newbie queries...

"Donald K" wrote in message
...
is fishkeeping addictive? I'm getting a bit worried!

Yes. Welcome to the insanity.

-Donald

And Donald is obviously the most insane of us all!
--
**So long, and thanks for all the fish!**

Happy'Cam'per wrote:

"Donald K" wrote in message
...
is fishkeeping addictive? I'm getting a bit worried!

Yes. Welcome to the insanity.

And Donald is obviously the most insane of us all!

Hey, I resemble that remark!

No, I'm not addicted.

It's just that my little girl pointed out that I had some tank space and
then she pointed out a cute little clown pl3co all alone in the LFS
tank.

Well, we didn't have a clown pl3co yet and there was room in the tank...

He just sorta followed me home. And is in QT right now. (Looking much
happier than he did at the LFS).

"Opps, it happened again..."

-D
--
Axiom #2:
"Ability to type on a computer terminal is no guarantee of sanity,
intelligence, or common sense."

In message , Donald K
writes
sophie wrote:


Hi,

Firstly, is there a faq? - I hope I'm not asking questions that get
asked all the time.

http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin.html
http://puregold.aquaria.net/pg/care/...htm#essentials

what are the goldfish doing when they suck up a piece of gravel and
then spit it out?

Looking for food.

is it usual for goldfish behaviour to change when you add another fish
to the mix?

Yes

is fishkeeping addictive? I'm getting a bit worried!

Yes. Welcome to the insanity.

thank you!
I'm starting to wonder where it will all lead. also how much of the
house I could sensibly devote to aquaria once I've had a little more
practice!

thanks for the answers,


--
sophie

sophie wrote:

is fishkeeping addictive? I'm getting a bit worried!

Yes. Welcome to the insanity.

thank you!
I'm starting to wonder where it will all lead. also how much of the
house I could sensibly devote to aquaria once I've had a little more
practice!


Think "fish room". ;-)

Plus a pond, of course.

-D
--
"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy
enough people to make it worth the effort." -Herm Albright

"Donald K" wrote in message
...
Think "fish room". ;-)

Plus a pond, of course.


LOL, I started my pond this weekend, sheesh what a mission, big blisters on
my hands .....Good fun though, always space for one more hey Donald?
--
**So long, and thanks for all the fish!**

Sophie

A couple of things, and I hope you aren't too shocked about these:


1) You are massively overstocked. Your tank is roughly 14 gallons.
Goldfish require approx 10 gallons each. If you do have a comet, he can get very
long!

2) You should be testing the water quality with an ammonia, nitrite and
nitrate tester (and a ph tester too) - probably why your minnow died.
This will ultimately show you if your water changes are enough (I suspect not)


3) I'd suggest getting a gravel vac and vacumming the gravel to keep it clean
rather than removing the fish.

4) Snails do not keep tanks clean. Yes they will eat decaying food/plant (which
is a good thing)
but will excrete ammonia - additional load on tank.

5) Goldfish sucking up gravel are removing small microscopic food from it.

In message , Geezer From The Freezer
writes
Sophie

A couple of things, and I hope you aren't too shocked about these:


1) You are massively overstocked.

this certainly seems to be the consensus!
I bought a gravel vac today, I was surprised at how simple, effective
and cheap it was. I'll be getting a bigger tank as soon as possible. In
my defence all I can say is that I was ill-advised at the shop and the
fish are small. The longest is a bit under two inches (the comet. at
least I think it must be a comet, (s)he's standard goldfish shape but
with very long fins. pretty.)

I did honestly believe the surface area to inch of fish equation - the
other one I read gave an inch of fish per gallon of water - good job I
didn't go with that one!

I do realise snails aren't necessarily a good thing, but I'd understood
the trumpet snails which live under the gravel are more useful than
harmful in small numbers.

So far I seem to have got things comprehensively wrong. gah. (and I
don't think the ryukin is a ryukin, having looked them up I think he's a
veiltail (aka man-yu, apparently).

My consolation at the moment is that the original fish look to be
healthy, as well as shinier and a little bigger (under the circs,
possibly not a good thing) than when I first got them.

I'm very grateful for all the help I've got here - it's been fantastic.
--
sophie
on a learning curve.