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fideldyfee | 13:54 Thu 04th Sep 2008 | Animals & Nature
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How often do you need to feed goldfish and is it ok to put 2 new ones in a tank with others that have been there for a while? How often do you have to clean the bowl/ change the water? Thanks
  
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You should feed your fish with a generous pinch of food per fish once every twenty-four hours.

Water should be changed once is gets cloudy - this is a combination of uneasten food which has decayed, and fecal matter - so you need to rinse the gravel very throughly when you put new water in.

i would be wary of introducing new fish - even goldfish can be territorial, and I have seen them harrass a new fish to death, so perhaps leave that.
you also need to keep a little of the old water they're already in as well as changing to clean water - it contains bacteria that should be in the water.
I've got 4 goldfihs & I feed them one oinch in the morning & one pinch at tea time.
i change the water & completely clean the gravel etc... 0nce a week and give the tank what I call a 3/4 change mid week. I clean the filter twice a week
Ok...feed your fish once or twice a day...sparingly and only as much as the fish will eat in a couple of minutes. Missing the odd day isn't a problem and will benifit the fish.

DO NOT CHANGE THE WATER WHEN IT GETS CLOUDY.....fish tank water should never be allowed to get cloudy. There should NEVER be any uneaten food to make the water cloudy.

As goldfish are messy feeders, you should change around 25% of the tank water every week. Use a gravel cleaner or just a hose to syphon up any detritus on the gravel....you should never have to take it all out unless you're moving the tank.

GOLDFISH ARE NOT TERRATORIAL....they are carp...cyprinids and are gregarious, shoaling fish. They are intelligent and curious but certainly not terratorial.
Christ almighty...there are some people on this board who give some pretty bad advice when it comes to keeping animals....fish in particular. I thought wildwood had the licence on the crap advice but Andy-Hughes has come a pretty close second
Sorry!
Hammerman - my response is based on the fish I have kept.

My cirrent incumbent is ten years old, and he seem sperfectly happy with the routine I described.

A previous fish I had was alone for some time - when I introdueced a new fish, he harassed it until it died, chasing it around the bowl, giving it no peace at all.

So although I bow to your superior knowledge, I answered as i always do on any subject - on my personal experience, or facts which I believe to be true.

If I have advised incorrectly, than I stand corrected.

OK?
Fair enough Andy....but changing the water when it's cloudy (cloudy because of too much uneaten food) is just a disaster witing to happen. Too much much food will not only cloud the water and make it smell but will deplete the water of oxygen too.

As for the "i bow to your superior knowledge" comment...please don't patronise me pal. I also base my answers on experience.....30 years with tropical fish, 20 years with reef aquaria and god knows how long keeping koi and ponds.
You made a fair response Andy, and please don't feel you have to apologise to voice your response. Everyone here who has fish knows that hammerhead is a complete lunatic and makes a hobby of viciously attacking anyone who has the audacity to have a different opinion from his, as has been shown here again.
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Thanks guys for your answers. I aquired the wee blighters last night, i've got them in a large glass bowl, without a filter. They have been mostly just 'stitting down' beside each other near the bottom. I have heard that they prefer water with a filter as it has a bit of a current to swim against? So not sure whether to try and get a filter? The other idea was to put them in my friends tank, wasnt sure if the other fish might terrorise them but theres two of them so maybe they can stick up for themselves?!
Hammerman - I was not being patronising - relax.
Hi Fidelyfee...a filter will help your fish a lot...you can buy small electric internal filters for about �10 or even less.

Goldfish wont mind a small amount of current...Carp (goldfish) will happily live in ponds with no movement at all as long as water quality is maintained.

WILDWOOD.....this is not about opinions, it's about giving LIVE animals the best care that you can. You have continually given "advice" which is dangerously misleading and could easily result in the death of animals. If you gave the same crap advice about a pet dog or horse, you would've been lynched by now, but because it's only a fish, it seems ok to do so.

The advice Andy gave above about cleaning the water when it has gone cloudy (due to all the uneaten food) is appalling.....go and recommend that on any of the fishkeeping forums and you will be banned.

Not an opinion....just A FACT
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Fish keeping forums? Wow I had no idea it was such a commonly discussed subject. I might check on one of those. Thanks for your advice. I will see how they get on, and how I get on cleaning them out, i struggle to look after myself sometimes let alone two other living creatures! Now i just need to name them!
Probably one of the best and kindest to newbies

http://www.uk-aquarist.com/index.php?&act=idx

I guess you don't post there then hammer?
Fraid i do....i try to help newbies out by giving them sensible advice that will hopefully keep their pets alive....any problems with that ?
None - thanks for asking.

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