# 10 gallon tank. One Oranda goldfish.



## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

I think that this Goldfish that we've had for two years is perhaps generating too much waste for this 10 gallon tank he's in. His body not including his double-tail is about 2" and almost as round as a gumball. With his tail he's almost 3.5". I know goldfish are messy. Nitrates in the tank are almost 10 ppm even though I do 50% a week water changes. So I'm thinking it's time for him to go to a bigger tank or get rehomed to a new person.
Right now he's eating about two tablespoons of duckweed a day, plus algae flakes, plus the occasional treat (bloodworm/brineshrimp). The guy would eat twice what I feed him, I'm sure, but I'm not sure it would be wise to give him any more food than I'm giving him. The guy must eat more than his own weight in food, each week.

Anybody agree? Disagree? Fish bowl it ain't. It's 10g, planted, with an AquaClear 50 HOB. There's never any ammonia. But this guy could live 10 to 20 years and grow to between 8" and 12". So I guess the question is; How big before he should move? If I had another tank for him, I would move him up now, but I'm wondering if I should find him a new adoptive home if I can't get a bigger tank.

KuhliLoachFan.


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## theeyrietrainer (Dec 9, 2010)

The horribly great thing with goldfish is: they're one of the better suited fish at taking abuse. That being said, if you want to prevent it from growing up in a stunted world, the general rule of thumb for goldfish is 1 inch per 10 gallon as opposed to the standard 1 inch per 1 gallon for tropical fish. I mean, as an Oranda, they're pretty round anyway, so I'm sure you could get away with a smaller tank... it wouldn't look as out of place as a pond feeder or anything....


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

That seems kind of small for a 2 year old fish. However, if you are only showing 10ppm of nitrate, with your weekly water change regime, it seems to be working.


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

So maybe 15-20 ppm might be the threshold for moving him?

W


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

Bad news. Today he was stuck to the filter, and had a large hole in the side of him. I believe it was caused by being so weak that he could not even escape the pull of the filter. He was twitching badly so I euthanized him. My son will be very upset when he comes home from school.

I think we've now had 3 goldfish in this 10g, and none have lived more than 3 years. That about sums it up. Doesn't it?

W


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## vrb th hrb (Feb 20, 2010)

sorry to hear about your loss.

I used to keep alot of fancy goldfish, ryukins, orandas, lionheads etc etc. they just eat and poop. I had a comet that was bought by a friend, ended up living about 8 years, by the end he was about 14 inches from nose to the end of his tail. 

as much as they like a veggie diet(i used to feed shelled green peas) a goldfish specific pellet is good too. a canadian company named Martins used to make one that my goldies and koi loved, it contained clay. 

maybe let your son try again with smaller goldfish, pearlscales are fun


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## theeyrietrainer (Dec 9, 2010)

Ouch, that sucks about the goldfish, I'm sorry to hear that.

Maybe you can rig the 10 G to be a Kuhli Loach breeder tank


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

I actually got some of that martin goldfish food. The guy who works at martin came to talk to TWAS last month. It was very interesting. It's cool that someone in Canada is making fish food. Martin makes a lot of feed for aquaculture (fish farms) in Canada.

W


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

KhuliLoachFan said:


> Right now he's eating about two tablespoons of duckweed a day, plus algae flakes, plus the occasional treat (bloodworm/brineshrimp). The guy would eat twice what I feed him, I'm sure, but I'm not sure it would be wise to give him any more food than I'm giving him. The guy must eat more than his own weight in food, each week.


I don't know much about goldfishes, but could it be possible that you've been feeding him too much? I hear goldfishes will eat until they burst, so it's certainly conceivable that they'll eat until they get the goldfish equivalent of obesity. Couple that with a likely lack of exercises in a 10 gallon...


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## Holidays (Apr 18, 2010)

probably easy to overfeed them, but if they eat more than their size a week, I think that's too much? I think ranchus are nice, they're like orandas but no fin on their back.


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

Okay. Next time we try a goldfish, we will be a little more sparing on food.

W


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