Confining goldfish to a small bowl or container is cruel, as these fish have a propensity to grow very large. It not only leads to premature death, but also stunts growth, deforming them internally and externally.

Bowls don’t work too partly because goldfish produce huge amounts of ammonia and waste. These toxic elements poison the water fast. Imagine the situation worsening in meager, cramped spaces.

Being coldwater fish, goldfish also need plenty of oxygen—something you won’t find in bowls with small surface areas.

If you’ve heard others boast about how their goldfish have lived up to three years in a bowl, get this: Goldfish, if taken care of properly, can live up to 25 years or more!

Suffice it to say, dunking your goldfish in a bowl won’t improve their quality of life, let alone encourage longevity.

If these still don’t convince you, you’re welcome to read my earlier post on Why Goldfish Won’t Thrive Well In a Bowl.

Housing Your Goldfish The Proper Way

Aquarium Tank: Get a tank! It’s unavoidable if you want your pet fish happy and healthy.

Buy the best you can afford, something that will last your fish a lifetime. Remember, they are going to grow a lot, both length- and body-wise.

Don’t overload the tank. Some experts recommend about 10 gallons of water per goldfish, and that’s just for fry and the young ones!

Filter: A good filter is vital in maintaining a healthy environment for your fish. Power filters are a good choice, they’re easy to clean, come in many sizes, and priced reasonably.

Which filter you buy also depends on your tank size and how many fish you have. I’ve written a number posts on filter, do a search around this site it should bring out a few of them. For a start, you might want to read this: The Various Types Of Aquarium Filter And Their Functions.

Lid: Cover the tank with a lid. It not only stops startled fish from jumping out, but also cools the water in the tank. As goldfish are coldwater fish, you need to keep the water temperature down—and this can be tricky with tropical climate areas. Buy a thermometer to monitor the temperature daily.

Air Pump: Getting an air pump to aerate the water is a wise move, though not entirely necessary if the tank’s surface area is big. Here are two articles to get you acquainted about air pump: Understand the Basic Uses of Aquarium Water Pump and Tips on Choosing an Air Pump For Your Aquarium.

Aquarium Decor: Decorating your tank? Safety first! Steer clear of sharp, dangerous ornaments that may cause injury to species like the Bubble Eye.

Gravel: Choose dark-colored gravel to set off your goldfish colors. Gravel not only holds plants downs, but also provide a home for good bacteria to grow. Goldfish, being the natural grazers they are, will love searching the substrate for good morsels. The choice is on you though—to clean the gravel consistently and thoroughly! More reading pleasure on gravel: Easy and Effective Ways to Learn About Aquarium Gravels, Are You Laying The Right Substrate For Your Aquarium?, and Aquarium Substrate: Gravel Basic.

For any aquarium to thrive, planning is crucial. As with humans, you can’t please everybody. But for fish, sheer unhappiness can be a matter of life and death.

Maintaining compatibility in a fish community is no picnic. Not all fish get along or thrive in the same environment, so all it takes is for any one resident to feel nervous about any one condition, and you could end up with sickly fish.

Water Chemistry Consideration: As if it’s not difficult enough ascertaining the right water chemistry, temperature and quality, you have to ensure your choice will make every inhabitant happy.

Do your research. Things you should be looking for are:

• What type of habitat is suitable for the different species in your tank?
• Do your fish prefer soft or hard water?
• Do they fall sick if the mineral content is low?
• Are they hardy, or do they take ill at the slightest introduction of soluble compounds?

Keeping check on the temperature should be high on your priority list as the wrong aquarium climate will affect your fish badly.

Fish Food and Feeding Consideration: If you’re fussy about what goes into your mouth, fish are no different either.

An all-for-one fish food will not work. You need the right food types for carnivores, vegetarians, or live-food eaters.

For the little ones, nibbling small food flakes is best. But for big fish, anything goes. If you put them together, you may find the big, carnivorous fish trying to fit the small ones into their mouths!

Make sure all the fish get their food, and that the slow swimmers don’t lose out. Observe how fast different fish swim and eat during feeding sessions, as well as which are the surface and bottom feeders.

Territorial and Aggressive Behavior Consideration: Fish size and aggressiveness should be taken into consideration if you intend the inhabitants to live harmoniously together.

Aggressive or territorial fish are like bullies in school who chase terrified kids round the playground. Don’t mix aggressive and passive fish together. The aggressors will hog the food and eat it all leisure, bullying the shy ones into taking cover.

Remember that stress is the main cause for illness. Don’t separate schooling fish: they will feel stressed without their mates.

Aquarium Accessories Consideration: While decorating your tank, simulate a natural environment where your fish will feel comfortable in.

