The maintenance of goldfish and their care, due to the popularity of the breed, seem completely uncomplicated even for a novice aquarist. These pets from the light hand of storytellers are often purchased for children. But an adult has to take care of a new family member.
The main thing is to keep aquarium fish at home so that they feel comfortable. The choice of feed, and some other points that affect the state of the aquatic environment are also important. Given all these points, you can take good care of your pet, and learn a lot about the features of his life.
Aquarium selection
First of all, you need to think about creating a comfortable environment, because the goldfish is very sensitive to the quality and purity of water. In addition, and the aquarium itself should be suitable for its occupant.
The first thing that starts keeping goldfish is to prepare the aquarium.
Mini versions are only suitable for young animals or as quarantine. Adult individuals grow up to 15 cm, in large bodies of water the length of her body without a tail reaches 40 cm. Accordingly, a small aquarium can hardly be called the right choice. Not suitable for keeping cylindrical containers or screens.
When choosing a tank for keeping goldfish, you need to be guided by the needs of pets. For a couple, a volume of at least 100 liters is required; when replanting the following residents, another 40 liters per individual is needed. Optimum shape for the aquarium - parallelepiped, its length should be twice the height and width (they are equal).
The tanks with curved glass create a stressful atmosphere for the inhabitants.
It is very important to remember that most modern goldfish come from Southeast Asia, from places with open content. Whereas in Soviet times, aquarists dealt exclusively with pets cultivated in an artificial environment for many years. Modern individuals require much more space for swimming. Only relevant information should be trusted, otherwise the fish may die within 1 week after purchase.
Growing conditions for different species
Goldfish should be cared for based on their basic needs. Despite the fact that they are recommended for beginners, these magnificent representatives of the underwater world have their own aquarium features.
It is necessary to look after each representative of different subspecies in their own way.
There are exclusively domestic goldfish for which the temperature of the environment and its other characteristics are important. Consider how to properly maintain each of the species, and who can survive even outdoors.
It is worth considering the features of growing different goldfish in more detail. Among the available species, several options can be noted.
Common goldfish
The most unpretentious in content. She can live in open water in the summer, in a warm climate completely street content is permissible. Indoor specimens are noticeably smaller - about 15-20 cm in length.
Veiltail
One of the most leisurely varieties. It does not tolerate neighborhood with more active individuals. The veil tail has long openwork fins, large eyes, and needs no traumatic elements in the interior of the aquarium.
For a comfortable stay you need cool water, good aeration.
Telescope
A characteristic feature of these fish is very large eyes. When choosing scenery, it is important to give preference to the fact that protruding parts of the body of the pet are not injured. With severe hypothermia, the fish may die.
Butterfly jikin
A kind of goldfish suitable exclusively for aquarium keeping.
Bubble eyes
Fish with bags around the eyes, up to 25% of the volume of the whole body. There is liquid inside, so any traumatic elements should be absent in the aquarium with such a pet.
Bubbles easily burst, fish care implies maximum caution, the absence of stones, plants with sharp parts within reach.
Pecilia
Goldfish with a diamond-shaped body, small head, wide fin. Suitable for both aquarium and open keeping.
Oranda
Fish with a golden-red bright “hat” and white-pink, black, chocolate or motley colored body. For oranda, a large amount of water is important for swimming, it is much more necessary than beautiful scenery or an abundance of plants.
Unfavorable conditions of detention can lead to the fact that the bright "hat" simply disappears.
Needs bright lighting.
Ranch
Subspecies without dorsal fin, with a flattened body. The best option for maintenance is home, in a species aquarium.
Ryukin
A fish with a characteristic arched back, very slow, sensitive to temperature parameters, does not tolerate cold.
All types of goldfish are focused on keeping in spacious open or artificial ponds. The optimum temperature is within +20.25 degrees Celsius. The pH should be between 6.9 and 7.2. Water hardness - from 8 units. Among the goldfish there are cold-blooded individuals - these include the telescope and some other long-bodied subspecies.
Decorative species - bubble eyes, veil tails, dzikin butterflies, orandas prefer the most warm water. Lowering the temperature can be deadly for them.
