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Well. Hm. . . I do need a bit of help. I got 3 of them. The next day one of them was looking weak and died that night. I assumed that it was because the store had just gotten them in and that the one died from the stress of being shipped in and then being moved again so soon (OH! the tank is a fully cycled 60 gallon. Had a 5.5" oscar in it before, so I'm assuming 3 1" goldfish wouldn't cause an overnight ammonia spike ) The nitrates were at a bit less than 5 by not only my test kit but also the store I got them at's(mine is liquid, not expired, theirs is a strip kit) I got a 3rd from them and thought that since she looked okay there that she'd be okay. Nope. Got her home, acclimated her, put her in and she seemed okay. Went out to check on them a few hours later and she was stuck to my filter(NONE of my other fish have gotten attached to it before, not even guppy fry.) I pulled her off of it and she couldn't right herself. . . Not good. She died sometime that night. I went back and THIS time the store had ich all through the goldfish tanks(I was going to wait for the next shipment anyway, now I really am.) So I went home and now it looks like the littler of my 2 remaining guys isn't great. The bigger of them is active, but the smaller one isn't really. The bigger of them will come dashing out for food, but the smaller one seems to be lagging behind a bit at going for it a lot of the time. I have a small cichlid-ish fish that I got out of the feeder bins at the local petco who was chasing them a bit(the goldies, but not the fish that were there when the oscar was? Guppies and barbs?) so I put him with my crawdad for now(Cray's bigger at the moment, and since the closest ID I've found on the little one is a bluegill I'm assuming he'll be tough enough for Cray to not just snack down on) until I can find a bigger tank for him(likely a tub of some sort instead of a tank, oi! Not that I've got the ROOM for anything else XD) and I'm hoping it was just because she was intimidated? I just tossed a bit of food in and she went for it, but prior to that she was at the top in the shadows and breathing a bit hard. The other one was out moving around. If she isn't acting better by tomorrow or so I'll put something up about how to figure out what's going on with her, but how can I make sure I am getting a healthy fish when they get a new shipment in and I get a 3rd AGAIN?

Also, I made a big batch of food for them to eat. All healthy stuff(and since I had a lot of things laying around for the old oscar anyway. . . ) I used about 3-4 kale leaves(was also going to do spinach since I had some frozen, but it was frostbitten and a funky colour, so I tossed it instead, will be using spinach the next time I make food for them though!) a couple(few?) cups of peas, about half of a zucchini, about half of a "normal" sized head of broccoli, a carrot, about half of a red pepper, 4 big table shrimp, about an ounce of catfish, some freeze dried daphnia(supposed to have the same effect as the peas, and since fancies have the reputation of getting swim bladder issues, I figure it can't do any harm) about 4 ounces each of crickets, mealworms and bloodworms, a few ounces of hikari bio-gold cichlid pellets(hey, nearly identical to the goldfish ones, I had them on hand already and people seem to think hikari is great fish food at most of the forums I'm on *shrugs*)I tossed in about 5 algae wafers(since I use them for my cories in my planted tank, and didn't want to use more than that) plus some food that I found at petsmart. Super soft spirulina stuff. Mixed it in a blender until it was all a smooth paste, put some gelatine in it and have it in a cookie sheet in the freezer because I didn't use enough gelatine and haven't had the time to just let it barely get soft so I can cut it into cubes to freeze apart. On the plus side the goldfish like it and Cray thinks it is the best thing in the world.

I'm also just making it a plan to be getting plants from the LFS in the area that sell them to toss in as snack food. From what I've read, the biggest hits are anacharis(may just be because they're babies, but they haven't touched the stuff I put in yet) cabomba, water sprite and riccia. Also duckweed, but I'm not going to put that stuff in my tank. Is there anything else that's cheap and easy to find that is usually a hit with them? I want to give them as much variety as possible with their food. I may try to put some corkscrew vals in there once I get the light upgraded so they can have the leaves of those if they want them, and so the vals have a chance to establish themselves a bit while the goldfish are too small to pick all of the leaves off of them. May also try a lily bulb or two if I can find any good bulbs at walmart, or maybe if I feel REALLY ambitious move the tiles on the bottom of the tank so I can plant a sword in the corner of it. Any other ideas?

