Hi All,

I recently moved 2 of my goldies (my Oranda and Ryukin) into a 55g tank (ex-oscar tank) and they love it!! It's also the 1st time they've seen gravel because I've always kept bare bottom tanks. They think the bottom of the tank is lined with food

My Moor is about 4-5", is still on his own in his 10g, and I'm still undecided as to whether I should put him in as well. All of my goldies were originally kept together in a 29g, but I always felt my Moor couldn't compete for food because I think he may be blind. He never actually starved, but I was always worried. I have to hand feed him peas. What do you guys think I should do?

I'm going to turn my ex-goldy 29g into a small marine tank with a couple of clown fish. I may have been watching too much "Finding Nemo" with my kids.

Slugger

There a lots of ways around feeding a moor in a tank with faster, more able to see, fish. One such way is to feed excess and remove uneaten food after a given time. Another is to feed two types of food, floating AND sinking. This scatters everyone throughout the tank scavenging and evens the odds a bit.

Another good way to be sure your moor is getting enough is to feed it in a breeder net once a day. Any excess meals that day can be left to competing for it. As long as its getting that one meal a day, all will be fine.


Good luck with yur new saltwater tank. Maybe i'll join you soon!


Paul

I agree with toothless second suggestion...I never had a problem with my moor or other telescope fish, they always seem to be more "ferocious" than my other goldies...lol

YEAH, Slugger! Congrats on the new set-up! You get to get MORE fish, too!
Please do not forget to take pix so people like me (who cannot get more fish) can live vicariously through you! It will be so much fun to see your fishs' reactions to gravel... (I never thought about it that way - like people who have never seen snow...)!

I would try the blackmoor in with his budddies and then watch VERY carefully - trying the things mentioned by Toothless and Tazz. I hope it works!

To update, I've attached a pic of the tank. I tried to take close-ups, but they turned up either fuzzy or just pics of fish tails...How do you guys take photos for pic of the week/month?

The tank's a bit bare because I took out all the old driftwood. Going to get some rocks, and perhaps a statue.

My Moor concern got sorted out above my head at Executive level. It appears the wife is too attached to him and won't let me put him in the big tank because it's at work.

I was going to buy some aragonite and marine salt yesterday after work, but it was way too heavy to carry, something like 100 pounds combined. Got to persuade some "heavies" to give me a hand Instead, I bought a red-capped Oranda and a lion-head/ranchu. Wahay!!! They'll be in quarantine at home for a good month.

Slugger

Wow! you must really love your wife - MORE GOLDFISH!!! (How did you do that - I gotta try that - those Blackmoors sure are charmers...)!

You have to start a new thread - - YEAH!!! Can you get a pic. of them in the QT tank?! An Oranda and lionhead/ranchu - lucky ducky!

PS - Pix - the secret is the dig cam, lots of patience (and one finger ont he delete button at all times), and a good Macro function! THat's how I do it, anyway, but I don't know anything about photography - I think acrylic photographs better than glass, but alas, my goldie is in glass...

The absolute secret to taking good shots of your fish is exactly as Graham said above, A digicam with macro function. Most or all have it.

But, if you REALLY want to get precise with the camera, you will need a very light finger. Find an object in the tank that is exactly as far away from where your subject will be. Lightly press the button so that you get a lock on the subject. Keep your finger lightly pressed on the button. Move the camera to your intended subject and wait for the magic moment, then press the button the rest of the way down. The flash and shutter should go off VERY shortly afterwards. This allows you to skip the automatic focus and the delayed shutter action resulting in "tail shots".

You can also get a lock on the focus without keeping your finger lightly pressed on the button. This will be hard to do as the lighting is generally not good enough to get that "lock". But, holding your finger lightly on the button allows you to "force" a lock on the focus as long as your finger remains lightly pressed.

Also, when taking a pic through glass or acrylic, the secret is to not take the photo directly from the front of the tank. This causes the flash to be reflected back at the camera and will show up as a bright glare obscuring your photo. Instead, try angling the camera slightly downwards at the subject. That way, any flash that is reflected off the glass goes down instead of directly back at the camera.


good luck Slugger! I look forward to seeing your photos!


