Tank Overhaul

Being new to the hobby, I often find myself redecorating my tanks frequently.  I know there are a lot of proponents for bare bottom tanks for gold fish but I really like having real plants as opposed to fake plants and feel that substrate is necessary. Although, I have seen some really nice fake plants and do have one of them in my 45.  They are just so expensive and hard to keep clean.

My first attempts at dealing with substrate in my tanks consisted of a turquoise, dark blue, and black mixture gravel.  I followed the instructions on the bag and had a pound of gravel for every gallon in my tank.  I ended up not liking how much space all that gravel took up and didn't like the three colors in the mix I had.

So I got rid of the blue and turquoise gravel and opted for a thinner layer of black gravel .

After a couple of weeks with the black gravel, I was displeased by the amount of crud I vacuumed up with my siphon during my water changes.  It looked like some of the food just got stuck in there.  I was concerned that this would be unhealthy for my fish so I opted for sand in all my tanks. I had black taithian moon sand in my 20 and 36, and white sand in my 45.

Last week I noticed that my 45 gallon tank never looked as clear as my other two tanks and I think it's because it was the only tank that had white sand substrate that had really fine aggregate size as opposed to my other two tanks that both have Tahitian moon sand.  Even though I liked the color of the white sand, I decided to put the same substrate in all my tanks. I also noticed that the white sand was piling up in my canister filter really quickly. It has been a process trying to get rid of the white substrate in my canister filter.  I still think there is still some left as every now and then I see small white particles come out of my tubing from the canister filter's pump.

With Halloween over, I decided to remove the Halloween themed decorations from my 36 gallon tank.  I've added a ton more plants.  I am happy with how my redecoration of my 36 has turned out:

I am not happy with the background on my 45 and can't decide how I'm going to fix it (see picture above with the blue background).  I can barely see Reaper in that tank with the black sand and dark background.  I like my substrate and the decorations in that tank (although I've decided that my 45 gallon will be my new holiday themed tank after thanksgiving. I already have my Christmas tank decorations ready!). If anyone has suggestions, I'd appreciate it!

Right now my 36 is my favorite tank setup and my 20 is my least.  I'd love ideas on how to spruce up my 20 tank. Maybe play with the idea that my 20 had both Jack and Sparrow in it (it's Captain Jack Sparrow!)

Here is what my 20 looks like, any ideas are welcome!

 

Introducing My Goldies

I have nine fish total, soon to be ten (a new red and white telescope butterfly is coming next Tuesday!) spread out over three tanks  Edit: I've stopped counting the number of fish :)(20 gal., 36 gal., & a 45 gal.). Sparrow is the fish I've had the longest followed by Jack.  The newbies are Winter and Autumn, my first experience with Dandy Orandas  (absolutely beautiful fish, I highly recommend Dandy Orandas). They joined my home this past Halloween day.

My crew:

Autumn - Female Purple Telescope Butterfly from Dandy Orandas.  4.75 inches. Arrived 10/31/13. Laid eggs on 11/27/13.

Winter - tri-color butterfly from Dandy Orandas. 4 inches. Arrived 10/31/13.

Willow - red and white oranda mix from Petsmart. Approximately 2.75 inches. Arrived 9/12/13.

Sparrow - orange and white fantail mix from Petsmart. Approximately 1 inch. Arrived 8/21/13.

Jack - orange and black fantail from Petsmart. 1 inch. Arrived 8/28/13.

DeVille - panda butterfly from buygoldfishonline.com. 1.25 inches. Arrived 10/10/13.

Reaper - black moor from local fish store. 2.75 inches. Arrived 10/20/13.

Midget- Female? Calico butterfly from buygoldfishonline. 1.25 inches. Arrived 10/2/13.

No-Names (suggestions welcome!) 

Female? tri-color butterfly from buygoldfishonline. 1.5 inches. Arrived 10/2/13

Male red and white butterfly from buygoldfishonline. 1.75 inches. Arrived 11/08/13.

Male tri-color butterfly from LFS. 1 inch. Arrived 11/16/13.

Orange and white ranchu from LFS. 1 inch. Arrived 11/16/13.

Female blue butterfly from Dandy Orandas. 3.75 inches. Arrived 11/26/13.

