Some newbie questions

Hi all

I'm new to keeping goldfish in an aquarium. A friend bought me a small
(about 4 UK gallons) aquarium for my birthday last month, and I've been on
a very steep learning curve since then. It's a self contained unit with
light and filter, and currently contains 4 X 1" fish - 2 blue orfes, one
orange fantail, and one red/white goldie. I also have a pleco.

Of course, now I know that such small tanks are not really recommended, and
I will probably have to get a bigger one if I want to have these fish to
maturity. Not that this worries me, as I seem to be bitten by the fish-
keeping bug already.

I have some newbie questions maybe you experienced folks can help me out
with:

1. When you age tapwater to get rid of the chlorine, does this get rid of
chloramine as well? Or should I still treat the water?

2. I haven't invested in any testing kits yet, as I've only now learned
the importance of testing for ammonia, Ph, nitrites, etc. Can someone tell
me what is the basic testing kit I shouldn't be without? I'm in the UK, so
UK available brands would be very helpful.

3. I'm off on holiday in a couple of weeks. Away for a week, back 3 days,
and then away for 2 weeks. My cat sitter knows nothing about fish (yes,
even less than me!). I had planned a large water change the day before
leaving, then another in the 3 days I'm home, but I have read contradictory
advice about feeding. Some places say to leave them unfed for up to 2
weeks, others to measure out daily amounts of food in envelopes, and hide
the rest so the sitter won't be tempted to give them extra for a treat.
There are 2 healthy live plants in the tank. I'm worried about water
quality in such a small tank. Any thoughts, anyone?

TIA

--
Janie
http://www.janie-thomson.co.uk

oh my god. orfes get HUGE. who sold you orfes? they are pond fish!!! all you can
keep in that tank is a betta.
http://users.megapathdsl.net/~solo/p...htm#essentials


Janie Thomson wrote:

Hi all

I'm new to keeping goldfish in an aquarium. A friend bought me a small
(about 4 UK gallons) aquarium for my birthday last month, and I've been on
a very steep learning curve since then. It's a self contained unit with
light and filter, and currently contains 4 X 1" fish - 2 blue orfes, one
orange fantail, and one red/white goldie. I also have a pleco.

Of course, now I know that such small tanks are not really recommended, and
I will probably have to get a bigger one if I want to have these fish to
maturity. Not that this worries me, as I seem to be bitten by the fish-
keeping bug already.

I have some newbie questions maybe you experienced folks can help me out
with:

1. When you age tapwater to get rid of the chlorine, does this get rid of
chloramine as well? Or should I still treat the water?

2. I haven't invested in any testing kits yet, as I've only now learned
the importance of testing for ammonia, Ph, nitrites, etc. Can someone tell
me what is the basic testing kit I shouldn't be without? I'm in the UK, so
UK available brands would be very helpful.

3. I'm off on holiday in a couple of weeks. Away for a week, back 3 days,
and then away for 2 weeks. My cat sitter knows nothing about fish (yes,
even less than me!). I had planned a large water change the day before
leaving, then another in the 3 days I'm home, but I have read contradictory
advice about feeding. Some places say to leave them unfed for up to 2
weeks, others to measure out daily amounts of food in envelopes, and hide
the rest so the sitter won't be tempted to give them extra for a treat.
There are 2 healthy live plants in the tank. I'm worried about water
quality in such a small tank. Any thoughts, anyone?

TIA



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

On Wed, 3 Sep 2003 21:58:30 +0100, Mel wrote:

Hi Janie,
First of all your tank is extremely overstocked. it is generally
recommended
that each goldfish has a minimum of 10 gallons all to itself.

Yes, I'm realising that now. And I used to wonder why my goldies died in a
bowl half that size with no filter! You'll be pleased to hear I will no
longer be using the shop which sold me (well, my friend really but I was
there) the aquarium, told me it would house up to 8 fish, and sold me
orfes. It's a shame as it's really local and I have no transport, but a
little research has revealed a highly recommended shop (In the Practical
Fishkeeping Top 20 in UK) on the other side of the city, so I'll be taking
my business there.

