Doing a no-no but seems to be working...?

7 posts

Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


CasualKeeper
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Dec 03, 2011 7:11 pm

Doing a no-no but seems to be working...?

by CasualKeeper

I have a 10 gal tank that's been set up for about 5 months. It's got the standard come in box hood and lighting, 5-15 power filter, plastic plants and about an 1 1/2 gravel bed. Now my no-no is I've got 5 goldfish, 4 mollies, 1 platy and a male Betta in a pear tree. ;) Way too many fish for that size tank and also supposedly incompatible tank mates. The betta is a temporary roommate for that tank until I get his other tank set-up but the others have been living together quite happily for 4 months now. Even had some fry from my mollies until the goldfish ate them. lol The gravel is spotless, the water crystal clear, and everybody's color's are beautiful. How long can this last? I want to get another separate tank for the goldie's but I live in an apartment with next to no room. Any suggestion's for keeping everyone happy and healthy?

p.s. There's also a black snail.


CasualKeeper
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Dec 03, 2011 7:11 pm

by CasualKeeper

Here's a pic though it doesn't due the clarity or color of the tank justice.
72454-FishTankResize.jpg


natalie265
Site Admin
 
Posts: 746
Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:48 pm

by natalie265

It looks like you have comet goldfish. These will quickly outgrow a ten gallon tank. My advice would be to start looking for someone with a large pond. This type of goldfish can grow up to twelve inches.


Alasse
 
Posts: 993
Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 5:35 am
Location: QLD Australia

by Alasse

Cant tell you exactly how long it will last, but i can tell you with certainty it wont last! Deaths are inevitable

Why overstock it in the 1st place when you know its not correct stocking?


Okiimiru
 
Posts: 275
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:19 pm

by Okiimiru

Goldfish can indeed be kept in a small aquarium for a short amount of time. You are not the first to have tried that. It's not insta-death. It does mean, however, that over the course of time they will grow stunted. Here, I will let someone who knows more about goldfish explain more about stunting and why it happens. This explanation by Sarah Screen is good: http://www.tropicalfishcentre.co.uk/goldfish1.htm It's basically that the fish release hormones that make them not grow so much when they're overcrowded. It helps populations of goldfish survive better in small bodies of water, but the extreme case of a home aquarium leads to deformity and premature death. Only extremely frequent, massive water changes such as an automatic water changing system seen here, link: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/foru ... ystem.html would be enough to overcome the fish's secreted hormones. Without fresh water all the time or a large enough body of water to dilute the pheromones, the fish will not grow properly and will die young. There is no way to tell with your eyes if the concentration of pheromones is high in the water. Like ammonia, it is an invisible danger. If I had to bet, I'd say the concentration of growth inhibiting pheromones is probably pretty high in your tank right now.

So. I hope that makes more sense now, and you understand that what you are doing to your fish is not a "Wow, maybe this will work, they haven't died yet" but instead is more about long term stunting over the course of months or years. Goldfish are not aquarium fish. They poop too much, they grow stunted and deformed, their lifespan is only a fraction of the time they would live in a pond, and did I mention they poop too much? Goldfish don't have true stomachs. They've got this sort of tube that isn't truly segmented, which means they like to eat all the time and only slightly process their food, instead of a normal fish, which eats less and extracts more nutrients from each mouthful. Here's a really gross anatomy website if you're not going to be traumatized by seeing the internal parts of a goldfish: http://thegab.org/Goldfish/goldfish-int ... atomy.html Don't click that if you are easily grossed out by anatomy and the insides of creatures. But anyway you can see for yourself that the goldfish's "stomach" is really just a tube and doesn't keep food in it for a long enough time to digest it properly. So they have to eat more and poop more than proper fish, who have stomachs.

The red swordtail or platy is a much better alternative to the goldfish because they're gold too, they poop like one quarter the amount that goldfish do, and they are small enough to live comfortably in a 30 gallon tank.


CasualKeeper
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Dec 03, 2011 7:11 pm

by CasualKeeper

Wow, thanks for all the info guys. Alasse I didn't ever intend to have this many fish. In fact the only ones I bought were the mollies/platy and the betta. The goldfish were won from one of those carnival games and I had never gotten them to live past 2 weeks before because they were so sickly. These guys surprised the heck out of me when they hit 1 month much less 5. I honestly thought I was just going to be giving them a more peaceful place to die. Now that they haven't I want to make sure they stay healthy. I do have a friend with 1 of those ornamental ponds and she only has a couple fish in right now. Unfortunately because it is December the weather is too cold to put them out there....I have a friend looking to get rid of a larger tank so maybe I can squeeze it in here for winter. It's a 40 gal I think so if I can set that up I can move the goldies there for the winter. Again thank you all for the information. I really wasn't expecting these guys to live but was trying to keep them healthy in the only way I could. No more fish games for me. ;)


natalie265
Site Admin
 
Posts: 746
Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:48 pm

by natalie265

okiimiru, thats an interesting article. I've never heard the theories about how the stunted growth actually happens.

Doing a no-no but seems to be working...?

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