Goldfish are hard work!

I always thought that fish made easy pets. In fact, I’ve often joked that if ever Little Man wants a puppy, I’ll talk him into getting a goldfish instead because at least that way there’s no work involved for me. Or so I thought.

Back in August, we got Freddie, our first pet goldfish. We put Freddie in a little “My First Aquarium”, a 13 litre tank that we thought would be more than enough for a little old goldfish. Turns out we didn’t have a clue what we were doing. And no one in the pet store explained to us that 13 litres isn’t really enough for a goldfish.

Within a couple of weeks, I found myself doing daily partial water changes in an effort to clear the cloudy green murk that was building up, and to try to help our poor fish who was clearly unhappy. When the tips of his fins starting to turn black, I turned to the internet, and that’s when I began to realise that there’s a lot more to this goldfish keeping than meets the eye.

Did you know that the lifespan of a pet goldfish is generally about 15 years? I certainly didn’t. I don’t think I know anyone whose goldfish has lived 15 years. I always assumed that they lived 2-3 years at most.

Did you know that it’s harder to get the water balance right and keep your fish alive in smaller tanks? It makes sense I guess. After all, a smaller tank means less water, which means that nasty chemical imbalances can occur more easily. But when we were shopping for our first fish tank, I chose a small tank thinking it would make a good “beginner’s tank.”

Did you know that ideally you should “cycle” your tank before you ever put a fish in it? Cycling your tank means establishing a base of good bacteria in your tank, so that the toxins in fish waste are eliminated properly in the water. If you don’t cycle your tank before adding fish, or if you add a greater number of fish than the bacteria levels in the tank can cope with, you can cause an excess of ammonia to build up in the tank, which can cause problems. Now, the funny thing is, I knew this was the case for tropical tanks, but for some reason, I assumed it wasn’t an issue for goldfish. But a common symptom of high ammonia levels is when your goldfish develops blackened fin tips from ammonia burns. Poor Freddie. As far as I can tell, that’s the most likely cause for his discoloured fins.

Once I realised what we had done to our poor fish, I felt so guilty, and resolved to learn more so that I could take better care of him. Through trial and error, I learned that a 10% water change mid-week, or twice during the week, and a 50-75% water change at the weekend were the only way to keep the water quality reasonably okay in Freddie’s tiny tank.

Ever since I learned a bit more about goldfish needs, the tiny little 13 litre tank started to look very cruel to me. The problem is our own accommodation is pretty small, and so we don’t have anywhere to put a fabulous big aquarium. But we found a little 26 litre tank for sale in our local pet store. Because it’s so small, it fits nicely in our sitting room. It’s still not the large tank that I would like to put Freddie in, but it’s an improvement on “My First Aquarium.” So this weekend, we got him all set up in his new home, making sure to keep as much of his existing water as possible to try to minimise any chemical imbalance issues in the new tank.

Happy tank-warming, Freddie!

Hopefully he’ll be a little more comfortable there, and in a few years time, if we manage to work our way up to a bigger abode, Freddie will get an accommodation upgrade too!