Can I also
ask what kind of pleco you have as a lot of them will end up sucking on
goldfish as they get older?

I'm not sure of the exact species, but I've had one the same previously in
the little bowl I mentioned. It didn't seem to do any damage to the
goldfish, but I will keep an eye out for that now I know it's a
possibility.

As for you questions, I'd buy yourself a water conditioner called
Aquasafe
(yellow bottle) if I were you. It's very good and neutralises any nasties
in
your water as well as having a few other benefits but I can't remember
what
they are and haven't got a bottle handy! lol

I have some Ammo Lock just now, but will look out for that one when it's
time to buy more. I just wanted to check I wasn't treating unecessarily.

As for the water parameter test kit, you absolutely need PH, ammonia,
nitrite and nitrate. I'm in the UK and have one made by Aquarium
Pharmaceuticals which is very good and included ammonia, nitrites, PH,
GH,
KH but it doesn't include nitrates for some funny reason so you need to
buy
that one seperately.

Excellent. This is the kind of advice I was looking for. When I looked
online for tests for all the stuff I'd read about, I just got confused and
didn't know what I really needed, and the cost was mounting and mounting.
I'm on a really tight budget, being on long-term Incapacity, so although I
want to do my best for the little guys I have to be sensible about costs.

Just so as you know, your PH is ok as long as it remains stable, ammonia
should read 0, nitrite 0 and nitrates below over 0 but below 20.

Noted, thanks.

As for the holiday question, everyone has different views on what you
should
do. I'd certainly advise not to buy those horrible white lumps of
holiday
food made from plaster of paris or whatever it is that most pet shops
sell.

No, I've heard very bad things about those, so wasn't considering that one.
The orfes would probably eat it all in one day anyway. They're really
agressive feeders, so I have to crumble the flakes into tiny bits and
scatter them across the tank to make sure the other fish get a proper
share.

I have however used a holiday food made by Tetra and they are little
sticks
which float. I used them a couple of weeks ago when I was away for a week
and the water was fine when i got back. If you are worried about your
water
condition though, perhaps you could do the envelope thing with just
enough
in for one feed and have just one envelope for every couple of days. That
way they'd have something so you wouldn't have to worry about them
starving
(even though they'd probably be completely fine for a week with nothing
but
I know how guilty you'd feel doing that cus I would too!) and you
wouldn't
have to worry about your water quality. Make absolutely clear to the
sitter
though that under no circumstances should she give them more!

I'll hide the rest :-) He's a big sook, and though he claims not to like
the fish, I caught him giving the cat (who has a really delicate tummy)
some posh concoction with cream sauce once, instead of the perfectly good
Tesco dinner I'd left for her. Either I've educated him out of that, or he
hides the evidence better now! I think I'll leave one fish meal for the
middle of the first week I'm away, and see how that goes. I can think
again in the 3 days I'm back before the second leg of my holiday, if
necessary.

Hope this has helped!

It's helped heaps, Mel. Thanks.

Where are you in the UK? I'm in Glasgow.

--
Janie
http://www.janie-thomson.co.uk

Janie,

Until you get a bigger tank, I would do some very regular water
changes. 50% a day. or at least every 2 days.

Hi Janie,
Have a look here to see if you can get a name for your pleco. It's a great
site - http://planetcatfish.com/core/index.htm.
Just be aware that while he's little he probably wont do any harm. it's as
he gets bigger that the trouble might start. The other problem is that they
tend to do most of their damage at night when you can't see them so watch
out for any sort of love bite marks on your fish.
Have a good holiday! Oh and I'm in Devon by the way.
Mel.


"Janie Thomson" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 3 Sep 2003 21:58:30 +0100, Mel wrote:

Hi Janie,
First of all your tank is extremely overstocked. it is generally
recommended
that each goldfish has a minimum of 10 gallons all to itself.

