Newb Question-- sort of

[Aardvark Q. Bandersnatch]

Having had many aquariums over the last thirty-plus years, mostly S.American
cichlids, I'm now presented with a situation about which I don't know
damall. My daughter (6yoa) wants her very own aquarium. Yippee! BUT she
wants goldfish. I know next to nothing about goldfish, and so have a few
questions. Any help, tips, or suggestions would be appreciated.

1. G'fish should be kept in cooler water temps than SA cichlids. How much
cooler? like mid-70s Fahrenheit?
2. Water for G'fish should be neutral or slightly alkaline?
3. Planning on planting moderately with crypts, vals, and a few other
Asian/cool temp plants. How bad are g'fish at eating the greenery? Is there
any way to slow them down or prevent the destruction? (I really, really like
heavily planted tanks.)
4. As tankmates, I'm thinking about either adding danios or white clouds.
Would that be okay?
5. Thinking about doing this in a 20gallon "long" tank. I'm thinking that
only sustains three or four g'fish. Is that a good assumption?

Answers and suggestions greatly appreciated.

Micheal.

[Magic menagerie]

Goldfish have a pretty wide temp span. They can take as low as 40ish to about
70s. If you have an inside tank, you won't need a heater for them. Our fish
love to dine on all the greenery... They think it's a treat for them! We had
to swap to plastic... Looks nice, doesn't get eaten...
Only have goldfish in the tanks, no other breeds of fish, as cute though they
are, goldfish have so much "output" that it kills off the other fish! One
goldfish per 10 gallons (has to do again with the "output" factor... ; )

[Mel]

In a 20 gallon you could only have 2 goldfish maximum, with no tank mates
unless you went for a bigger aquarium. I wouldn't recommend danios as once
your goldies grow they could probably fit them in their mouths! I'm not sure
on the white cloud minnows though. If you went for say a 30 gallon you could
possibly have 2 goldies and a small school of corycats (the larger ones so
your goldies wont choke on them), or perhaps a hillstream loach or
bristlenose pleco (all of which are safe with goldfish as long as you have a
heater).
Temperature wise, the mid 70's would be great for them and a heater is a
good idea to stop fluctuations. Goldfish can adapt to whatever Ph you have
(if it isn't too extreme) as long as it never fluctuates so I wouldn't
recommend trying to change it.
I keep goldfish and also like to have planted tanks but unfortunately I
haven't had much success because they tend to eat everything in site! I now
stick with Java fern as this remains relatively intact. I also have some
really tall grassy looking plants (sorry I don't know what they're called)
and they seem to have survived for a couple of months too, shorter grassy
ones didn't, probably because they were easy to rip apart and chew. I added
8 floating plants yesterday and by the time I woke up this morning they had
gone!
Hope this helps a bit,
Mel.

"Aardvark Q. Bandersnatch" > wrote in message
news:ztFnb.37781$mZ5.200003@attbi_s54...
> Having had many aquariums over the last thirty-plus years, mostly
S.American
> cichlids, I'm now presented with a situation about which I don't know
> damall. My daughter (6yoa) wants her very own aquarium. Yippee! BUT she
> wants goldfish. I know next to nothing about goldfish, and so have a few
> questions. Any help, tips, or suggestions would be appreciated.
>
> 1. G'fish should be kept in cooler water temps than SA cichlids. How much
> cooler? like mid-70s Fahrenheit?
> 2. Water for G'fish should be neutral or slightly alkaline?
> 3. Planning on planting moderately with crypts, vals, and a few other
> Asian/cool temp plants. How bad are g'fish at eating the greenery? Is
there
> any way to slow them down or prevent the destruction? (I really, really
like
> heavily planted tanks.)
> 4. As tankmates, I'm thinking about either adding danios or white clouds.
> Would that be okay?
> 5. Thinking about doing this in a 20gallon "long" tank. I'm thinking that
> only sustains three or four g'fish. Is that a good assumption?
>
> Answers and suggestions greatly appreciated.
>
> Micheal.
>
>

[Birgitte]

Hi I have been lurking in this groupe for couple of weeks,
I started an akvarium up in the end of august whith 13 very
smal goldfish, they were from 1 cm long to 3 cm long , because
I had to redo my pond in the garden .The pvc brook when my
dogs was chasing mink.
it's working great exsept that I had agler problem because I
left on the light 24 houers a day, started to clean up , but
not quiet finshed jet. the fish has grown to about 5 cm long
for the biggist and they starte to change color too .
I keep real plants in there and so far so good .
Got no heater in there and it's about 29.5872697 gallon [US,
liquid] big tank .
they will go back to the pond in the spring .
you can se pictures on
http://www.ninaweb.dk/havedam/akvariet.htm
but you will prolly not understand the danish text , click on
the pictures to se large pictures .
I hope they won't outgrow the tank before spring

