@Jake1508 from INJAF: "At least 120cm x 50cm x 50cm should be the very minimum for fancy varieties, while commons/singletails should not be housed in anything less than 200cm x 60cm x 60cm."
I and my family have owned fish over 50 years and you have only owned them for 7 years. My uncle owned a marine tank for 15 years.
We have owned goldfish in this tank, a lizard tank (see the pets and private collections media for Blue Tongue lizard) and outdoors in a large pond.. they DON’T grow and they all died after a couple of years and if they did I would give them to a friend. The pet shop I got these fish from have 100 in a tank half this size with nothing in the tank except a filter. For Gods sake I owned a Spiny Stick Insect that lived longer than any species of fish I owned!
@Jake1508 only lasted a few years and didn't grow? somethings definitey wrong, normally goldies should grow fairly fast and live to be 20+! I thought i mentioned before that pet stores are NOT a good example of how to keep fish, sadly, they often only care about profit, not the health and well-being of their fish. You'll need to rehome those goldfish, either in that pond you mentioned (depending on how big it is) or someone with a suitably sized tank. And you clearly haven't cycled the tank, theres no way you could have done it this fast. Look, I just want the best for your fish, okay?
@DaLilFishie it doesn’t matter how big the tank or how I keep my animals, if I wanted to keep fish alive, I would buy a long living fish species.
Goldfish are animals that are kept as short term animals not an animal that will outlive humanity itself.
They are very common around the world as pets and that don’t live very long and can be easily replaced.
Eg: If I owned a Tiger and it died, I wouldn’t go out and buy a new one instead I would buy a smaller more manageable animal such as a domestic cat.
Long story short.
Goldfish die, people die, everything dies so why are you saying I don’t know how to keep them alive when they don’t live long and will die if you look at them the wrong way.
@Jake1508 my point is they CAN live long if kept in good conditions (not unusual for a well cared for goldfish to live well into their twenties), and I believe that every animal (regardless of how common or "replaceable" they are percieved to be) should be given a chance to live out their full natural life. how would you feel if someone willingly let you die young? I'm sure you wouldn't like that, how is it any different for a fish? they want to live just as much as you do. To be perfectly honest, if you aren't going to be taking good care of your pets, I don't think you should be keeping them. I'm sorry if I came across as rude, I just genuinely care about your fish (and all fish), and I want them to be happy and healthy for years to come. also what does INJAF being a UK organization have to do with anything?
@DaLilFishie "not unusual for a well cared for goldfish to live well into their twenties"
Absolutely. And, remembering how my grandparents kept theirs when I was a child and certain customer stories I heard when I worked in aquatics shops when I was younger, it's actually very possible for quite poorly-cared-for goldfish to live that long as well..! They're not what I'd call a short-lived pet (certainly should be living longer than phasmids!). In fact, this quite often causes the next generation of fish to be kept in less-than-ideal conditions as well, because "the last one lived for decades the way we did it" - and if one shop denies the sale because of how it will be kept a determined customer will probably just go elsewhere to someone less thorough (and/or lie the next time!).
@Jake1508 - as well as there being good pet stores and bad ones, and it not always being obvious which is which, they usually over-filter their tanks compared to what you will with a home system, specifically because they have more fish per unit of water/surface area. Sales tanks in even the best aquatics shops will be over-stocked compared to what you should attempt at home - as well as being over-filtered, they are under constant observation for problems and in most cases the fish aren't there for more than a couple of weeks at a time, not the rest of their lives.
@DaLilFishie you are not being rude, only annoying!
And again if I wanted fish that lived a long time, I would invest in them, but they are only to brighten the tank up give me something to look at. Why are you acting like I am about to make goldfish extinct???
@Jake1508 I'm not worried about goldfish going extinct. What I am worried about is the health and welfare of your fish. They are living creatures that deserve to be well cared for, not just decorations.
@DaLilFishie they are being cared for and are not just “decorations”
They are living animals and they are cared for and loved. They have plenty of space and food and if they were to get bigger ( if they get bigger, but they never do despite different tanks,filters etc ) I would give them to a friend which has had them for 56 years and his don’t grow either and they are in a large Oscar fish tank with a filter and lights as well as live plants. I can show you a picture of you would like.
How would you recommend I take better care of my fish???