How and what to feed?
Feeding goldfish involves making a balanced, fairly nutritious diet. Dry granules and flakes give alternately with plant-based feed. Among green foods, salad or spinach will be the best solution. It is acceptable to give boiled cereals, vegetables, pamper pets with oranges, kiwi, carefully chopped.
Of animal foods, goldfish are suitable for frozen bloodworms, pieces of meat, and liver. Frozen foods are thawed first. It is useful to periodically offer daphnia to fish. A weekly fasting day is arranged for pets to prevent disease. Plants in the aquarium - riccia, wolfia, can also serve as top dressing.
It is important to consider: goldfish should receive as much feed as they can eat in 3-5 minutes.
Because of the tendency to overeat, they can not be too spoiled. They will have enough 1-2 feedings during the day. Excess food is removed mechanically to avoid water contamination.
Content Issues
Beginning aquarists with the maintenance of goldfish face some difficulties. First of all, it becomes a mistake to save a temporary reservoir as the place of residence of the pet. It can be a beautiful glass with a high leg, a compact aquarium, an ordinary can.
The sooner the pet finds itself in quarantine conditions and adapts to the proposed conditions, the better it will feel.
Buying a small aquarium, especially for a few goldfish, will also pose serious problems.
Content Errors
The minimum volume of the tank is 50 liters per individual. Accordingly, the pair will need a capacity of 100 liters. Another important point is the size of the fractions of the soil. Goldfish have a habit of digging into the bottom contents and can choke on a small stone with a diameter of 3-5 mm. It is better to choose a coarse filler from the very beginning.
The sensitivity to the cleanliness of the aquarium in goldfish is quite high, while they reproduce rather intensively or dirt due to their physiology. Following the misconceptions about the "self-cleaning" of the environment, you can create unacceptable conditions for pets to live.
For fish, you need to install a complete filtration system using internal and external devices. Cleaners should work around the clock.
Goldfish need a fairly high oxygen content in the water. Achieving optimal performance in a natural way is unlikely to succeed. It will be much more efficient to use a compressor for these purposes, additionally creating the necessary environmental indicators in the aquarium.
Another difficulty in keeping goldfish is their indomitable passion for the extermination of greenery.
But this should not become a reason for refusing to plant herbaceous plants. They have a beneficial effect on the functioning of the digestive system of fish and help fight algae. To preserve the created ecosystem, it will be enough to distinguish between “grazing” pets and plants to decorate the aquarium. Lemongrass, anubias, cryptocoryne will do.
The frequency of water changes is another mistake a beginner aquarist.
Faced with the gluttony of pets and the abundance of waste from their livelihoods, the owners of goldfish are trying to maintain a weekly schedule of substitutions. But these inhabitants of freshwater bodies of water need a more frequent change of water. The best option is to replace about 30% of the medium twice a week. It is worth considering that the change in the regime of substitutions should be smooth and gradual, otherwise the fish may experience serious stress, get sick.
Overfeeding or underfeeding
Goldfish - a bright representative of his family, greedy for any food. Moreover, these bright beauties very diligently beg for food, and it is quite difficult for a novice breeder to refuse them. But there should be only one rule: hungry fish is always healthy. The volume of the diet is measured taking into account the daily norm, is divided into 1 or 2 meals.
When overfeeding, pets are sick, they can die. No more food is given at a time than one or more fish can eat in 5-10 minutes.
Compatibility
The desire to add neighbors to the goldfish in an aquarium looks justified - it is difficult to imagine a beautiful aquarium as a monobreed. But such experiments rarely end successfully. Larger individuals, and even guppies, can attack and eat goldfish. Especially often at risk is the veil variety. Attempts to hook small neighbors end in the fact that they end their lives in the stomach of a goldfish.
A rare exception are catfish indifferent to everything, capable of simultaneously fulfilling the role of aquarium orderlies. Representatives of other decorative breeds are better protected from such a neighborhood.
If everything is done correctly, the goldfish will easily live for more than a dozen years and will delight the owner with vivacity and good health.
In the next video, you will learn how the male of the goldfish differs from the female, and how the process of courtship of the fish during the breeding season occurs.