Birgitte


"Aardvark Q. Bandersnatch" > skrev i en
meddelelse news:ztFnb.37781$mZ5.200003@attbi_s54...
> Having had many aquariums over the last thirty-plus years,
mostly S.American
> cichlids, I'm now presented with a situation about which I
don't know
> damall. My daughter (6yoa) wants her very own aquarium.
Yippee! BUT she
> wants goldfish. I know next to nothing about goldfish, and
so have a few
> questions. Any help, tips, or suggestions would be
appreciated.
>
> 1. G'fish should be kept in cooler water temps than SA
cichlids. How much
> cooler? like mid-70s Fahrenheit?
> 2. Water for G'fish should be neutral or slightly alkaline?
> 3. Planning on planting moderately with crypts, vals, and a
few other
> Asian/cool temp plants. How bad are g'fish at eating the
greenery? Is there
> any way to slow them down or prevent the destruction? (I
really, really like
> heavily planted tanks.)
> 4. As tankmates, I'm thinking about either adding danios or
white clouds.
> Would that be okay?
> 5. Thinking about doing this in a 20gallon "long" tank. I'm
thinking that
> only sustains three or four g'fish. Is that a good
assumption?
>
> Answers and suggestions greatly appreciated.
>
> Micheal.
>
>

[Aardvark Q. Bandersnatch]

Ggaaaaaaaah! ... and I so love planted aquaria. Guess I'll have to think of
some other way to do this. Thanks for the input, all!


"Mel" > wrote in message
...
> In a 20 gallon you could only have 2 goldfish maximum, with no tank mates
> unless you went for a bigger aquarium. I wouldn't recommend danios as once
> your goldies grow they could probably fit them in their mouths! I'm not
sure
> on the white cloud minnows though. If you went for say a 30 gallon you
could
> possibly have 2 goldies and a small school of corycats (the larger ones so
> your goldies wont choke on them), or perhaps a hillstream loach or
> bristlenose pleco (all of which are safe with goldfish as long as you have
a
> heater).
> Temperature wise, the mid 70's would be great for them and a heater is a
> good idea to stop fluctuations. Goldfish can adapt to whatever Ph you have
> (if it isn't too extreme) as long as it never fluctuates so I wouldn't
> recommend trying to change it.
> I keep goldfish and also like to have planted tanks but unfortunately I
> haven't had much success because they tend to eat everything in site! I
now
> stick with Java fern as this remains relatively intact. I also have some
> really tall grassy looking plants (sorry I don't know what they're called)
> and they seem to have survived for a couple of months too, shorter grassy
> ones didn't, probably because they were easy to rip apart and chew. I
added
> 8 floating plants yesterday and by the time I woke up this morning they
had
> gone!
> Hope this helps a bit,
> Mel.
>
> "Aardvark Q. Bandersnatch" > wrote in message
> news:ztFnb.37781$mZ5.200003@attbi_s54...
> > Having had many aquariums over the last thirty-plus years, mostly
> S.American
> > cichlids, I'm now presented with a situation about which I don't know
> > damall. My daughter (6yoa) wants her very own aquarium. Yippee! BUT she
> > wants goldfish. I know next to nothing about goldfish, and so have a few
> > questions. Any help, tips, or suggestions would be appreciated.
> >
> > 1. G'fish should be kept in cooler water temps than SA cichlids. How
much
> > cooler? like mid-70s Fahrenheit?
> > 2. Water for G'fish should be neutral or slightly alkaline?
> > 3. Planning on planting moderately with crypts, vals, and a few other
> > Asian/cool temp plants. How bad are g'fish at eating the greenery? Is
> there
> > any way to slow them down or prevent the destruction? (I really, really
> like
> > heavily planted tanks.)
> > 4. As tankmates, I'm thinking about either adding danios or white
clouds.
> > Would that be okay?
> > 5. Thinking about doing this in a 20gallon "long" tank. I'm thinking
that
> > only sustains three or four g'fish. Is that a good assumption?
> >
> > Answers and suggestions greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Micheal.
> >
> >
>
>

[Charles Gillen]

"Aardvark Q. Bandersnatch" > wrote:

> Ggaaaaaaaah! ... and I so love planted aquaria. Guess I'll have to
> think of some other way to do this. Thanks for the input, all!

On the WWW site of a UK fish breeder (URL not retained) I read how he made
his own spawning grass, and adapted the info to make my own imitation
plants.

Buy acrylic knitting yarn in a few shades of green, wrap 10 to 20 turns
around a suitable form (such as a bottle). On one side, tie all the loops
together... your plant's base. On the other side, cut the loops in half.
You now have a natural-looking little mop of "grass" which you can tie to a
pebble and sink. It looks better if you trim the grass to different
lengths or unravel some ends for a more natural appearance. My goldfish are
quite at home swimming thru and around this instant grass, and it's
completely inedible :^)

I've tried making taller "plants" but didn't like the result.

At a craft store I bought two cheap bunches of such yarn, enough for a
whole jungle of spawning grass, or gravel cover.

Craft stores also sell foot-square plastic grids for needlework; I cut a
small piece and tie it to the base of my "grass" and then bury the plastic
base in the gravel.

Don't forget to wash your "grass" plants well before putting into tank.

--
Anti-Spam address: my last name at his dot com
Charles Gillen -- Reston, Virginia, USA

[pausto]

"Aardvark Q. Bandersnatch" wrote:
>
> Ggaaaaaaaah! ... and I so love planted aquaria. Guess I'll have to think of
> some other way to do this. Thanks for the input, all!
>

Gold Platies?