Why are there so many different views as to how much water per goldfish? The pet store says that five comets will be able to live in a 20 gallon tank, and that their growth will be determined by the size of the tank. I currently have three comets in a 20 gallon tank and they seem to be happy and healthy. Another source says that there needs to be one gallon of water for each inch of fish. Who is right?

Some pet stores are just interested in getting a persons money, nothing more - they will say anything to make a sell. If course 5 comets can live in a 20 gallon but they will be severely stunted and there lifespan shorten.

My personal goldfish belief is atlease have 10 gallons per goldfish, its easier to maintain - to me. Other one of my goldfish beliefs is if you going to keep a comet are common goldfish atlease get a 55 gallon so it can swim when it gets older.

I mean, I could throw 50 goldfish in my 55 gallon, but to me thats not responsible.

I would like to add it can be genes within the fish, I use to have 5 commons in my 150 and they never got over 10 are 11 inches.

I never believe in rules..

but I believe in providing the best and most comfortable environment for my fishes.. thus the 10 gallon rule is jus there as a guide for those who doesn't know..

if you dun stick to it, you will have to understand that having more than a fish in a 10 gallon tank means more work to keep the tank cleaner.. it also mean lesser space for the fish to grow to its fullest potential too..

therefore, whether you gonna stick to the 10 gallon rule or not is not must.. but you gotta bear the consequences of extra cleaning and the consequences of affecting the growth of your fishes..

cheers

In my opinion, the rule is much higher here because there is more experience. In the long haul 10-20 gallons per goldfish wil do you much better.

If you ask a breeder or someone with 10-20 years experience many of them will tell you more gallons per goldfish, more water changes, gph, filtration and air.

Practically speaking it is much easier too have a larger tank then is recommended and not compete with disease down the road. Goldfish are messy and you can love them a lot more that way. But to me, water changes is the more important of the two. You want room, but clean, fresh water is extremely beneficial and more like what a fish encounters in his natural habitat.

fully agree with Ed...

i just wanted to say,



well said. exactly how i feel!

Keeping goldies for about 6 years now, and talking to quite a few people in the breeding business, and those people housing their fish after they got advice from very experienced breeders in China and Japan, I know that those fish are kept in HUGE amounts of water. Something between 50-100 gl per fish or even more, depending on the particular breed of goldies. A celestial never reaches the same size than a oranda or comet for example.
Of course, those breeders do not have tanks, they have big huge ponds, one rectangle after another, and most do not have fancy filtration. They have constant water changes with a rather simple system of well or river water, which brings in very valuable amounts of natural foods like daphnia and mosquito larvae. Tanks are only used to selectively breed the goldfish...Here is a great link to such a farm...
http://yuenfatfish0.tripod.com/farm.htm

I personally have my fish in more than 10 gl/fish. My 160 gl holds 7 fish, 125 gl 5 fish, 75 gl's hold 4 and 5 fish, the 300 gl pond has 12 smaller ranchu, 160 gl tubs hold 5 wakins in one, 8 ryukin in the other. That way I can feed them more often without doing tremendous additional water changes.... Everybody has to find out his/her personal best stocking level, and if you give it a try, you will notice how much of an advantage you have with less fish in the tank. ....

just my two cents...fish stores also say it is ok to keep goldfish (even fancy goldfish) in a small bowl.

O tjoml pet-store's just want to make money in any way they can. The correct rule is 10 gallons per fish

The 10 gallon per fish rule is really a GUIDELINE not a rule. Everyone here has different opinions on how best to keep their fish. But to keep it very simple, if you want to have healthy, happy and longlived fish without constantly cleaning the tank and changing water a minimum recommendation of 10g per goldfish is the optimum.

You could have 5 gallon per fish but you'd have to do twice as much work to keep your tank looking nice and use twice as much filtration as normally recommended.

Remember the old saying K.I.S.S (I say sweetie, not stupid)

Cheers!

