Goldfish: 10 mistakes that you might be doing
- Jan 10, 2021
- Anshika Mishra
- 467 0 0
New fishkeepers tend to make a lot of mistakes while staring at their first fish, which in most cases is Goldfish. So, down below are the ten common mistakes that you can save your goldfish from:
1. Overfeeding
You do not want to overfeed your fish. The bad thing about goldfishes is that they never stop eating. They can keep eating all day long if you feed them all day. Overeating causes digestive harm; they can get buoyancy problems with overeating.
Over-eating will also increase the aquarium's bioload, which will eventually raise the nitrates and therefore pollute the water. So, your overfeeding will require you to do more frequent water changes, more maintenance, which you certainly don't want.
Only feed the amount of fish that they can finish up in 1-2 minutes.
2. Quarantine
This is one of the most common problems with beginners; they do not quarantine their goldfish. Though they are hardy, you should never treat them any less than any other fish. Fishes have internal parasites, and you want to medicate your fish when you get them, even if you get them from a reputable pet store.
If one fish with parasites make it into your tank without medications, it will spread to all the other sites in the tank.
3. Mixing the wrong fish
You don't want to mix a super fancy goldfish with a more athletic goldfish, and you certainly should not mix them with tropical to the like warm water because they have different water parameter needs. So, you don't want to put Discuss with your goldfish.
You also do not want to put goldfishes with fishes having a reputation for being fin-nipper or known for their aggression. So, a big no to cichlids.
4. Cartridges
You don't want to replace all your cartridges in the filter if you have a cartridge filter. So, if you have two, replace one, one week, and one next week. If you only have one, then maybe don't scrub the glass because most bacteria reside.
5. Old food
Do not feed your goldfish or any other fish old or expired food. If you want to keep your fish healthy and active, you should provide them the best quality food you can get. Because good nutrition will help strengthen their immune system, and you don't have to deal with diseases.
6. Overpopulation
It is tempting to buy a bunch of small fishes in your, say, 55-gallon tank, but eventually, these fishes are going to grow up from 5 to 6 inches, and in that sized tank, you can home not more than four fishes of that size. The rule to follow for goldfish is one goldfish per 20-gallons.
7. Over Cleaning
Overcleaning your tank can be a problem. The common mistake is people over clean their tank. Just know that when you do a water change and lower the bacteria level on the glass, mostly depending on how long it takes you to refill your tank but cleaning too much will scrub off the beneficial bacteria in the tank.
This way, the nitrates and ammonia cycle in the tank will be disrupted, and you certainly don't want that to happen.
8. Too much lightning
Yes, lightning is essential, but some people like to keep their aquarium lights on all the time. Even during the day when your lights are off and light shows from the window, too much light leads to exponential algae growth.
So, do not keep the aquarium where light is abundant and shut the lights down for some time in the tank. The way, when the aquarium turns dark, your fish can sleep well and thus be more active when awake.
9. Too many decorations
If you have too many decorations in your tank, that will take out how many gallons of water you have in your aquarium. Remember, less water means less nitrate dilution telling your fish are not going to be as healthy.
So, you can have live plants but keep the decorations to a minimum. But if you want to keep ornaments, you might want to upgrade your tank size to capacitate more water.
10. Dirty Hands
It would help if you always rinsed your hand before you stick your hands in the aquarium. You don't want to wash them with soap. You want to take off all the lotion or do not use lotion when cleaning up your tank; because the chemical in the soap and cream can severely harm your fish.
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