I have two goldfish (well one is a goldfish and one is white not sure what breed she is called!) I have had them about 2-3 years now and I am so proud of my fishes! I love them!

Anyway I have them in a hexagonal tank which I think is 25 litres, and they also have an air pump as we had problems with them gasping for breath in the beginning! When I got them they were very small, and I didnt realise how big they can actually grow, but my white fish (angel) is now approx 15cm long and the goldfish (fishy) is smaller at about 8cm, but has a lovely large tail.

I've realised that this tank is probably too small for them, I didn't realise just how big they had grown, and I want to buy them a larger tank so they have enough room, but am worried about the transfer and I would be SO upset if they died from the change!

Could anyone advise me on what size tank would be best for them, and also which is the safest way to go about the tank change? Also should I buy them a filter as well? As I've read that goldfish should ideally have a filter?

Any help would be much appreciated as I wouldn't like them to be unhappy!
Thanks,
Penny.

Hi there Penny and

What a great idea especially when you consider their size

Just on the proper size of the tank, does your white fish have a single tail? If so he could be a comet/common so would need a good 80 litres just for him and your other fish needs a good 40litres so that would be 120 litres all up. Behind water quality, filtration IMHO is the most important thing to keeping fish healthy so it supports the most important thing...

If you currently have no filter then you'd basically be starting from scratch and would need to cycle a new filter. The best benchmark for filtration is something that has loads of room for sponge (mechanical/biological filtration) and ceramic noodles (biological filtration) plus turns over a good 10 x the size of the tank. So if you get a 120 litres tank, then you want a filter/s that turns over 1,200 litres per hour.

Cycling can be a pain and would involve many waterchanges in the first 6-8 weeks but once the cycle has been established, your fish will just love you for it. There's some really good information here that can help you with cycling, filtration etc otherwise, just ask and we'll gladly help you

PS. If you want to get a nice big tank, you can always find a good bargain on eBay

I would move as much of the gravel as you can. If you plan to change gravel bag the gravel and drop it in the new tank. Also while your new filter is cyling I would put on the old filter to help jump start the cycle. Or you can do a fishless cycle like is talked about in the cycle artical here on Koko's home page.
I am sure your goldfish well love the more room.
Good luck

Welcome, Penny. The others have covered it nicely - but there is some really good reading material here on this site that may answer some of your questions as well. Just in case you have not found it yet, here are some links. Poke around - the information is plentiful. Then ask any questions you may have. We all love talking goldies here!

http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...showtopic=11275

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/care.html

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/cycle.html

penny. Here is another place you can find a bargain tank.
craigslist.org