Yes, I'm realising that now. And I used to wonder why my goldies died in
a
bowl half that size with no filter! You'll be pleased to hear I will no
longer be using the shop which sold me (well, my friend really but I was
there) the aquarium, told me it would house up to 8 fish, and sold me
orfes. It's a shame as it's really local and I have no transport, but a
little research has revealed a highly recommended shop (In the Practical
Fishkeeping Top 20 in UK) on the other side of the city, so I'll be taking
my business there.

Can I also
ask what kind of pleco you have as a lot of them will end up sucking on
goldfish as they get older?

I'm not sure of the exact species, but I've had one the same previously in
the little bowl I mentioned. It didn't seem to do any damage to the
goldfish, but I will keep an eye out for that now I know it's a
possibility.

As for you questions, I'd buy yourself a water conditioner called
Aquasafe
(yellow bottle) if I were you. It's very good and neutralises any
nasties
in
your water as well as having a few other benefits but I can't remember
what
they are and haven't got a bottle handy! lol

I have some Ammo Lock just now, but will look out for that one when it's
time to buy more. I just wanted to check I wasn't treating unecessarily.

As for the water parameter test kit, you absolutely need PH, ammonia,
nitrite and nitrate. I'm in the UK and have one made by Aquarium
Pharmaceuticals which is very good and included ammonia, nitrites, PH,
GH,
KH but it doesn't include nitrates for some funny reason so you need to
buy
that one seperately.

Excellent. This is the kind of advice I was looking for. When I looked
online for tests for all the stuff I'd read about, I just got confused and
didn't know what I really needed, and the cost was mounting and mounting.
I'm on a really tight budget, being on long-term Incapacity, so although I
want to do my best for the little guys I have to be sensible about costs.

Just so as you know, your PH is ok as long as it remains stable, ammonia
should read 0, nitrite 0 and nitrates below over 0 but below 20.

Noted, thanks.

As for the holiday question, everyone has different views on what you
should
do. I'd certainly advise not to buy those horrible white lumps of
holiday
food made from plaster of paris or whatever it is that most pet shops
sell.

No, I've heard very bad things about those, so wasn't considering that
one.
The orfes would probably eat it all in one day anyway. They're really
agressive feeders, so I have to crumble the flakes into tiny bits and
scatter them across the tank to make sure the other fish get a proper
share.

I have however used a holiday food made by Tetra and they are little
sticks
which float. I used them a couple of weeks ago when I was away for a
week
and the water was fine when i got back. If you are worried about your
water
condition though, perhaps you could do the envelope thing with just
enough
in for one feed and have just one envelope for every couple of days.
That
way they'd have something so you wouldn't have to worry about them
starving
(even though they'd probably be completely fine for a week with nothing
but
I know how guilty you'd feel doing that cus I would too!) and you
wouldn't
have to worry about your water quality. Make absolutely clear to the
sitter
though that under no circumstances should she give them more!

I'll hide the rest :-) He's a big sook, and though he claims not to like
the fish, I caught him giving the cat (who has a really delicate tummy)
some posh concoction with cream sauce once, instead of the perfectly good
Tesco dinner I'd left for her. Either I've educated him out of that, or
he
hides the evidence better now! I think I'll leave one fish meal for the
middle of the first week I'm away, and see how that goes. I can think
again in the 3 days I'm back before the second leg of my holiday, if
necessary.

Hope this has helped!

It's helped heaps, Mel. Thanks.

Where are you in the UK? I'm in Glasgow.

--
Janie
http://www.janie-thomson.co.uk

On Thu, 4 Sep 2003 22:18:04 +0100, Mel wrote:

Mel

This looks like my guy:

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog...osarc/88_f.htm

He's very dark, with just this shape. The ones in the middle row look
identical.

Janie

Have a look here to see if you can get a name for your pleco. It's a
great
site - http://planetcatfish.com/core/index.htm.