school goldfish - Help please!

[Jules001]

my daughter has come home from school tonight and announced that we will be keeping the 3 class goldfish at our house over the christmas holidays. She is bringing them home from school tomorrow and cannot obviously bring their tank! We have got an aquarium which is a tropical tank - so assuming the coldwater fish can't go in there, we have got a smallish tank which previously housed pet gerbils. We are planning to fill this up tonight to leave the tapwater to stand etc, but my main concern is that this tank needs to be washed as it has been stored, what can I use to wash it that will not affect the fish in any way and are there any other things I need to think about. Mr Jules, the resident fish expert, is away on business until tomorrow which will be too late to prepare.

[maggie01]

I would just give it a wash in fairly hot water (no soap) and dry it with kitchen roll. Use it as you would for tropical fish only no heater and just a pinch of food for each fish twice a day. Someone else is bound to give you more advice but I am sure they will be ok. If you can put some aquarium gravel in the bottom then it will give them something to do as they look for food in the gravel. Good Luck

[Coobeastie]

You could try some milton...but make sure the tank is throughly rinsed afterwards. Goldfish are fairly hardy though.

[camille79]

I always washed my fishtank with salt - good for "scouring" as well. Just be sure to rinse thoroughly.

[Jules001]

thanks all, I did have some Milton in the cupboard so gave it a good wash, rinsed thoroughly loads of times and filled with tap water last night. The fish are now home and safely installed in their xmas lodgings :)

[bex401]

After washing the tank in fairy liquid,make sure you rinse it thoroughly.But when you fill it with tap water,make sure you add some 'tap-safe',or similar product,unless you fancy spending the New Year looking for replacements!LOL!The water will get dirty pretty quick without a filter,so you will need to change it regularly.Good Luck & do'nt forget some goldfish food,as tropical is different stuff.