My tank's half way set up, just a couple of bits of rock and the water to put in.
Apart from the de-chlorine chemical, are there any chemicals/medicines etc.that I should keep in stock just in-case? I'm thinking of keeping fancy goldfish, like Orandas or fan tails.

Many thanks

Hi,

What size is the tank? And when will you be stocking it?

Things I always have to hand are :

Seachem Prime
Aquarium Salt
Myxazin
My trusty liquid test kit
Melafix and Pimafix
Frozen peas.

That should get you out of the majority of fancy problems!

Off hand I believe it's a 60L.

I'll be getting the fish on Saturday, along with some other bits & bobs.
Also, as it's fresh/cold water fish, would I still need to add things like salt to the water?
Is the prime like a water conditioner that gets rid of the chlorine etc. from tap water?

Hi

I'm afraid 60 litres is way too small for Goldfish. Have a look at this article explaining their ultimate size, and tank requirements. If you particulary want to keep cold water fish then a suitable alternative for that size of tank would be a shoal of White Cloud Mountain Minnows, assuming your water pH and hardness levels suit them. Otherwise you could add a heater and have tropicals, which gives a wider range of fish to choose from with a certainty that there will be something to suit your tank size and water parameters.

Before getting any fish though you need to cycle the tank to make it safe for fish. This article explains why, and how to do so.

Any questions: please ask

Oh goodness, this is all so confusing! I read somewhere that it's 1cm of fish to 2 L or water, so presumed my tank would be okay.

Thanks for your help anyway :)

Quote:

Unfortunately that guide doesn't work for big fish, it only really works for small ones. Goldies are big fish. 60cm of goldie would be 2 fully grown common goldfish. Even fancies can get to that size, my Rocket, a fantail, is about 28cm total length A 30cm long fish wouldn't be able to turn round in a tank this size. Compare that to 30cm of neon tetra which is about 8 of them and you can see that they'd be fine.

You have to consider the adult size of the fish, not the juvenile size or the stunted size that most people are familiar with

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FL is right, goldies are not suitable at all for that tank, but there are lots of things that would be fine And you definitely need to do your fishless cycle first, much better for all concerned to ge the tank ready properly

HTH