sparkysmum Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 Hi, I need some goldfish advice and I hope someone out there can help. In the summer, (aginst my better judgement!) I let my daughter put a couple of gold fish in our wildlife pond. The fish seemed to be really happy but sadly one died leaving only "pondfish". Well since it was a wildlife pond and not a fish pond I insisted that "pondfish" be put in an indoor tank(21 litres). He seemed reasonably happy (I think) and yesterday we bought 5 white cloud minnows which we were told would go well with "pondfish" Well I don't think he's happy at all. In fact I think he's pining for his pond. He spends all his time swimming up & down the edges of the tank. Hazel & I find this quite upsetting, is pondfish stressed, has the move been too much for him or is he just not happy with the minnows. Any advice appreciated. TIA Allison & Hazel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..lay a little egg for me Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 Hmm, hard to know, but if you can answer the following questions it might give a clue. What kind of filtration system do you have, sparkysmum? did you change the water recently? If so, how much water did you change. When you added the minnows did you tip in a lot of water from their previous aquarium? How long has pondfish been in his new tank? Are the minnows happy? I don't know much about goldfish but we have a fishtank here in which we used to keep mountain minnows, so I do know a bit about indoor fish tanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hilda-and-evadne Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 Hi, I need some goldfish advice and I hope someone out there can help. In the summer, (aginst my better judgement!) I let my daughter put a couple of gold fish in our wildlife pond. The fish seemed to be really happy but sadly one died leaving only "pondfish". Well since it was a wildlife pond and not a fish pond I insisted that "pondfish" be put in an indoor tank(21 litres). He seemed reasonably happy (I think) and yesterday we bought 5 white cloud minnows which we were told would go well with "pondfish" Well I don't think he's happy at all. In fact I think he's pining for his pond. He spends all his time swimming up & down the edges of the tank. Hazel & I find this quite upsetting, is pondfish stressed, has the move been too much for him or is he just not happy with the minnows. Any advice appreciated. TIA Allison & Hazel How big is he? I have a 50 gallon outdoor pond and, when I was researching how many goldfish I could have in it, I read that (a) 50 gallons = 2 fish unless I installed a pond pump, and (b) they would grow to a certain size relative to the size of the pond. I do now have five there, after the original two died, but also the means to aerate the water. I don't know why your goldfish is stressed but it could be that he is finding it difficult to adapt to the environment of the tank (it might be too small for him, if he has grown up in your outside pond), and the arrival of the new fish has increased his stress; or that the new fish have brought an infection with them. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkysmum Posted October 26, 2008 Author Share Posted October 26, 2008 Hi ...lay a little egg for me thank you for replying so fast i think we have a stingray elite filter we only tipped a bit of the water into the tank we put pondfish in the tank on wednesday the minows are very happy i hope this helps you hazel xxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..lay a little egg for me Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 Hi sparkysmum Seeing as pondfish has only been in the tank since wednesday and you have added quite a lot more fish it might be the water quality (though I would have thought that the minnows would be affected). It takes quite a few days for the bacteria that digest the fish waste to get established. Have you tested the water quality? Goldfish are notoriously mucky fish and tend to cause problems in indoor tanks. If I were you, I would take a sample of the water to the fish shop and ask them to test it (or buy a water testing kit). It would be worth doing anyway even though the minnows being fine makes water quality to be less likely. Is the tank planted (real/fake plants)? Pondfish might want some plant cover to hide in. Or...could he be hungry?? Obviously you want to be careful about how much food you add as it can adversely affect water quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkysmum Posted October 26, 2008 Author Share Posted October 26, 2008 Thanks for returning to us Caroline. I will buy a water testing kit as you suggested. Hope pondfish will be happy soon Allison& Hazel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lydia Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 I've transferred several goldfish from our pond into the indoor tank and all have been fine, in fact one (Cornflake) has been inside for 8 years now. Sometimes they take a little time to settle down so if Pondfish has only been in since Wednesday he/she probably just needs time. Ensure the water is kept clean and filtered and he/she'll soon get the hang of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkysmum Posted October 26, 2008 Author Share Posted October 26, 2008 Thanks Lydia Allison & Hazel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
