Hi.
I'm sixteen and reasonably new to goldfish keeping.
I've had a few in the past, but none for quite a few years.
I went to Pets At Home, and bought a pink tank.
I brought it home and put it in a suitable space, following all directions.
I then washed the ornaments, plant, filter, gravel and the tank itself and placed them inside.
It took me a while to fill it up, using jugs of tap water, it is only 17 litres.
It isn't cloudy at all, the filter is working really well, and there are little bubbles everywhere. However, when I lift up the feeding hatch and smell, it smells a bit like chlorine. I've put some Gold's TapSafe in there and a thing called Cycle, is there anything else I can do?
I'm going to buy two Fancy Fish tonight and don't really want to put them in there if it is unsafe.
Any advice would be gratefully received as I'm rather clueless..
Thankyouuu

Hey

Congrats on your new tank.

I don't think 20l is big enough for goldfish, they need big tanks and large filters. You will end up having to clean you filter and change water every few days. also the goldfish will out grow the tank quite soon.
I would buy a heater and add that to the tank and go down the tropical fish route. You can get a fair few tropical fish for that tank, keep them small, get a load of shrimp.

Fish to think about

dwarf corydoras
cherry shrimp
Endlers

Hi you need to leave a new tank running with no fish in for at least 3 weeks,during that time add a little food to help establish filter,also some tryzym bio start,when tank has been running for 3 weeks add i fish per week,or you could end up losing them 2 small goldfish will be fine in your tank,they wont get bigger than the tank

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(formally clare7577)

Sorry cant agree with that statement, fish growing to their size of tank is a myth.

yep- my dad had 4 goldfish in a tank, and had to move them to a much bigger tank as they all grew far to big... from teeny 1.5 inch goldfish bought from a pet shop, to 5 inch great big huge things! Lol


I also was gonna say (like mat said) tropical fish might fit in there better, if you got a heater. get some neon tetras or guppies, i had a tank that size in my flat once and all I had in it were a few guppies, they are very pretty.

x

Thankyou for your oppinions
Very much appreciated.
Well I took my water to be tested, and it's perfectly safe.
Went to a small pet store owned by a family friend, and he sold me two beautiful fancy fish and some glowfish for my big tank of tropicals downstairs.
They are really active, and seem very happy in eachothers company.
Let's hope its okay.
And yeah, I know what you mean about the tank, but the fancy fish I had a few years ago were fine in my old tank which was also 17ltrs, because I emptied half of it out a week and replaced it, and they only got fed every 1-2 days as the water became contaminated. Other than that, they were easy to manage . Also, my mum has a 96ltr tank, my dad has a 35ltr, my little brothers have a 17ltr each and we have a few in the shed, so if I need to move them, I have a lot of options thankfully lol.
x

i got a couple of fancy fantail goldfish and they havent really grown much at all in 3 years

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(formally clare7577)

the only advice i have is to not use cycle or anything like it and let the tank mature naturally, it will take about 4 weeks, the fish will normally get used to the tank water going bad and while they wont feel well, it will pass then after 4 weeks you can pretty much do what you like to it as long as you clean your filters in old tank water. if you continue to use cycle your filter will depend on it and if you forget one week your filter could crash and possibly kill the fish. also will work out cheaper not using it, dont forget that shops(we dont seem to think this way lol) are there to make money so they are going to sell you stuff like that. I dont see alot of point in it myself.

*Heidi*

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Your water tested as 'safe' because no ammonia has been introduced to it. Once you add fish that are producing lots of waste, the ammonia levels will go up and the water will more than likely become toxic.

I have to agree with MattDe, your tank is far too small for even a single goldfish, let alone two


May I ask how long those fish lived for?

A few pieces of advice.

1) The fish growing to the size of their tank theory is a myth. If the fish don't grow much after a few years it is usually due to stunting, which is usually caused by poor water quality.

2) Goldfish need a large tank with a good filtration system, the fancy varieties need at least 40 litres per fish and the common varieties need at least 80 litres or better still a pond. If you get a heater the tank would make a nice home for a small group of Microrasboras and some Amano shrimp.

3) Always cycle your tank without fish, if you use fish to cycle the tank they will be exposed to the high levels of ammonia and nitrite produced during the cycling process. Provide a source of ammonia to kick-start the cycling process by using another source of ammonia such as fish food or bottled household ammonia from a supermarket or chemist. To monitor the cycle you will need a test kit (available from an aquatic store), only add the fish to the tank once the ammonia and nitrite both read 0ppm on the test kit.