Paul

Hey Slugger,love the new tank& fish!Can't wait to hear more about it all!

Your fish look so good in that tank, they must be large. Congratulations on the new set-up and the new fish.

Your new tank looks great Slugger! Congratulations!! Can't wait to see more pics too.

After my crash course in remedial goldfish photography module 101, here are pics of my Moor and the 2 new fish.

[attachmentid=7175][attachmentid=7176]

Still not so good, but I'm getting there. The fish stayed on the bottom so it was a bit easier, but I'm not sure if that is a good thing from fish health point of view.

I'm a little concerned about the small ranchu? because he did some pretty rapid tail wiggling a few times, like vibrating. I've salted to 0.3% and may add prazi.

The 2 newbies will eventually be transferred to the 55g at work and my Moor will live in either the 10g or 29g. Which tank should I turn into a marine, the 10g or the 29g?

Slugger

Cute pics! As for the Ranchu,I can't help but think that Prazi is definately a must.Seems like most fish come with some sort of Parasite,and Prazi is an all around safe deal. ;)Better safe than sorry,you know? I personally would turn the 29 gal. into Saltwater,only because everyone I know that has one,wishes that they would have gone bigger!

Your pics are looking great! I'm sure youll get even better very soon. As with most anything technical, the learning curve is VERY steep.


Anyway, As for rapid tail shaking, I have a goldie that has pretty long anal fins and tailfins, anyway, I noticed it will flash or shake its tail very fast (shuddering) when it has a bit of poop coming out that is tickling its tail or anal fins. Next time you see this, look for a bit of poop or maybe bubbles collecting underneath. Goldies do flash (not a diving scratch), yawn and shake fins for normal reasons. It when you see a persistance beginning is when one needs to worry. Sometimes, not always, the flashing, yawning and fin shaking can be attributed to harmless things. Very close observation is needed to decipher the reasons. Just a thought.


Paul

For my Ranchu, the twitching has died down a little, perhaps salting is working? I'll prazi the tank after about a week of salting. Both fish are very quiet and tend to stick together very still. Not sure why.

My Moor is still behaving like normal, only sitting at the bottom front corner. He still has a huge appetite, so nothing new here.

Got some new close-ups of my 2 fish in the 55g. What do you guys reckon?
[attachmentid=7208]
I used the "sports" setting on my digital camera, so the pics are still a bit fuzzy. I think I need to increase ambient lighting to get razor sharp pics.

My Oranda floats upside down when he is resting, which is a concern. This started to happen in the new tank, which is at 28C (At work, I have air-con for the fish 24 hours a day, 7 days a week). At home, the temp is closer to 32C and he never floated like that. I think his swim bladder might have been permanently messed up when he had an infection months ago

Slugger

Gee, sorry you have all these issues with your new fish, perhaps a lot of it can be attributed to stress. They may have only been shipped to the lfs a day or two before you brought them home. I do hope they don't have any illness.

My pearly stopped floating upside down when I removed all commerical foods from her diet. Only problem was whole tank had to eat fresh/frozen (which isn't a bad thing) but that particular pearly would still pig out. I recently moved her to a 10g on her own so I have control of how much she eats. jfyi.

Thanks for the tip.

I'm gonna try:

Mealworms, crickets, and vitamin enriched frozen bloodworms.

For a week.

Currently I feed em freeze dried shrimp, hikari gold lionhead, and peas.

Slugger

Temperature, and even salinity can affect a float-prone fish's swim bladder. Higher temps seem to help floatiness sometimes. I reckon the salinity of the water could be having an impact as well. Maybe try her in a temporary bin of just fresh water for a day and see how she does that way. If she begins righting herself easily, again, then I would assume salinity was the cause.

Fishmerised gave some VERY solid advice as to helping floaty fish maintain an "upright" lifestyle. Gel foods and natural stuff are the best stuff to use.....

Your fish are georgous!! The Oranda is magnificiant....now I want one!
Nice tank too