Power Out and Filter Nightmare

My 36 gallon tank experienced five days of complete bliss. Watson, Jack, and Sparrow were cheerfully swimming around and my tank water was finally clear (good bye new tank syndrome!).

I went to work genuinely pleased with myself and my progress in my goldfish hobby.

Coming home I noticed some construction crews in my neighborhood, no surprise there.  Walking through my door, I noticed all my clocks were blinking, a clear sign that they needed to be reset.  Thinking about it, the construction crew was working next to the PGE line. Logical conclusion: power went out. No big deal, right? Check the fridge and the freezer, all is well. Okay, reset the clocks, check.  I can hear the filter running on my tank but it sounds a little louder than normal...

First thing I notice is the water is slightly cloudy. Jack and Sparrow don't seem stressed. But now where is my soul survivor out of my original trio, Watson? Watson, one of the two fair fish that kick-started this new hobby of mine?

The intake tube to my filter is floating on the bottom of the tank. How did that happen? It must not have been as secured to the top portion as I thought. The pressure from the filter must have been helping it stay in place. With the power out, it sunk. Okay, clearly I failed at the filter assembly. But where is Watson? After the mishap with Adler, I was concerned that she got stuck in my house decoration and was unable to swim out of it so I removed it altogether.  There were no decorations that Watson could be that well hidden in. Next thought, am I freaking out over nothing? Was I just being paranoid and had overlooked him? Nope...

I needed to correctly assembly the filter so, I retrieved the intake tube from the bottom of the tank and disconnected my hang on back filter from my tank. I begin to take it a part and to my horror, there is the deceased Watson with his fins mangled from the pump. I cried for a solid ten minutes.

RIP Watson.

Tank Upgrade...Stat!

Ten days after my ten gallon had been fully setup, I came home to find Adler missing.

I moved my large house decoration and found her dead.  Fancies can be in cold water, gradually.  Adler had been in a pet store whose water was kept in the lower to mid seventies. My water was in the high sixties. I believe the cold water and new tank syndrome lead to her demise.

The cloudy water in my ten gallon was gone by the end of week three but my soul survivor seemed to be bored and not nearly as active as he use to be.

I decided I wanted to go with fancies and knew I needed a bigger tank.  I ended up purchasing a 36 gallon Aqueon Bow Front kit (included a filter rated for 40 gallons, a heater, hood, and lights).  I used the gravel from my ten gallon tank and added a five pound bag of gravel to my newest tank. I also used the same air bubble wand and air pump (which failed as it was only rated for ten gallons. I ended up purchasing a two valve air pump rated for up to 60 gallons).  I set this tank up and cycled it with QuickStart for a week before acclimating Watson to the new tank. The heater was set in the low seventies. 

In hind sight, I would have let the tank go a month with fishless cycling as four days later I had new tank syndrome again, although not as severe. It takes anywhere from four to six weeks for a new tank to be completely cycled. I found the best way to know if your tank is truly cycled is by testing the water for Amonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates.  In a perfectly cycled tank, Amonia and Nitrite levels should remain at 0 ppm.

A week passed before I brought home an orange and white fantail, who would become to be known as Sparrow three months later. Sparrow and Watson seemed to hit it off even though Sparrow was slower moving than Watson.   Watson loved having more space. I thought, finally my boys are doing good.

Then I became even more addicted. I saw an orange and black fantail at the pet store when I purchased Sparrow and really wanted him. I resisted for a week before my will power subsided.  I told myself that I would go to the store and see if he was still there. He was, and I ended up purchasing him. 

Worried about the biological load on my 36 gallon tank with my one filter rated for 40 gallons and now three fish, I purchased a cheap Marineland filter rated for 25 gallons to be run in conjunction with my other filter to give my tank additional filtration.  Each of my fish was under 1.5 inches with Jack (the orange and black fantail) being the largest closely followed by Watson.

I saw a RIP decoration at the store and purchased it in memory of Holmes and Adler.

And So It Begins

Fair fish.  We all see these little goldfish at the fair in tiny bowls waiting for one lucky soul to be able to get those mini balls into one of those tiny rimmed cups. I happened to be one of those lucky souls, twice.

