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WolfWood

Jean D'Andrea's Place

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The first goldfish I can remember was Sammy. He came from a fairground in the UK, and we had him for years. Unfortunately, we kept him in a bowl, which isn't really a great life for a goldfish, but he was healthy and lived for a long time.

It's best to keep goldfish in a tank, or even better, an outside pond, if you have one. It's surprising just how much water and surface area even one small goldfish requires, when you do some research about it.

One school of thought says that you need 30 square inches of surface area per goldfish, another says that you should have approximately 20 gallons of water per goldfish. Of course, the surface area would depend on the size and shape of the tank, but it seems that more is better. A search using the terms, "water surface area per goldfish" will bring up many results.

Something you'll find useful is a good basic book on keeping goldfish; there are many available.

My goldfish are currently kept in an outside pond, and in the climate here, Melbourne, Australia, that's fine. Of course, if you have severe winters with snow and ice, then it may well be different for you. Research online, or with your pet shop for local conditions.

I've recently discovered that the cause of a high rate of mortality in goldfish can very well be toxicity. This is caused by fecal matter building up in the acquarium or pond, especially if you don't have a filter in a small area. The water becomes low in oxygen and the fish will die, almost overnight. A filter is good, but if you can't have one, then at least one third of the water should be changed weekly.

When changing the water, don't use it directly from the tap, as there are chemicals in tapwater. Age the water for at least 24 hours in a bucket, or use rainwater from a tank. If there are mosquito larvae in the water, don't worry about it, as the fish will be delighted with them.

Feed your fish regularly, but not necessarily every day, particularly if they are in an outside pond. If there are acquatic plants, the fish will browse on them and the algae growing on the pond sides. I've seen a large goldfish grab a snail by the horn and pull it into the water, although whether it ate it or not, I don't know. Perhaps it had to wait until the snail softened up.

Although I didn't really know much about goldfish, I've been lucky, and in the past ten years, my pets have bred four times in their little pond in my garden. On each occasion, I've not known they had bred until cleaning the pond, and discovering small fry in there. It's a pleasant surprise, coming across baby fish. Adults, of course, will eat any fry they catch, so some thick water weeds are a good thing to have. Fortunately, my pond weeds grow very quickly, and thickly, enabling some of the fry to survive.

There are babies in there at the moment, but how many is unknown. There are only two adults left at the moment, as we had some toxic bloom a few weeks ago, and they didn't survive it. A filter is being purchased as soon as possible, to improve the quality of life for the remaining goldfish.