Pet Articles
How To Raise A Goldfish
Author: Lee Dobbins
Did you know that your goldfish can live for over 10 years?
Under the right conditions he can live even longer but most
never make it past the first year! If you want your goldfish to
live long and healthy lives, you’ve got to provide the proper
environment.
It’s a common misconception that a goldfish can live in a tiny
bowl. In order for him to survive for any length of time, you’ll
need to do frequent water changes and cleanings of the bowl –
that’s a lot of work and living in a bowl isn’t much fun so it’s
best to keep your fish in a regular tank with a proper
filtration system.
The size of your tank depends on how many goldfish you want to
keep in it. A good rule of thumb is to allocate about 7 gallons
of water per fish, so if you want 5 goldfish a 35 gallon tank is
recommended. It’s better to keep fish in a long tank that has
plenty of surface to air space as goldfish like to have a lot of
oxygen in their water. A tall hexagon shaped tank won’t be the
best tank for these fish.
Goldfish like their water to be a little on the cool side –
between 65 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit so in most cases a heater
is not necessary. You should, however have a thermometer in the
tank and take the appropriate measures if the temperature gets
above 72 degrees as higher temperatures can make your fish more
susceptible to disease. Bear in mind that most other tropical
fish like their water on the warm side, so you will have to be
careful what fish you put in the tank with your goldfish.
Provide the goldfish tank with a filtration system that is
appropriate for the size of the tank. If you are keeping the
fancy tailed goldfish, don’t use a system that will provide too
much current as this can make it difficult for them to swim
around. You’ll also want to provide periodic water changes as
you should with any tank.
One of the main reasons that fish become sick is due to poor
water quality. To keep your goldfish healthy, make sure you
provide the filtration and water changes but also be careful
about overcrowding and overfeeding. Too many fish or too much
decaying food and waste will cause the water in your tank to
become toxic to your fish.
Keeping goldfish can be a wonderful hobby and with minimal work,
you can get a tank up and keep it running with healthy fish.
About the author:
Lee Dobbins is owner and editor of epet-center.com – Your E Pet
Center where you can learn more about keeping
goldfish
