What to do with blue oranda?

F

fishie111

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Feb 5, 2007
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I gave my parents 3 goldfish and a large tank a few months ago. Unfortunately, they lost 2 of them- the last one passed when their filter failed.

The remaining fish is a blue oranda- about 3 inches long. I took him home because I was concerned that the biomedia needed to be recycled. This turned out not to be the case, but my dad has decided that he'd really rather have angelfish. He's 72, so I feel like he's earned the right to be indulged.

I can house the goldfish in a 28G bowfront or bring him to the local pet store where he can live in the "koi pond" (large indoor tank in winter, real outdoor pond in summer- mix of koi and various goldfish). I don't want one goldfish to live by itself, so I'd have to get him a buddy if I kept him.

What would you do? Two goldies in a 28G or take him to the local pet store to live in the pond? I'm told that they rarely sell fish out of the pond, so he'd probably live there for life.
 
Two goldies in a 28 gallon should be fine. One will do fine by itself, in fact, as long as you give it lots of attention.

I so dearly love orandas and have been looking for a blue one, so I'm biased anyway. :D
 
Sorry, I meant to say two fancy goldies in a 28 gallon should be fine. I wouldn't keep a common or comet in anything less than 20.
 
Silas is right. Adding another oranda or even a black moor is fine.:)

I'm biased as well.lol I love my orandas and telescopes.:hearts:
 
Thanks. I feel better about keeping him if I can get him a buddy. He is very shy right now- he's not used to being alone. I like the idea of another oranda. I'll have to look around and see what is available.
 
Once you have the new fish, perhaps consider treating both of them together with salt and prazi. Flukes and bacterial infections are quite prevalent among goldfish so both salt and prazi need to be used immediately as soon as you have your new fish.

Add aquarium or table salt (dissolved in water) at a ratio of 1-3 teaspoons of salt per gallon of water in your tank equivalent to 0.1-0.3% depending on the tolerance level of your fish.

For basic procedures, here are the steps.
1. Dose one teaspoon per gallon of salt or equivalent to 0.1%.
2. After 12 hours and assuming the fish has tolerated it very wellso far, repeat step 1.
3. After another 12 hours, repeat step 1 again.

Do make sure your fish can tolerate the elevated saline solution. If in doubt, be prepared to do a water change to relieve the fish of the osmotic stress caused by the salt. Try not to lose focus on the actual saline solution you already administered or you might end up overdosing the salt more than it was necessary. Should a water change be necessary, make sure you redose the salt solution per the water volume replaced.

For example, a 10g needs 30 teaspoons at 3 teaspoons per gallon of water measurement. If you wish to change at least 50% of the water, then another 15 teaspoons of salt should be redosed to keep the saline solution effective against the parasites.
 
I picked out a bright orange oranda. It has some black trim, but I expect it will change to all orange over time. It took all my self control to _not_ take a red-cap oranda as well. However, I don't want to overstock, so I managed to leave with just one. They had a large selection of different types of goldfish, but I was set on an oranda and I thought that the bright orange would be a nice contrast with the steel blue. The salesperson was openly knowledgable about how much space goldfish need- it was nice to hear.

I moved all the prior occupants of the 28G bowfront out, rearranged it, added a second filter, and now it is a planted goldfish tank. Crypts and java fern only at the moment. I may add some other plants with unappealing taste in the future.

I will do the prazi/salt treatment. It makes a lot of sense.

Thanks!
 
Trouble is that I absolutely cannot upgrade the tank. So I have to stick with what can fit in that 28G. I've already played upgrade roulette and as a result, I have 2-120Gs, 1-75G and a 29G. The first 2 are basically stocked- room for a couple of tweaks, but that is all. The 29G is serving as a fry grow-out. I also have fry growing out in a 10G. Not to mention the 10G tank at work and a 2.5G betta tank at home. :)

Now if you tell me I can fit 3 in the 28G, it will an entirely different matter. :)
 
I'm not too sure how durable crypts are but during an ich problem, I did a salt treatment in my tank for about 3 weeks and it killed my java ferns and anacharis plants. My anubias started browning also so you might want to think about moving the plants elsewhere for the time being just in case :)
 
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