# NEED ADVICE - comet goldfish babysitting



## underdebate (Jan 26, 2012)

Hi all. I was tempted to search out another forum to ask about this but you guys have always been so wonderfully helpful, so I figured I'd pick your brains first. 

Over the summer I'm going to be caring for four comet goldfish who are in less-than-ideal living conditions. They're pets of a teacher at my school, who was given them by another teacher when he retired; their current owner can't take care of them over the summer and asked me if I'd help out, since she knows I have experience with fishkeeping. (We're a small school.)

The fish are (I think) about three years old (they're all about the length of my hand), and there are four of them being kept in a 10-gallon (ish?) tank. This is the biggest problem-- there's nothing I can do to change the tank size, so I need to know what I can do to make them as comfortable as I can during their two-month stay with me. Their tank also comes with an acceptable heater, filter and thermometer, and I believe it is cycled.

As far as I can tell, the fish are all in very good health. However, it's been awhile since I've cared for goldfish, and it would be great if I could get a general overview of how I should be taking care of them. Some questions:
- what temperature should their water be kept at?
- how much food should they be fed per day, keeping in mind that there are four of them? I believe the food I'll be getting with them is flakes-- are there any other foods I could introduce into their diet?
- assuming the tank IS cycled as I think it is, how often and what percentage of their water should I be changing per week? (Again, keeping in mind that there are four of them and the tank is overstocked.)
- I use Prime water conditioner for my betta tanks-- will this work for the goldfish as well?

Any other tips you can think of would be greatly appreciated. Ideally I'd just like to keep these fish healthy and comfortable over the summer. (When they're returned to school in the fall they'll have a more attentive caregiver and will be kept in the Special Ed room, which I'm pretty happy about.)


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

Ouch! Four comets in a 10 gal tank? Those guys should really be in a pond, but their survival is a testament to how hardy they are. Since there is nothing you can do about the tank size, water changes will be the next best thing. If you want a goldfish forum, I'm a member of an excellent forum. 

You won't need the heater. These guys can survive winters outside. The water will be warm enough for them at room temp. Just make sure you keep them in a room with a stable temp. A basement would be good. The insulation of the dirt keeps them pretty stable year-round. 

The flakes are not really that good for them. They have less nutrition than pellets. If you can find New Life Spectrum pellets (any formula) it will be good for them. Feed them once daily. You can feed them treats of green veggies like spinach and kale if you really want. A neat trick you could try with them is teaching them to hand-feed. It doesn't really serve much purpose except it is really fun ^-^

Cycling: this is a tough question. That tank might just have too much ammonia to cycle. If you have a liquid test kit, test all of the parameters. A friend of mine kept a single comet in a 10 gal and had to change 50% of the water daily to keep the ammonia down; the tank would have been impossible to cycle like that. But we really won't know anything until we get test results. In the meantime, do small daily water changes. A sudden change even for the good will stress these guys out. About 10% until we know should be good. Quick question: what brand of filter is it? Could you get/build a sponge filter for the tank? 

Prime will be best as it also detoxifies ammonia (which I'm sure there is a lot of in this tank). It's concentrated which is good because you'll be using a lot of it. If you can get any live plants, that would be great. Hornwort (if your water is hard) will be great. 

Feel free to ask any more questions as they arise. Also, we'd love to see pictures ^-^ ​


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## Wolfie305 (Jan 31, 2012)

Koimaiden is the best goldfish person ever, so listen to her LOL. 

Poor comets...such a small tank :<


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## Nasha66 (May 30, 2012)

Don't change the temprature, they are cold water fish.


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## underdebate (Jan 26, 2012)

Not to revive a dead thread or anything, but the goldies are officially home as of this afternoon.  The tank is actually closer to ~17 gallons, give or take, and each fish is about the size of my hand (minus tail-- GOSH their tails are long), with the exception of one boy who's a little smaller. Transporting a 17-ish gallon tank with four fish, a stand and all its equipment out of a school and driving for 15 minutes with it is an EXPERIENCE, guys.









On the way home, rather annoyed that I've put the four of them in a bucket.

Anyway, the five of us got ourselves home; I wrestled with the filter for awhile, did some tank-cleaning, set up some new plants and finally let the boys explore their (new, clean, well-maintained!) home.

All four are in wonderfully good health and couldn't be perkier. They're curious, nosey and have the attention span of, well, goldfish. (One of them dug up an entire plant earlier.) I'm loving their personalities already and it'll suck majorly when I have to bring them back in September.