My family was celebrating my brother's birthday and we were having a great time. My gold fish weren't and sadly I didn't realize how sickly one of them had looked.  By the time I got these two fish home, I noticed that the water level in the tiny plastic carrier (probably less than half a gallon) had severely been depleted.  I noticed that a sliver of a crack had developed at the bottom of the make shift tank. I freaked.   I grabbed the closest thing I could find: two small stemless wineglasses.  Each fish had its own glass.  I thought that those glasses would have to do until I could get myself to the pet store after work the following day. Had I thought about it then, I would have named the grey goldfish Zinfandel and the gold colored goldfish Merlot.

After work, I stopped by Petsmart.  I went to their fish section and asked what size tank I should get for my two fish.  The store clerk was very polite and suggested that a ten gallon tank would suffice (wrong! So very wrong, but more on that later.).  I saw this beautiful freshwater fish and asked if it would be a good tank mate with my other two.  The clerk told me that it was a goldfish and would be fine with my other two (wrong, again!). I ended up at the checkout register with a ten gallon starter kit, QuickStart (which claims that it allows one to add fish instantly - yeah, not so much),  ten pounds worth of gravel, and fish flake food.

I rushed home and set up my tank.  The water was cold, not more than 65 degrees. I added the QuickStart to my tank and waited about five hours before floating my two wineglasses and my newly acquired goldfish in its bag in my tank.  I then proceeded to dump the bag and wineglasses with the fish into my tank (please don't do this- never mix someone else's aquarium water with your own). I was ignorantly blissfully happy that my fish had a new home.  I named the silver one Watson, the gold one Holmes, and the red and white one Adler.

Off to bed I went.  I woke up the next morning to find my tank cloudy. Holmes, who was sickly looking at the fair, was completely lethargic and Adler was breathing rapidly. I called my Father who had more experience with tanks than I did and he asked if I had a filter and an air stone.  I had the filter which came with the starter kit, but no Air stone.  My dad and I went to the local pet store and purchased a bubble wand and an air pump rated for 10 gallons. I immediately set this up, hoping it would clear my tank water and save my sickly looking fish.

Two hours passed and Adler showed signs of improvement: her breathing seemed to be normal and she (I am guessing that it was a she as I still have yet to master how to determine the sex of a goldfish) was swimming normally.  Holmes didn't fare as well and ended up dead ten minutes after the installation of the air stone. I was disheartened by his passing, but knew when I got him home that it wouldn't be likely that he would be alive for too much longer.

Three days passed. Watson and Adler seemed to be doing well but the water hadn't cleared . Now what? Tired of guessing, I started doing some research online. For anyone interested in the goldfish hobby, please don't make all the rookie mistakes I've made; do your research well  before getting your goldfish.  After visiting several different sites and watching countless YouTube videos, I learned that my tank was experiencing New Tank Syndrome caused by a bacteria bloom.  I quickly learned about the Nitrogen Cycle. Had I known this info before, I could have saved myself a lot of heart ache.

I learned that there are multiple types of goldfish.  Adler was a fancy gold fish specifically known as a Red Cap Oranda and Watson was a common goldfish.

My research also clued me into the fact that while goldfish prefer a compatible tank mate, single tail goldfish (like Watson) and fancy goldfish (like Adler) don't make great tank mates.  Single tail variety goldfish are more athletic swimmers than fancies which means they are quicker at getting to the food.  Single tails also grow larger and faster than fancies.

 The growth of your fish and the amount of waste they produce should be considered when thinking about stocking your tank. Out of all my research, stocking guide lines was the most controversial topic. A lot of the sites suggest one gallon per inch of fish while others suggested a minimum of 20 gallons for the first fancy goldfish and ten for each additional goldfish (double that amount for single tails). In my case, using the former theory Watson who would have an adult size up to ten inches and Adler whose adult size would have been eight inches would have required a minimum of an eighteen gallon tank. Using the later stocking guidelines, Watson would require 40 gallons and Adler 20 gallons for a total of 60 gallons. In my opinion the sixty gallons is a more realistic guideline than the eighteen gallons simply because of the lengths of the fish. Most 20 gallon tanks are roughly 20 inches long. If you have one ten inch fish and one eight inch fish in this tank, they wouldn't have a lot of room to maneuver around. In either case I had a serious problem: I had two incompatible fish in a tank that would be to small once both fish matured.

And so began my aquatic adventure ...