Hi There.....

Newbie here, just set up a 120 gallon tank, for my Goldies....However I have been reading some worrysome info and need some expert advice, I purchased mixed 45 kg bag of all natural gravel that is sizes range in length 1/8" to 3/4 ", for safety reasons as I don't want the fish on swallowing these. However I noticed that when I drop food inside and it gets trapped in the gravel, the fish have a hard time trying to dig it out as compared to the conventional smaller stones. I was considering removing most of it and mixing the existring gravel with smaller std type natural stone! I would appreciate some advice from ther pro's here!

CometLover

Hello Cometlover
I guess you have been reading some of the post here . I had that Happen the other day to mine . It was suggested that I May want to get a smaller rock as this would able them to spit it out or get a larger like river rock so they couldnt get it in there mouth . I havent changed my rock yet not sure what im going to do . I was told you dont realy need gravel in your tank . It is just a preference of your own . If you feel more comfortable with the smaller I would not see a problem with doing that. Goldfish are scavengers so they will move there rocks around with there mouth . Hope this help and welcome to KoKos

Fish are pretty smart at telling gravel from - Mine have been doing it for the whole of their lives!

i agree plasticplantsandgravel, but sometimes the fish can make a mistake and bam it gets stuck, usually it can spit it out but it can cause the fish (and owner) a lot of stress in the meantime. i had to rescue a 6 inch common who had a piece of stone wedged firmly in he mouth and its not something i want to repeat.
i now use the smallest gravel i can find, and its much easier to vaccuum clean.

having or not having gravel is really down to preference, so a non gravel tank means cleaning is easier and you can see where the muck is lying.

I have really small gravel in my tank (I use an undergravel filter[UGF]). That way they can pick it up and spit it back out with no worries about it getting stuck in their mouths. I vacuum the heck of it it weekly.

I don't think using gravel (unless your using an UGF) is a good thing, because all sorts of gunk build up in it--Poop, uneaten food along with the heterotrophic bacteria that eat the gunk. Those bacteria consume oxygen and produce ammonia and CO2. If you don't vacuum it thoroughly, it can go anaerobic on you and the bacteria that grow in the absence of oxygen produce methane and hydrogen sulfide gas which is very toxic.

Most of the goldie geeks I know recommend going bare bottom for goldies. You could scatter the larger stones around. and if you go bare bottom, you'll need decent HOB filtration that has multiple filter pads (so you can change out one without disrupting your cycle too much). They also use a turkey baster to remove any poop, etc between water changes. I think ultimately, they get green algae growing on the bottom, which the goldies like to graze on. If you have enough light and want to add plants, you can pot them. Makes it easy to move them for cleaning.

So how many goldies of what size do you have in the 120?
Did you seed it from an existing tank?
Do you have test for ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte? and pH, KH, and GH?

hey dataguru, where have you got all this knowledge from? i am always impressed with your threads, very informative.

Thanks Sandy

LOTs and LOTs of reading and hanging out with goldfish geeks online.

Dr Tim has a good library up at the Marineland website. That's where a lot of the info I have on the bacteria came from. He did his dissertation on aquarium biobugs. I have a summary of water quality info from his library up here that I put together back when I was cycling. There's a link to his library there as well.

I would go for larger river rocks...unless your fish is the size of a large dog, they won't fit in their mouths!

thanks folks for all the feedback, Finally I just finished a super work out redoing this tank basically I emptied half the tank..took out about 10 pounds of the larger stones mixed them with 25 pounds of the smaller stones and then remixed and did the final landscape and decor it came out pretty descent and I am happy .... so are my fish with 60 gallons of fresh water.... My next move will be a UV sterilizer