What to do? New fish coming

rainbowcharmer

rainbowcharmer

AC Members
Jul 30, 2007
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East Coast, USA
One of the guys I work with has 2 fish in a bowl (I know), and I've been trying to talk him into a tank for a while now. He got them last year at a school event for his daughter, and he asked if I would take them since he doesn't want to put up with them anymore and they haven't died yet (I believe he started out with 5 total).

He says they are not goldfish. I asked for pictures, but his phone took really blurry pics and I couldn't ID the fish from them. He's supposed to drop them and the bowl by this weekend. I've got 2 10 gallon tanks that I can use to house them temporarily until I find out what they are, but if they do happen to be common goldfish (which is the only thing I can think of that they'd give away at a kids event), I'm not sure what I'll do with them. Could the temporarily survive in warmer conditions in my 75 gal tank? I'm planning on getting my pond done next summer, so they'd have a permanent home there, if that is indeed what they are, but I need a way to keep them healthy until then. He says they haven't grown at all in the year that he's had them. They're both around 1.5" long. No matter what I'll QT them in a 10 gal before I do anything with them, but I'm trying to line up my options ahead of time if possible.
 
my guess is their comets or goldfish also. I think living in your 75 beats a bowl any day, at least until your pond is ready. just keep them in the 10gallon until next summer at 1.5 inches it's easily doable. good luck and goodjob!
 
That was nice of you to take them. I've kept some comets indoors at a tank temp of 77F and they did fine.
Hopefully you will get some more replies on keeping goldfish at a higher temp.
 
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I have two common goldfish in my 55g a higher temps (often 80 during the summer) and they have been fine. Very active and shiny. They were rescues too and figured higher temps were better than where they were. Now I don't know what to do with them!
 
Well that makes me feel a little better anyhow. The 75 gal is well filtered and under-stocked, so I think that they wouldn't cause much issue as far as that goes, but I wasn't sure about the temp issue. I'll be QT'ing for probably a month or so prior to moving them into the tank with my current babies. Don't want to chance any diseases. Anyhow, we'll see how it goes. I'll take pics once they get here, if he does bring them by this weekend, and if I do need help with an ID.
 
If they turn out to be goldfish, sometimes they get a little nippy so just watch for that. With that being said comets tend to grow no matter what their living conditions are so it could be some type of minnow like rosey reds .Either way I am sure once they go in the 10 gallon tank if you watch them closely you will see them doing the happy dance.
 
good job on the rescue! I thought that comets just kept growing so maybe it is another type of fish.
 
It could well be another type of fish, but since the pics were useless, I'm not sure, and typically people give away goldfish at those types of events, so that is what makes me lean towards that thought. But who knows. I'll definitely check them out once I get them in the 10 gallon. I'll be setting it up tonight and running the filter on the 46 gallon until they get here to keep it cycled. Since they are in uncycled water, I'm going to drip acclimate since I'm sure the ammonia levels are probably high, and they may not have been exposed to nitrate at all if there isn't anything in the bowl to grow bacteria. I also don't know what the water changes were like, so I really don't know much about what they're accustomed to, so I'll try to go about it slowly and hope for the best. Any suggestions on best ways to acclimate a fish that has been in those conditions would be great. I'm sure dumping them in the cycled tank would cause shock, so I don't want to do that.
 
I'm not a big fan of drip acclimation. If your pH is higher than the pH the fish has been kept in, it could increase the toxicity of any ammonia present. If the temperature is about the same, I would hold a net over a bucket, pour the fish in, then dip the net into your tank until they swim out.
 
Wouldn't a sudden change from ammonia to no ammonia be shocking to the fish though as well? What if I put ammo-lock or something similar in their water prior to drip acclimating? Would that be healthier for them? I don't want to kill them by putting them in my tanks. I can test pH prior to drip acclimating to see if they are similar. I know we are both on the same water - same city, etc. So odds are pH is probably close I would think.
 
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