Different fish require different conditions. Some require hiding nooks among plants and driftwood, while others thrive better with sand than gravel.

If you have many different types of fish, a larger aquarium can help address all the different living and landscaping issues of your fish.

Last advice to you is to choose everything wisely.

You can try fish that you would normally keep in a tank. Just make sure you don’t overstock your pond, and that the different species of fish can live harmoniously together. You might want to read my previous articles—How To Build a Good Community Tank For Your Fish and Are You Building A Good Aquarium Community?—to familiarize yourself with community fish.

A couple of quick suggestions for newbies, you might want to try tetras and live bearers such as swordtails and guppies. However, a pond with only a top view does no justice to many tropical fish, which can be best appreciated viewed in a glass tank.

You did not specify the type of fish you’re breeding. Some fish care for their eggs and young while others devour their eggs with relish. If you have the latter type of fish, you will need to remove the fish from the tank.

It is not advisable to remove the eggs as the different water parameter in another tank may affect their hatch rate.

How well your plants grow depend on an intricate balance of factors such as light, carbon dioxide, and nutrients. How do you get balance right?

How To Make Your Aquarium Plants Thrive

Lighting for Aquarium Plants: Important for photosynthesis, light should be intense enough to keep plants alive, and be in the right spectrum to be properly absorbed.

Keep the lights on for 10 to 12 hours a day. Buy a timer: plants thrive better under a constant light cycle.

If the light is dim, you can’t make up for it by leaving it on longer. If the plants need more light, install another fixture and increase the intensity.

Generally, the deeper the tank, the more intense the light should be. Use about 1.5-three watts per gallon of water for a 12-inch deep tank.

Opt for full-spectrum fluorescent bulbs. They are ideal, being closest to the sun’s spectrum, alternatively, “plant lights” are all right too, as they enhance the fish’s colors well.

Avoid incandescent lights that generate too much heat and not enough light, as well as standard cool-white tubes that slow plant growth.

Carbon Dioxide: Even if you get the lights right, without enough carbon dioxide, plants cannot photosynthesize.

Fish respiration produces carbon dioxide, though it’s usually not enough for lush foliage. For plants to really flourish, a carbon dioxide level of 15-20ppm is required.

Though not entirely necessary, some serious aquatic plant enthusiasts inject carbon dioxide into the tank to boost plant systems. Be careful you don’t overdo it: too much carbon dioxide can kill your plants. Consult your fish dealer on this option.

Nutrients and Trace elements: Plants need trace elements and nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphate and potassium, which can be found in fish food, waste, and tap water. Changing 20 per cent of the water every two weeks helps replenish trace elements.

For optimal growth, consider adding a trace element fertilizer, such as iron and potassium fertilizers, available in pellet or liquid form.

Signs that your plants lack fertilizer show up in yellow, sickly, and transparent leaves. Growth is almost zero or slow and stunted, and old leaves die off unusually quickly.

Substrate: If the substrate grains are too small, sand gets compacted, and plants’ roots may not get a good enough grip. Overly large grains collect rotting detritus.

Some people recommend 2-3mm gravel or 1-2mm coarse sand. You can supplement the bottom one-third of the gravel with fertilizer and soil.

Try to match the substrate with different plants or roots. Big plants require deep gravel while grasses do fine with an inch or less.

Still unsure? A uniform 1-3 inches of gravel all round the tank is a safe bet, and should keep the plants rooted.

How Do You Know If Your Fish Are Stress

There are many stress signals to indicate that your fish are stressed. Generally, if your fish don’t look happy, they’re probably stressed-out!

You’ll know your fish are stressed when they act abnormally. Once you’ve kept fish for some time, you’ll be able to tell how each species behaves. You may even be able to tell individual fish apart and discern their idiosyncrasies.

Of course, there are vast differences in different species. While some fish tend to stay near the water surface, others feel more at home near the base of the tank. And while some active souls are continuously finning from place to place, others prefer a quieter, more placid existence.

These differences make it all the more interesting to watch your pet fish. But it also means having to keep a close watch on your fish to see if they are acting out of the ordinary.

What Are The Common Fish Stress Signals

There are various common symptoms of fish stress. Here are some common warning signs to look out for:

Not Eating Well: One big danger sign is when your fish refuses or becomes unenthusiastic about food. The most possible causes are:

• Your fish could be ill or getting bullied by other aggressive inhabitants.
• It could also mean there isn’t enough cover for it to feel safe to swim about and eat unhindered.

Wounds: Another clear sign of stress is when your fish has ragged fins or open wounds that do not heal. Small cuts normally heal quickly. If they don’t, it’s a sign that the fish’s immune system is being suppressed by high stress.

