louu Posted November 25, 2010 Report Share Posted November 25, 2010 So bad news for my Malawi setup that I was going out to buy equipment for this weekend! At my mum's work someone smashed the goldfish tank (fish everywhere!) and so she brought them back to my house with my sister and put them in my four foot tank that was sitting ready for me to fill with yellow labs... *sigh* My mum's ponds are already WAY too full so I guess there was no other way and I couldn't have left them in cups to die of stress, although I found out about this by phone call once everything was already done... ANYWAY I need some advice on things like filter, hiding places (do goldfish hide?) and cycling with six very large goldfish already in the tank. Oh! THINK OF THE WATER CHANGES! I have never cycled with fish before! I am still hopeful that I will be able to offload them to someone else down the track... I never liked goldfish. Any help is appreciated, I did a google search and came up with a mountain load of cruddy 'bourkes back yard' type sites that don't really know what they are talking about. Ideally I would like to get as much of a setup that can be reused for other fish and to clarify I have no clue what filter will be needed one place that was slightly helpful suggested a hang on back filter which sounds good nice and relatively cheap but I don't know the right capacity needed. I also don't know if goldfish require hiding places any cheap/ versatile/ any ideas are welcome and cycling with fish too. You never know maybe I will get into goldfish! I am trying hard not to sound like a complete brat but I hope you can understand my disappointment with having my grand tank taken up by goldfish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yanagi Posted November 25, 2010 Report Share Posted November 25, 2010 Can't you just keep them in a bare tank with (big) water changes until you can offload them on someone else or an LFS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbites Posted November 25, 2010 Report Share Posted November 25, 2010 If you're going to offload the goldfish soon, I wouldn't bother with setting up the tank for them.... they require totally different water conditions to the malawi's.... Do what Yan suggests then set it up for the yellow labs when you get rid of the goldfish..... Re a filter.... get the one with enough capacity to at least turn over your water 6 - 10 times per hour.... so for a standard 4' tank you would want something like a 1200 to 2000 litre/hr canister filter.... goldfish eat a lot and produce a lot of wastes.... so over filtering will help.... malawi cichlids can, and often are overstocked to avoid / distribute aggression so a good size filter will help there as well.... Hang over back filters generally carry a lower volume of filter media than canister filters - hang over back (HOB) filters are good for lightly stocked smaller tanks..... you don' t mention the size of the goldfish or their size.... so maybe a HOB is ok for a temp measure..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louu Posted November 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2010 Looks like they are here to stay! My sister has taken a liking to them and as long as she helps with maintenance I don't mind if they have the 3ftr I wasn't really using. When I said I wasn't sure about looking after them and said maybe we should look at a new home for them, no one was pleased. One of the fish died so now there are four or five (hard to count they all look the same). Would the bio load be too heavy in a 3 ft? We are getting the filter (HOB) so if thats not enough we can also put an internal canister in, they aren't that expensive so that's ok. Oh! and They are about 7 y.o so I guess that would mean they are full grown. I am inclined to put a good filter in with the HOB and put the fish in the three ft'r I can't see why that would be a problem, do goldfish get aggressive when over crowded? Thanks for your help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbites Posted November 26, 2010 Report Share Posted November 26, 2010 If they are full sized (ie about 20 - 30 cm long) then they are definitely going to be cramped unless it's a very large 3ft tank (3 x 18" x 18" or larger).... and at that size the fish will produce a lot of wastes unless you have them on a strict diet.... (no extra food even if they beg!!) Re the HOB filter.... put plenty of sponge in it to increase surface area for good bacteria (most only have a thin sheet and nothing much more).... internal filters have very little room for sponge or other material to house good bacteria either - they are mostly useful for water circulation / aeration.... Goldfish won't get aggressive .... but if they spawn will turn your tank milky for a while ... you'll need to work on water changes in that case..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louu Posted November 26, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2010 Hmm with a little extra thought I think your right about the crampness they are very big not sure when they reach full growth but the boss said they have had them between five and ten years so according to my Google search they will be reaching mid life within the next few years. My goodness they live forever! I will look into a proper canister filtrr, this one has lots more room for media so I will chuck in maybe some noodles and sponge though I am not sure what's most important I guess we are looking to increase bacteria so noodles? I will look into a proper canister filtrr, I still have lots of Christmas presents to buy but have a reserved fish stash and let's be honest it does my head in but I enjoy having fish to dote over Its actually quite nice having a big tank of big fish I feel mean for my instant rejection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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