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

They look in remarkably good condition for being in a 17 gal tank for two years. No bent spines or muscle degeneration. Just remember to keep the water changes up. That's the best thing you can do for those little (well not really) guys. If you have any live plants like anarcharis or hornwort those would be great to throw in there.


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

OOoh, Anacharis works wonders for an overstocked goldfish tank. They are like ammonia sucking up magnets. And lots of gravel siponing


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## MaisyDawgThirteen (Dec 7, 2011)

Isn't hornwort good for sucking up ammonia, (and taking up tank space )?

They are beautiful!


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## Fabian (Dec 16, 2011)

I've kept my goldfish in a 50 gallon once with hornworts,they ate them. -.-


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

Some goldfish do gain a taste for any aquarium plants, but I've found that mine will leave anything with needle-like leaves alone. Hornwort and anarcharis are ammonia-sucking machines; they can also be grown floating which is great because goldfish like to uproot things. I have hornwort in my tank, and it has grown like 5 inches in a week.


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## underdebate (Jan 26, 2012)

Thank you for the plant tips! I've never, ever tried live plants in a tank before, but I've always wanted to and I feel like this would be a great opportunity. (Besides which, I'd really like to be able to bring these fish back in September in a really healthy, sustainable environment-- anything that'll make it easier on them when they're back in the care of the school. I'm graduating this year so I won't actually be IN there, but I'm going to university very close by and my younger sister is still at the school, so I can definitely check up on them.)

How healthy they are has really impressed me, honestly. From what I can tell, their previous owner knew a thing or two about fish; he kept several tanks in his classroom before he retired, mostly with schooling species, and as far as I know this was the smallest tank of the lot. (The other tanks were given out to teachers-- I know one of my history teachers has several catfish on his hands now.) Despite the tank size, as far as I can tell they were raised in a very good environment with regular water changes and a varied diet.

My two cats are absolutely loving the new shinies I've brought home. The tank is right next to our piano, so when it's closed they'll jump up, lay down and watch the goldies swimming. This was Josh half an hour ago:


























You can also see our younger tortoiseshell, Tish, on the floor in that last one (they're both rescues; she's a year younger). Josh has since fallen asleep on the piano. It's really cute.


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## djembekah (Feb 13, 2012)

heehee how cute!


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## AltheaGlyndwr (May 12, 2012)

Wow those goldfish are pretty! Someday when I have a house I want to have a koi pond~~~


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

Your cats are adorable watching the fish. Mine just get bored with them. 

While it's a great idea to have live plants with all fish, goldfish might not be the best fish to try them with. If you can get plants to work with goldfish, it's great, but some goldfish are monsters. They'll eat any plants, and the ones they don't eat they will just tear apart. So don't get discouraged if they don't work. Bettas will gladly accept plants. I've never heard of a vegetarian betta. :lol:

To be honest, while they look in good condition for being in a 20 gal tank for two years, even with regular water changes this is not a good environment for them. Regular water changes are no substitute for enough swimming room. A two year old comet goldfish should be pushing 12 inches. It's certainly not an environment I would recommend to anyone for these fish. But I do understand it's all you have to work with; I'm just writing this for the benefit of anyone else reading this and thinking it's a good idea.


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

I haven't seen them touch the anacharis but they ate all the duckweed. 
would they eat hornwort? Its kinda needle-ly and not so much leafy. I think the old, no longer, pinned plant guide said both of them are great at sucking up ammonia

Just out of curosity I put 4 comets and a 10G into aqua advisor and this was the result (no i did not change the color or font):
Warning: You NEED to add more aquarium filtration capacity!!!

Your aquarium filtration capacity for above selected species is *15%*.
Your tank is too small - it will require massive amount of frequent water changes each week!

*Your aquarium stocking level is 433%*.
*Your tank is seriously overstocked. Unless this setup is temporary, you should consider a larger tank*

It says pretty much the same thing about my sisters goldfish but the stocking level is like 250 for her. I gravel siponed 1/3 of her water tonight and it was gross.


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

Mine kinda nibble the anarcharis but haven't touched the hornwort which is great because thanks to some fertilizer it's growing like a weed and my nitrates are finally down below 20 ppm. They devoured the duckweed, tho. I completely gave up on the duckweed. I'll plop some in there when it overgrows the other tanks as a snack. Hornwort is by far my favorite goldfish plant.

Anubias and java fern are two plants that I often hear do well with goldfish because they can't really be uprooted and have tough leaves. Can't really speak from experience with those plants, tho. 

