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 ...