I got two comet gold fish for my birthday, and everything needed. They are comet gold fish. Does anyone know if fish need UV?
New Gold Fish!
- Thread starter hunterk997
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Please know that comet goldfish will grow anywhere from 12 to 18 inches. they are a cold water species, this means water temps must be below 75F at all times. I see that you have two so I'd reccomend a bare minimum 75 gal tank to hold these two. UV filters are only used to kill harmful bacteria.......on the bad side it will kill off your beneficial bacteria which is critical to help your system have a well balanced nitrogen cycle. If you do get one I'd reccomend finding one that allows you to turn it off or on. Then only turn in on for 24 hrs one day every week....nothing more than 24 hrs. If you don't have that big of a tank I'd suggest picking a smaller cold water species.
Yay on your new fishee, Hunterk997! Goldfish are so peaceful to watch!
Thanks for the info also, Austin ASU. I was going to get a couple for a container water garden. Had no idea they could get that big! I guess I will just get a couple of mosquito fish then.
Thanks for the info also, Austin ASU. I was going to get a couple for a container water garden. Had no idea they could get that big! I guess I will just get a couple of mosquito fish then.
Do you have them in a cycled tank? Or is it a whole new set up? If so your going to need to be doing water changes everyday to reduce the Ammonia levels.
I also agree with the above poster, comets get big, real big. Ideally they are a pond fish.
'And like the snow falls in the river,
A moment white, then melts forever'
~Robert Burns - Tam O' Shanter
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I also agree with the above poster, comets get big, real big. Ideally they are a pond fish.
'And like the snow falls in the river,
A moment white, then melts forever'
~Robert Burns - Tam O' Shanter
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I would get maybe some golden dojo's. I don't like goldfish simply because they produce so many more urates (ammonia) than any other fish out their period......carbon filter replacement is a nightmare.
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I think the uv the op was wondering about was UVA/UVB overhead lighting. And no, it isn't required at all. Research shows fish so like day/night cycles but do not require any light to live. The lights on a tank are for you to see the fish.
The other advice here is sound. These are big messy fish that honestly shouldn't be sold at most store. People think it is bad you can buy a sully at a pet shop.... Well usually they are around 100 bucks. You can buy a pacu or koi or goldfish for $5 anywhere and half of the places don't even sell tanks but enough.
I was in line atnpetsmart once and this lady had a pacu in the bag. I told her one day shed need a 2-400 gallon tank and she says, is that true. I googled the Omaha zoo pacu setup showing three foot long specimens.
She returned him. I felt good cause it rarely works out like that. People don't usually care or believe you.
The other advice here is sound. These are big messy fish that honestly shouldn't be sold at most store. People think it is bad you can buy a sully at a pet shop.... Well usually they are around 100 bucks. You can buy a pacu or koi or goldfish for $5 anywhere and half of the places don't even sell tanks but enough.
I was in line atnpetsmart once and this lady had a pacu in the bag. I told her one day shed need a 2-400 gallon tank and she says, is that true. I googled the Omaha zoo pacu setup showing three foot long specimens.
She returned him. I felt good cause it rarely works out like that. People don't usually care or believe you.
Fish don't bask like reptiles, so no, they don't need special UV lighting. The only reason to get a full-spectrum light would be if you want to grow aquatic plants. Also, as mentioned above, there are small UV filters that kill microbes, but that's not necessary here.
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GeoTerraTestudo said:
Even then don't use "full spectrum". 6500k rated bulbs and lots of the, the planted tank forum has everything you could ever image in that. I've kept some amazing planted setups but none after the move.
Goldfish destroy plants so don't even try!
hunterk997 said:
BTW - Bear in mind that unlike a tortoise table, an aquarium needs weeks for its filter to mature. As water flows over the filter medium (gravel, mesh, or bioballs), beneficial bacteria colonize it. These bacteria are necessary to break down waste (poop and pee). They don't grow as fast as the kind of bacteria people usually think of, though, so it takes a while for the tank to be completely safe for animals: about 6-12 weeks (sometimes more). This is what people refer to as "cycling" a tank.
That's why new tanks often suffer from "new tank syndrome," which means that many fish do not survive that initial period of conditioning. You can speed it up with filter material from an established aquarium, or with bottled bacterial cultures from the pet store. During this sensitive period, don't feed your goldfish too much, because that could overwhelm your developing biological filter, and the goldfish could get sick or die from their own waste. In fact, don't be surprised if one or both of them do get sick or die. Unfortunately, that's common with new tank syndrome. Goldfish are pretty tough, so they are a good choice for cycling a tank. Nevertheless, you might have to replace them. Hopefully not.
