Question about my fishtank

[inkie]

Hi all!
Two weeks ago i started with my first fishtank... stupid as I was I bought everything in a rush, and realized afterwards i did wrong. I bought 6(!) goldfish.. which is just far too much for a 6 Gallon tank... Two of them already died and i really feel bad about it. Okay, I have a filter and airstone, the 4 fishes i have left are very happy at the moment, as I learned more about tanks.

My tank now is just very ugly at the moment, no nice plants, and ugly blue gravel.
I now want to re-organize my tank this weekend, put real plants in it, add lighting, add heater (to make sure the temperature stays the same). I have another small 3 Gallon tank, for the days when I am busy with my tank (i guess it needs to be cycled too), can I put my 4 small goldfish in that tank, so that i can make sure the 6 gallon is prepared well?

Should I keep some aquarium water to fasten the cycle? Should I keep the "dirty" filter stuff?
Any advice on how i can do this are welcome!
Thx!!
PS: sorry about my english, it's not my best language.

[Ovrclckd]

Keep the filter intact, discard the water. Goldfish are a coldwater species, you don't need a heater, id advise against it because you'll keep the temp. too high, goldfish do best in the 60s (15-20C i think, nearly everything here is metric, except fish tanks ).

[inkie]

The reason why i want a heater is because
the temperature changes a lot as I am on the attic, it can get 24C in afternoon and 14 in the evenings, with a heater i can have it maybe stable?

[ryanp15]

You probably shouldn't have gotten the goldfish. That's not your fault though. I know you didn't know. I think you should let it cycle and then re do it. That would be the best thing. Six gallons is pretty small for 6 goldfish. What kinda plants are you planning on getting for the tank? ;D

[inkie]

After a lot of reading I am planning to get
Java Moss and maybe Java Fern and a piece of driftwood. I also read about how to handle driftwood. If anyone has other nice plant suggestions It will be nice to hear it!

[SegaDojo]

i agree that your 6g is too small for 6 goldfish.. nevertheless just one goldfish.  Even a feeder goldfish would grow too big for a 6g.  

Plus goldfish tend to eat plants, so if you would really like to grow some healthy plants, i'd skip the goldfish and perhaps add some small schooling fish (like White clouds, harlequin raspboras, and cherry barbs <not schooling, but does well in planted tanks&gt.

how much lighting do you have in the 6g?  
Some low light plants and the java moss and java fern would do well for you.  I'd also add some crypts and anubias to the list.  

Any other plants would depend on the amount of flourescent lighting you are using/going to use.

[Kristin]

my best advice is to keep all your filter media and also your heater, exchange the goldfish and get some smaller fish. for a 5 gallon, a couple female mollies or platys would be a good choice for a new tank. java moss is a great plant, especially growing on driftwood. and hey, you will never have to vacuum the gravel because the moss will use the waste as fertilizer!