[url=http://dragcave.ath.cx/viewdragon/bNFR][/url]

hornwort, java moss, some decorations like drift wood, aeration (very important for cold water fish like goldies!!!) and maybe some crypts or something (not usaually very fast growing though)...








GOOD LUCK!
-Brandon

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Hm, with the aeration. How can you tell if they need more? Is it just when they start to gasp for air? Right now all I've got for aeration is my spraybar near the surface so it makes about a 1" tall ripple as the water goes back into the tank. I'm supposed to be getting a small air pump in the mail soon, though, do you think that even a small one would be good to add to the other side of the tank if I can find a place where it won't be too hard to keep in place?

[url=http://dragcave.ath.cx/viewdragon/bNFR][/url]

You can buy 02 test kits, and actually check the levels.

Goldfish will not just gasp for air. they might show other symptoms, but some fo these include disease contraction. Goldfish produce alot of waste and therefore need higher aeration to keep O2 levels up... also cold water has higher O2 concentrations and this is why the warmer the water the more fish are gasping for air at the top of the tank... but with goldies I would just reccomned keeping the temperature fairly low (arround 65 to 72), this will allow the water to retain more O2 as well as help out your fishies...

the small air pump will help, but will not completly solve your issues as the goldies grow more aeration will be needed. also try adding aquarium salts to help them with passing their stool as they are known to bloat and etc... epsom salt is an elixer for this if it comes the need...

GOOD LUCK

-Brandon

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Can plants withstand the epsom salts? I'm going to move my moss balls out of the tank since they seem to be picking at them, but was going to leave the anubias, java ferns and bolbitis in there until the fish decide to start eating atthem(and probably end up selling most of them when they do) And I am going to be giving them live aquatic plants to eat on when they get bigger also.

Also, I ended up pointing my spraybar upwards so the water's surface ripples a good bit so that'll hopefully help too. I'll grab another air pump as they get bigger to add some more air in the mix.

[url=http://dragcave.ath.cx/viewdragon/bNFR][/url]

good deal.. yes the moss balls would be wise to move! they sure are a bit pricey (if true marimo)... and also keep your other plants ! get another tank (about 20g) and start a little community...

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

I've got a community! It's a 29 with. . . 9 neon tetras, 6 ember tetras, a few ottocinclus(they hide too much for an accurate count unless I take the entire thing down. Which I'm not going to do to count a few algae eaters ) and about 7 cories. But the plants really don't have much of a place in that aquascape. And I don't have room/money for another tank since I need to put about $300 into the 29(co2. wonderful) and am trying to upgrade the size of my reef tank since it looks like garbage in the 10(and for some reason I can't keep fish alive in it anymore, so I figure making it bigger will at least make sure if it is ME, the Supplier or the tank itself. My corals are always okay?) I've got the feeling that I'm going to have to sell my soul to get that thing up though, so no more tanks that have room. Unless the crawdads would be better plant companions

[url=http://dragcave.ath.cx/viewdragon/bNFR][/url]

crawdads would be fine with the moss balls, but not much else... if you do notice they harm them take them out... I am not usre if they are, but if they are true marimo and not a moss tied onto or into a ball, then they shoudl do fine in a bowl or bottle on a desk or as a decoration in the house. Or would be great in a betta and shrimp bowl/nano tank. you honestly dont need CO2 in a 29g unless it is heavily planted and even so there are bettter alternatives than to spend 300$ doing it. 2.2 watts/gallon isnt a big deal for CO2, and you should be fine with out it! and iff not try a DIY CO2 first, as it may work more efficiently and cheaper! and if not, you arent as out of pocket as if you tried compressed CO2 and it didnt work correctly.

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"