I've committed serious crimes... My 3 daughters won a goldfish each at a fair yesterday (my back was turned). The man sold us a bowl style tank and some SUPA food for them. No gravel or filter or advice. I filled it with tap water once home and gently tipped the 3 goldfish from their little bags into the tank. I've now found out that this was wrong!!

I obviously need to rectify the situation immediately. We are going to build a pond but this is a few months away so I need to provide a safe home for these poor things until we can move them to a pond.

I'm going shopping for a proper tank with filter and gravel tomorrow but I can't move them into the new tank straight away - so how do I best look after them where they are please?

Huge thanks!

Hi,

WHOOOPS!!

My first instinct is to ask colleagues / facebook friends if anybody has a pond where they could go now.

You can always get more fish once your pond is set up.

The second option would be to get a big food safe plastic storage box and an internal filter. Staples do a 145L box, but I use a 110L from Asda (£12). Get a bottle of Seachem Prime to remove chlorine and to lock up ammonia as your filter will not have completed the necessary nitrogen cycle which converts the ammonia in fish waste to less harmful nitrate.

To be honest re homing to a pond asap is by far the easiest and kindest option.

Best of luck and please keep us posted.


JON

Hi

Welcome to FK.

To be honest, they'd be better of going straight into the tank even uncycled as more water volume while there are toxins in the water is better then less. But if the pond is a few months from being built then it looks like it may be a year before they can go out as once autumn arrives and the weather begins to cool (early September at the latest), it's too late for them to go outdoors this year and survive the winter. That gives you a problem in that to stay in good health, two common goldies will need a pretty big awter volume.

Unless you can afford a big tank I'd suggest getting a very large food safe storage crate (such as the Really Useful boxes sold at Staples) and an internal filter instead, as long as you can get them into a pond next summer. Get the biggest one available (about 140 litres) and a filter rated for twice that, along with a some tap water dechlorinator (Seachem Prime is good as it can detoxify ammonia in the early stages if needed) and a decent liquid based test kit such as the API Master Test Kit. Armed with all of that, follow our guide to what to do in an emergency on this link.

In the meantime, change 25% of the water in their bowl every day with water warmed to the temperature oif the water in the bowl and dechlorinated before it's put in.

Any questions - just ask

Thank you both so much for your advice!
I've decided to get a very big tank to house the 3 goldfish for a year until the pond is ready. Once they're in the pond I'd like to get lots of little fishes for the big tank (not goldfish) - are there any tanks better than others for this purpose please?
Huge thanks!!

Hi

If you can be 100% certain they'll be able to move to a pond next year then something around 180 litres/3ft long will be OK 'til then for the three of them. Once they're in the pond you can either stock with temperate fish like Danios, Minnows etc or add a heater and go for tropicals which gives you a far wider variety of fish to choose from.

Most of the standard 180L tank packages from manufacturers like Juwel, Fluval etc., are very good: Seapets usually have good prices on tanks. Alternatively, you can often save a lot by getting a second hand tank on eBay, through local papers or even freecycle if you're able to transport the tank. The only problem is that sometimes used tanks come with fish so make sure you know there are no fish included before bidding!

Check out allpondsolutions.co.uk for some cheaper alternatives to the big names :).

Just to add a little bit here. How old are your daughters? I ask as the fairground may have broken the law by allowing your 3 daughters to win the goldfish. Under the law it is illegal to allow persons under the age of 16 to win or purchase any fish (or any other pet) without the explicit consent of a parent first. If this is the case it would be worth contacting your local council and advising them of the incident. At least it may stop this happening to some other unsuspecting family in the future.

Excerpt from PFK.

"Secondly, I blame the ministers who passed the Animal Welfare Act (2005). Originally this Act banned all animals as prizes. However, at the last moment it got amended to simply raise the age of winning a pet as a prize from 12 to 16 without parental consent. Without stereotyping, are a group of 16-year-olds responsible enough to win a goldfish at a fair? No. I can only imagine what fates some of those poor little fish, and indeed fish all over the world at carnivals and fairs, have suffered."

Taken from this article PFK article on fairground fish. Click here.

My girls are 8, 7 and 3. So there's no way they could be mistaken for 16 year olds. On a positive note I've been to the Aquatic shop and have got the following set up:
- 125 litre tank (not ideal but only one in stock, all the rest I had to order & would take several days - I couldn't keep them in the tiny 4l bowl another second and will aim to have the pond built by July)
- Fluval 1000 l/h filter
- Biotopol as directed
- denitrol added after an 2 hours
- lava fern on a bit of wood
- some pond weed

I couldn't face trying to get the fish out of the tiny bowl so put the bowl inside the tank for 2 hours following above set up. Gently submerged bowl and swim gently swam out and began exploring their surroundings. They look lost in the big tank but I know it's so much better for them! The three of them are going everywhere together. They seem to like being near the filter and bubbles.

Does all that sound ok? I haven't put the lights on incase they get too warm. Should I get a thermometer?

Thank you all so much for your advice & please keep it coming!!

According to my tests all good bar GH and KH - both a bit on the low side (hard water area??). Given it's a brand new set up should I leave it for a while to settle or do I need to treat the water with a softener of some description please?
Huge thanks!!

I was given a 200 watt interpret heater with the tank as I plan to keep tropical fish later. It's lowest setting is 20'C so could I use this to keep the goldfish at the right temp as it's not an overly warm room?
Thanks!!