in the proper sized tank, they will stunt and die very early.

They definitely do *not* belong in bowls.

Please ask your mom to return the fish or give them to the LFS. She can always get new ones when the pond is ready for them.

Roan
 
I'm going to agree with Roan about not putting the goldfish in with the cichlids or the community tank.

How long until the house gets built? A week? A month? Anything more than that and I will again agree with Roan, give them away (to a LFS, a friend with a pond); or you could buy a bigger tank.

If it's only temporary, being a week or a month, than you could move the harlequins into the community and have the goldfish live in the 10 gallon.

There's an article (featured on the cover) of the July issue of Aquarium Fish Magazine about goldfish. I recommend you get this magazine and read it. It says that each goldfish needs a 10 gallon tank. They will either suffer from being in too small of a tank and thus stunt their growth and die, or they will outgrow your tank.
 
Genesis 2:15 :

15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

Your mom needs to realize that her God demands that she properly care for these goldfish that she purchased for a one-time presentation. Anything less than ensuring that these fish have the high quality environment they need is far from what her God expects of her.

If she is going to use these fish to teach kids about God, then she needs to care for these fish which her God created as if they were truly wonderful and special.

Tossing them into a bowl where they will die before the end of their natural lifespan is far from being a good Christian.

Now I am not necessarily a good Christian, but I was raised by folks that are and I do expect people who talk the talk to walk the walk. Sadly, most folks cannot practice what they preach. . .
 
YuccaPatrol said:
Genesis 2:15 :

15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

Your mom needs to realize that her God demands that she properly care for these goldfish that she purchased for a one-time presentation. Anything less than ensuring that these fish have the high quality environment they need is far from what her God expects of her.

If she is going to use these fish to teach kids about God, then she needs to care for these fish which her God created as if they were truly wonderful and special.

Tossing them into a bowl where they will die before the end of their natural lifespan is far from being a good Christian.

Now I am not necessarily a good Christian, but I was raised by folks that are and I do expect people who talk the talk to walk the walk. Sadly, most folks cannot practice what they preach. . .

nicely put!
 
Instead of throwing them in one of your currently established tanks, you could always go to Walmart and get a large Sterilite bin to keep them in. A 50 gallon is 15 bucks here. You could buy whatever filter you were thinking about for the pond and use it for the bin, or try to save some money and build it yourself.

Here's a site with a pretty basic version:
http://rodandjenn2.home.mchsi.com/Adam_s_Filter/adam_s_filter.html

I'm doing the same thing with a RES tank later in the summer.
 
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