How to Look After A Goldfish

Whether you already own fish or you are starting out with your first Goldfish it is vital that you do your research into how to care for them. Many think that it is as easy as popping a fish in a bowl and feeding it once a day, but this will soon lead to upset as fish can not survive in that environment easily. Here is our guide on how to care for a Goldfish: 

The Goldfish Species

While the goldfish is a common pet in the UK and America, it is actually an Asian fish. Bred in the Orient for thousands of years, and in Europe for the last hundred; there are a variety of different types of the common goldfish. Given the right care, they could live for 50 years! To find out more about the different type of Goldfish, check out our Top 10 Goldfish Varieties page.

Setting up your fish tank

Your Fish Tank – it should be no smaller than 10 gallons or 38 litre tank, and each fish should have a minimum of six gallons to themselves. So, the more fish you have the more room you’ll need.  

A Thermometer - Goldfish love cool water, so you’ll need a thermometer to make sure your aquarium is the right temperature for them to be happy. The temperature should never rise above 23.5˚ Celsius, and ideally sit somewhere between 18˚ and 20˚ Celsius.

An Aquarium Filter – to prevent the water becoming toxic, you’ll need a filter. Fish waste has ammonia in it, which, if left to build up, will be toxic to the fish (one reason why you should have an aquarium and not a fish bowl), so it’s important that you maintain the filter too.  When selecting a filter, you need to make sure that it won’t produce excessive current, or your fish might find it difficult to swim!

Hiding Places – goldfish are prey, so they need places to hide from the predators (even if these predators don’t exist in your living room). So, make sure that your tank has plants, fake or real, or decorations that are not too sharp or rough so that your fish have places to call their own. Fish tank ornaments with plenty of holes like our Stone Hiding Cave Ornament  are great for Goldfish

Cleaning

To clean your fish tank, all you have to do is to change 10-15% of the water out and add clean, de-chlorinated water in. This is to make sure that the waste that the filter might have missed will be removed. Take water out using a siphon, and as you’re doing so, use the pipe to remove some algae from the gravel at the bottom of your tank (but be careful not to siphon any fish!). Once removed, fill a bucket (one that is dedicated to your aquarium – household chemicals aren’t good for fish) with tap water and use a chlorine remover.. Siphon it back into the tank, and viola. This process can be quite fun for kids to help out or even just watch, as the siphon can be quite interesting.

Goldfish Food

Your fish needs a varied, high carbohydrate diet, as they are omnivores. There are many goldfish foods available, but you should make sure not to feed them too much meaty food.

They graze for food constantly – but this doesn’t mean that you should feed them constantly. Make sure your fish is only fed once a day, and not too much. They should be fed enough to be consumed within two minutes. Any leftovers will rot and contribute to poor water quality. At AllPondSolutions we stock a varity of goldfish food.