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Greetings All,

So here is the setup I have for my fancy gold fish tank. I am new to keeping coldwater fish so any help would be welcomed.

To start I have two Ryukin Goldfish. They are about an inch and a half long. And they are orange and white. Cute little buggers!

My substrate consists of assorted gravel and Seachem Flourite. I am using a Penguin Bio Wheel 200 filter with two filter pads. Since I didnt want to put a ton of money into lighting I used two lights that consist of a 20w Life Glow and 20w Aqua Glow bulb.

I decided to buy some goldfish friendly plants for the tank...so far the goldfish have not eaten them...yet.
- Anubias Barteri var. coffeefolia
- Vallisneria Tortifolia "Corkscrew Val"
- Sagittaria Platyphylla "Sag Chilensis"
- Crinum Thaianum "Onion Plant"
- Anubias Frazeri
- Anachris...this happens to be the one plant they pick on

I keep the lights on from 11-9. I give the tank a half a cap full of Seachem Flourish (I have Excel but I dont use it cause i hear it melts Anachris). Anywho that is what I have. Any goldfish experts are free to give me lots of tips for raising these little fishies right!

Your tank sounds fine for now, but in time your goldies will get huge (mine has - one orange fantail in a 29 gallon). I have found that my goldfish pigs out on thinly sliced peices of orange. The vitamin C will really bring out their color. Eventually I am going to order a stock pond from Tractor supply for my goldie and set it up either in the garage or outside (we are having a terrible drought here, however). Keep up with the water changes (vacuum out the fish poo) and make sure there is plenty of filtration. I put a filter for a 60 gallon on my 29 and it seems to work really well.

You'll be alright with that sized tank for now, but as twotanks mentioned they will get larger and they will out grow that tank. That's a good thing, and will be fun seeing them get larger.

It'll be very very important to keep up water changes every week, even if the water doesn't seem dirty and you put extra filtration on it. Fish need the regular water changes to let them grow larger, and we need them to grow to keep them from getting stunted . You should be ok for a year or so in that tank.

Not sure on those plants, my goldfish didn't go after java fern, cant remember if I had other plants with him while he was still in the tank. I got a stock tank that two mentioned and he was so much happier in that. If you have a home depot or other hardware store nearby you can usually get thin plexiglas that works as a cover, just use some stiffer plastic to support it and that keeps them from jumping out or too much water from escaping.

Edit: Totally forgot about peas. Two mentioned oranges, goldfish also love peas. Not only does it help keep them from getting constipated but will also give them their veggie fix easily and tastily making them less likely to attack the plants. Just take a few frozen peas, let them thaw a bit till you can roll them around and pop them out of their skins. Then drop the two halves in the tank. Your fish should go after them quite quickly, especially if you offer them as the first course. Once they recognize the green bits as food they should fall in love with them and you can feed them that or as a side to their regular menu every few days.

^_^

Thank you for the wonderful feeding tips. I have never heard of feeding them oranges. Do I have to do anything special to them? How does the citric acid do in a fish tank?

I will try the peas tonight.

I do a weekly water change in my tank. It also helps my other outside plants when I use my tank water.

I never thought of the acids, I think I've only given my goldfish orange once. It was a small piece so I doubt it changed the water chemistry that much. I don't remember if I included peel and just took it out later or only gave the innards.
I think I had just cut a triangle and floated it for it to nibble at then removed the peel, but it's been a long time.

Howd the peas go?

^_^

I just slice the orange in thin slices about a fourth inch thick leaving the peel on (it will float on the surface). I give it as a treat just every once in a while, but goldies love them. Your fish will eat the center out and leave the outside for you to disgard later. I have not tried peas, but think I will....