Ya, Tiki. The tank is pretty grossly overstocked, but there isn't much that can be done about it because I'm pretty sure the teacher doesn't want a 100 gal tank in the classroom (although that would be pretty awesome). Any time I clean my goldfish tank or filters I'm always amazed at just how much crap (litterally sometimes) in there. I rinse off my sponges in pitchers filled with old tank water, and the water gets sooo dirty it looks like tea. I offered some to my mom as a joke. And she almost took me up on the offer! :lol: Until she looked closer.


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

> The tank is pretty grossly overstocked, but there isn't much that can be done about it because I'm pretty sure the teacher doesn't want a 100 gal tank in the classroom


Yeah, I know. I was just curious as to what aqua advisor would say since I was fiddling around with it anyways. *wants 100 gallon tank of her own* Oh the possibilities....
Are commets the ones that are sold as feeders? 

I wonder if one could have a natural pool like this with fish? From what I understand - they do not have any pool chemicals in them and the plants do the filtering. I bet the goldies would LOVE that. I would love one of these pools:



























http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/natural-swimming-pools-460908


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

Comets are technically a little different than what is sold as feeder fish. Comets are usually a little thinner and have longer tails. Shubunkins are just comets with a calico color. I usually lump all of these varieties together under the category "single-tailed goldfish" because the care for all of them is basically the same. 

I would love to have a 100 gal tank, too. I think a lot of us fish-geeks would. But to most people, that's just a bit tooo big. Plus a tank that big would be a bit of a distraction at school. I'm sure the kids wouldn't mind it tho! ;-)

I've never heard of those natural pools, but the idea sounds awesome. I did a little bit more digging into the idea and found out you can keep fish in them. If I ever got stupid rich, I would want one of these with a few goldfish in my backyard, too. Along with a 50,000 gal koi pond. ^-^


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

A lot of those pools look like they are ponds. I wonder how they keep the algae down and keep it from getting all slimy, unless they have like a massive filter or something somewhere


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## underdebate (Jan 26, 2012)

Oh my god, those pools look amazing. I have a whole new motivation for wanting to get rich.

Out of curiosity, and because I feel like I know comparatively little about goldies compared to bettas, what's the minimum tank size for a single comet, or a shubunkin? (All I really know is that four in a 15ish-gallon is grossly too small, but I'm pretty sure anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of fish could've figured that out.) Are there other breeds of goldies that have smaller space requirements?

ETA: It just occurred to me that I'm pretty sure one of these boys is a shubunkin, and not a comet-- his body is shaped a little differently and his tail is shorter.


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

According to Aqua advisor:

one comet in a 37 gallon (i have never seen them sell a 37G, but anyways) with an aquenon 30 filter would be:

You have plenty of aquarium filtration capacity.

Your aquarium filtration capacity for above selected species is *143%*.
Recommended water change schedule: *18%* per week.
*Your aquarium stocking level is 79%*

and a 20G with one would be:

You have plenty of aquarium filtration capacity.

Your aquarium filtration capacity for above selected species is *143%*.
Recommended water change schedule: *32%* per week.
*Your aquarium stocking level is 79%*. [Generate Image]

However with all 4 of them - with a 75 gallon tank:

Warning: You NEED to add more aquarium filtration capacity!!!

Your aquarium filtration capacity for above selected species is *47%*.
Recommended water change schedule: *33%* per week.
*Your aquarium stocking level is 107%

*If I could do a 75G, i wouldnt pick goldfish. I would want more then 4 fish in my tank.


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

underdebate said:


> ETA: It just occurred to me that I'm pretty sure one of these boys is a shubunkin, and not a comet-- his body is shaped a little differently and his tail is shorter.


Actually I think he's just a common. Shubunkins have tails that are just as long as comets, and shubunkins are also calico colored. But honestly, it's really hard to tell with pet store goldfish. I have one that I'm reasonably sure it a ryukin, but the other I'm just calling a fantail. Just for kicks and giggles here is a page with goldfish breeds: Exotic Goldfish - Care and Feeding 

As I hear most often recommended, the minimum tank size for a single-tail goldfish is 75 gallons with an additional 20 gallons for each other single-tailed goldfish. This is mostly because comet goldfish are active swimmers.


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

Goldfish are social animals so while you can have one he will do much better with the company of another goldfish, I would say maybe a 75, I would never keep goldfish in much less. Remember that goldfish are pondfish so they need a big aquarium.


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