Oh, and I second the comment above about giving goldfish plenty of space. They are thick-bodied fish that can grow to over a foot in length, so they need lots of room. A 75-gallon tank is a good recommendation for the minimum size. And yes, they are cool water fish (like carp, bass, sunfish, etc.), so you can save money by not giving them a heater.
I guess that explains why the tank is a little cloudy today. I did a partial water change and conditioned te new water being put in. Does this go for all gold fish or fish? Or does the cycling need to be done just for comet gold fish?
This cycling takes place for all fish fresh and salt water (more stuff to salt water). I always recommend people to use expanded shale to put down as their gravel in the tank. The rock is more porous and will allow beneficial bacteria to cling to it easier ( you can usually find this in 25lb bags at garden nursery's just make sure you clean it with a water house before hand). The cloudiness is caused from a bacteria bloom.....this is the early stage of the nitrogen cycle. This can stress your fish out to the point that they die, to speed up this process I'd buy some beneficial bacteria at lowes in the fish/pond area. Its about $8 for 24oz....cheapest you'll find. One cap full for every 10gals and let it take its course....I recommend that you pour half of the amount straight into the filter as it'll speed up the process. Also try to not walk by the fish tank to much, this is a stressful state for the fish as is, so make sure you avoid interaction as much as possible. Also don't do water changes, all this does is prolong the nitrogen cycle.
hunterk997 said:
Don't worry about the cloudiness. It's called an infusorial bloom, which basically just means that the microbes that will form the ecosystem of your tank are starting to become abundant. They haven't settled onto the surfaces yet, but they will. Fish naturally come from waters that have infusorians floating around in the water, so this will do them no harm. In fact, as long as the water chemistry is okay (ammonia and nitrite levels are not very high), it's better to leave the water cloudy. If you do a water change, then it will just take longer for the aquarium to mature. Do water changes to dilute the bad chemicals in the water, not the microbes. Of course, use conditioner to remove chlorine, chloramine, ammonia, etc. when you do.
All aquariums, regardless of what kinds of animals they contain, must go through this process. It doesn't matter if its crayfish, goldfish, frogs, or turtles, because everybody poops and pees.
Fishless cycling is the easiest and as in the title there is zero chance of harm to the fish. You buy pure ammonia and dose the tank till it is at 4ppm and test daily for nitrites and ammonia, after about a week your ammonia will drop and your tank will test positive for nitrites, you then continually dose the ammonia when it drops to 2ppm back to 4ppm. Now start checking Ammonia, nitrite and then nitrates will appear. Once the nitrates appear keep doing what your doing and eventually you will get a reading of 0.0ammonia 0.0nitrite and 0.25-1.0 nitrate. Now your tank is "cycled" and fish ready, after a 90% water change you can stock fish and the water change will take away most of the nitrates.
Unfortunately since you have the fish they are supplying the ammonia, so you basically check exactly how I have said with the exception you need to be doing water changes whenever any of those readings are above or equal to 0.2ppm. Continue this and eventually you will after a good month end up with only nitrates showing. Your tank will once again be cycled.
An API test kit has all the neccessary testers in it and it is a liquid test kit, dip sticks are very unreliable.
Remember ammonia and nitrites/trates
Are all very harmful to fish!! Keep them below 0.2ppm with water changes. And any new water must be treated with a conditioner that removes chlorine aswell as the now commonly present chloramine.
I have a great passion for fish and have learned quite a bit so any queries just PM me!!
'Or like the snow falls in the river,
A moment white, then melts forever'
~Robert Burns - Tam O' Shanter
0.0.1 Testudo hermanni boettgeri
Unfortunately since you have the fish they are supplying the ammonia, so you basically check exactly how I have said with the exception you need to be doing water changes whenever any of those readings are above or equal to 0.2ppm. Continue this and eventually you will after a good month end up with only nitrates showing. Your tank will once again be cycled.
An API test kit has all the neccessary testers in it and it is a liquid test kit, dip sticks are very unreliable.
Remember ammonia and nitrites/trates
Are all very harmful to fish!! Keep them below 0.2ppm with water changes. And any new water must be treated with a conditioner that removes chlorine aswell as the now commonly present chloramine.
I have a great passion for fish and have learned quite a bit so any queries just PM me!!
'Or like the snow falls in the river,
A moment white, then melts forever'
~Robert Burns - Tam O' Shanter
0.0.1 Testudo hermanni boettgeri
So both of my fish "survived" that period being talked about. We never have done it for other fish, and they were always perfectly fine. But thanks for all of the info!
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