Stress Diseases: Disease is, of course, a common sign and cause of fish stress. Fungus, parasites, and other ailments come in all shape and forms, presenting a major danger of infection spreading throughout the tank.

Most of the time, a healthy fish has a strong immune system which keeps it from getting sick in the first place. So when it does get sick, it can indicate that stress made the fish susceptible to disease.

Breathing Difficulties: If all the fish are gasping for breath at the water’s surface, there may not be enough oxygen in the tank. Lack of oxygen can be due to poor circulation. There can also be high ammonia content from fish waste due to overcrowding in the tank.

If only one or two fish are exhibiting this behavior, they could have damaged their gills due to disease or fighting.

Q: As I understand that the function of carbon in a filtration system is to remove toxic substances. On the same thought, it also removes any medication that has been added to the water. If so, is there a substitute for carbon that will not remove the medication?

Carbon filtration is carried out to remove the unpleasant fishy smell from the aquarium. The carbon absorbs all the substances and smell passing through it. The carbon will also absorb chemicals from the medication. As such, your medicine will lose much of its effectiveness.

Ceramic Ring, The Better Option

What you could do is change your filtration system by using other filter materials such as lava rock or ceramic ring. This will minimize the amount of medication being removed through your carbon filtration system.

Q: Lately, one of my lionhead goldfish started swimming in an off-balanced manner. It turns round and round, upside down and in all directions. Why is it behaving this way and what is the cure?  Also, another fish has red spots on its fin and body. How can I get rid of these spots?

Goldfish Swim Bladder

When goldfish starts to swim in an off-balance manner, it is an indication that its swimming bladder is affected and has too much air in it due to overfeeding. My suggestion to you would to lower the water level in the tank to help your goldfish release stress, in turn the air in the bladder will also be released gradually. In addition, use Tank Buddies Fungus Clear or Binox Freshwater to help speed up the process.

Goldfish Bloody Spots

As to the red spots on its fins and body, this could be due to excess changing of chlorinated water, which reduces the amount of body slime and hence encouraging bacteria to develop. In some cases, this may also lead to parasitic attacks. Apply Fungus Eliminator, this should help and get rid of the spots.

Even experts agree it is very difficult to differentiate the sex of angelfish. If the store “dared” to confirm the sex, then you have to take their word for it.

As to breeding angelfish, seasoned angelfish aquarists would usually purchase a group of angelfish at their juvenile stage and let them grow together. When these angelfish are sexually mature, compatible fish will pair off and mate, without any intervention from us humans. In any case, angelfish are very choosy about their mates.

What you will also notice is that the paired angelfish are constantly in each other company. When they’re ready to mate, they will occupy and clean a portion of the tank, chasing other fish away from their proposed mating spot. Again, you aren’t required to do any preparatory work for their mating ritual in order for them to breed successfully.

Fish never eat when they are being transported, and moving them from place to place makes them much more susceptible to disease and death.

The ones you see at the aquarium shop may have already gone through several journeys—from the importer to breeder, for example. So the minute you buy the fish, try and get it home as soon as possible.

When selecting new fish, make sure they look healthy and do not have any injuries or disease. Keep a close watch on your new arrivals for several weeks to see if they look stressed or sick. A diseased fish can infect and even kill other fish in your aquarium.

When Adding New Fish

The main thing to remember is that the fish is already stressed enough, so try and keep any changes as gradual as possible.

Once you reached home, place the bag in your tank, so that the temperature of the water in the bag slowly changes to that of the temperature of the water in the tank.

Wait for about 15 minutes, then add a little tank water to the bag. Repeat this a few times, to allow the fish to get accustomed to the chemistry of the water in your own tank.

Then, gently use a net to place the fish in the tank. Do not place any water from the bag into the tank as it could contain bacteria and parasites.

What You Should Know When Adding New Fish

Most significant fish diseases are infectious. If the tank is crowded, the result can be disastrous as the ailment can spread like wildfire. If you see any signs of illness, try and place the infected fish in separate tank or container, and get treatment advice from your fish dealer.

Keep in mind that adding new fish will also increase fish waste in the tank. Therefore it will take some time for the existing bacteria in the tank to multiply in sufficient numbers to break down the fish waste.

Fish waste is converted into ammonia in the tank. More fish means more ammonia, which can also kill the fish. Too much ammonia removers the protective mucus membrane from fish, making them more vulnerable to infections. If your fish looks like it has difficulty breathing, this could be the cause.

Also, keep a close watch if your new fish are getting bullied by others, or if they are acting aggressively towards the other inhabitants. If this is so , you may have to create more areas for the fish to hide, or give some of them up!