Hello,
I'm not exactly new to fish ownership, but when it comes to owning any type of fish, I've never had the greatest experience. I thought fish were fairly simple pets to care for, but infact, I've discovered it's a lot more work then I'd expected. After many toilet funerals, something tells me I'm not doing something right. So I'm finally doing some research before I re-stock my fish tank. Any advice would be very helpful.

I had just recently purchased a Marineland Eclipse 5 Hex Combo. I had a variety of Goldfish living there for a month before they had been infected with Ick. It seems there are a lot reasons that this occured, but since I'm new with aquariums because I usually keep my fish in bowls, I would like to know if perhaps my aquarium is missing something important. I'm not familiar with all the equipment used in aquariums and I'm not ready to toss my tank before I know if there's something I need.

Also, I'm not interested in owning a lot of fish, just something simple. Maybe one or two Orandas, and I had just read that bowls aren't suitable for Goldfish so if anyone could tell me the easiest and best way to care for these litte guys, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Rebekah

Hi Rebekah!
You've come to the right place for sure. How many gallons is your fish tank? For a fancy goldfish like an oranda, you need at least 10 gallons per fish. Also, could you tell us what type of filter it has?

Hi Rebekah
It's great that that tank has a filter, but at 5 gallons it is WAY too small to keep one goldfish of any kind in, let alone a 'variety' of them. They produce a lot of waste and depending on the type of goldfish you have they can grow quite big (assuming they have the right conditions).

I really don't suggest keeping anything other than a small shoal of small fish in there. You could get 5 or 6 White Cloud Mountain Minnows. They don't need a heater unlike other tropical fish and are quite hardy, produce far less waste and don't really grow much beyond an inch and a bit! I'm currently setting up a ten gallon tank and was going to go for some tropical fish but have changed my mind and I'm getting 8 WCMMs because I like them so much.

You could also put one betta in your 5g tank.

One or two oranda goldfish in 5 gallon tank = Not good. I agree with lclayton, you really can't keep a goldfish (let alone 2) in a 5-gallon tank. I think that some smaller tropical fish (zebra danios, a betta fish, or 3-4 guppies are some options, among others) would be better suited for your tank.

Your tank isn't really missing anything, but that depends on what kind of fish you are planning on putting in there. The only two things that might be beneficial is a heater (which you don't really need for goldfish), and an air stone (a porous decoration that you hook up to an air pump and bubbles come out of it).

Overall, from my experience, goldfish are quite finicky health-wise and are hard to care for (unless you have a BIG tank, 30+ gallons). I was surprised that goldfish weren't especially hardy, contrary to popular belief, and I have had MUCH better experiences with tropical fish.

One male betta is a great starter fish to let you get experience with fishkeeping. And your betta would LOVE that five gallon all to himself.

lol no goldfish of course.

I think You should put 4 - 5 guppies in there, all the otehr fish are nice but 1 thing i love most about guppies are their beautiful variety of colors. They are hardy fish and they will do great in a 5 gallon! They are teh best choice if you dont want to do alot of work or alot of fish! You will enjoy seeing those males guppies playing tag, I suggest you nto getting a female, you can tell teh female by its tail, will be shorter and less colorful, it will be bigger and it have a light or dark dot on its belly.

And of course 1 betta in a 5 gallon is a great choice also,! You will love its long tail and and how beautiful it is! dont keep it with another betta, they will end up fighting lol.

4-5 male only guppys would work too, but be sure and keep up with your water changes as you're closer to your bioload with that many fish.

An alternative to fish in that tank--you could get some shrimp! Ghost shrimp or cherry shrimp are quite small, and will eat flakes that sink to the bottom or (small) pellets (cherries will also nibble on algae that grows in the tank) They're tons of fun to watch as they clamber around, and are very light on the bioload so six or seven in there would probably be very comfortable.

Also, African dwarf frogs. They stay very little, like about an inch (excluding their skinny little legs). They're aquatic, but come to breathe air at the surface every so often. You could have three or four in there. The main concern for them is keeping all escape routes from the tank securly sealed--if they get out of the water, they die a slow death as their skin dries out--and not being too squeamish about food, since they're carnivores and their usual diet is bloodworms (not live necessarily--I feed mine thawed-out frozen ones).

If you really want goldies, though, you'll need to get a bigger tank.