Someone here had a Sig that said your fish should thrive not just Survive. I agree with that Hold Heartily. The ten gal rule like everyone has stated is not a rule but a guideline. LFS most of them only care about the sale of the fish and would tell you anything you want to hear just to make a sale, kinda like a Car Salesman.

The more room the better I say. in another general thing is that once goldfish get to there size you should have 2 gals per inch of fish, so if a fish is 10" long you should have a 20 gal tank for them, this makes there life more comfy and the maintenance on the tank is allot easier too

The views everyone is expressing here are correct. The 10 gall. rule per fish is a good starter, but also take into account a fishes body mass for stocking a tank. A good fish store will allways recomend more gallons the better, and nothing is better than weekly water changes. A little work each week goes along way to healthy goldfish

My fishy is 5 inches long (common goldfish) and I have him in a tank of about 70 gallons he seems to be happy enough in it. Is this too small or will he be ok. When you clean your fishy out do you have to take out the gravel and wash it because mine has gathered a few droppings in it and im wondering how to clean it most efficiently as I have never cleaned a tank B4 (I've only had the tank for three days so its not that my fishy has been neglected its just I haven't cleaned it yet)
Koko: you speak about a vacumn to clean your tank what is this, are they the most effective things to use when cleaning out his tank and where do you get them from????

I've just realised I said 70 gallons and I meant 7 oops that sounds like a really small tank now :s

once again, it is not a rule whether is it bad or good to keep a goldfish in a bowl..

You can do so.. but you are in for a lot of maintenance and exposing your fish to higher risk!!

why? Bowl has limited surface area, thus less air and air is the #1 surviving factor for any living things..

Bowl also has limited space for the fish to grow into its fullest potential.. if overcrowded in a bowl, death is VERY likely to occur especially in bowl.. Dun understand how and when the myth of goldfish living in bowl starts.. I only know it started many many years ago.. which is a very wrong concept..

an exceptional bowl is acceptable when the surface area is larger than its body.. That would be a saucer like bowl then.. but still, space is limited.. not a wise choice..

but there is ONE RULE for sure.. NEVER BELIEVE IN EVERYTHING A PET STORE SAY.. believe it or not, many shop owners dun even know the product they are selling!! They have too many variety and they would only know a bit of this and that.. even they do know their stuff (breeders), they only have $$ in their mind..do you think they will impart their secret in establishing beautiful fishes to you so you have the potential to become their competitors?? why would they give you tips that keep your fish alive forever?? they probably make you have a fish that live for a few months so you will fall in love with it and follow by a series of sickness and you start buying medication and finally the fish die and you start all over again.. so what's the rationale behind this cycle basing on recommendation from shop owners?? it is all $$.. sorry if I have offended some members or readers who are shop owners here.. take offence only if you are such people, and I am opened to your challenge becuz you drive me sick.. but do not take it as an offence if you dun belong to this category as I am not implying to every shop owners (only a handful of them are good but RARE)..

that's it. cheers!!

By the way, I hate it when someone uses a wrong concept taught by a shop owners and uses it as an argument.. it drives me mad when that person keep saying - I cant be wrong, the shop says so..

GOSH, if you can't be wrong then why your fish is in trouble and why are you asking me for help?? Go back to your shop for advise then if you are only here to prove how right you are with the "absurd" concept/logic/theory taught by some $$ minded shop owner..

it is very upsetting whenever my friends challenge me and keep saying "Are you sure what you are doing??" or "I cant be wrong, the shop says so" or "You must be crazy!"

Yes, very true. I mean, come ONNNN look at the people that work at Pet Stores.... many of them don't know ANYthing about fish. I had someone tell my husband that he only needs to feed his bala sharks once or twice a week. Genius isn't it??

OH yeah, not to mention the kid at another store that tried to tell me that nitrates and nitrites were the same thing!!!!! And that they aren't harmful!!! DUH.

when I get my own place, I plan to give my single tailed guys at least 15 gallons cause I want pretty 12 inchers, not stunted 6 inchers