Little Fancy GoldFish is afraid

Chepri

New Fish
Sep 25, 2011
2
0
0
#1
Hi!
I used to have 2 oranda's (lionhead fancy gold fish) but on of them died suddenly.
To prevent the other fish from getting lonely I quickly bought another fancy gold fish. However this one is much smaller then the first one and is very afraid (even though the bigger one leaves the smaller fish alone).
It's been 3 days, and the smaller fish is still hiding. I'm thinking about getting another one, so maybe they'll feel braver... or maybe the other one will show that there's nothing to worry about. but I"m not sure if that'll work.
I don't really know what to do... I've got a smaller tank with shrimps, so I could put the smaller fish there for a while untill it grows a bit, however I'm afraid they'll both get lonely and will become unable to be social again.
Need help an oppions please!
 

Chepri

New Fish
Sep 25, 2011
2
0
0
#3
I'm not sure what caused the death of the other goldfish. One day he was a little lazy and the next day he was dead. He looked perfectly healthy. The other one is doing fine. The water values were good, I had a bit of nitrate (between 25 and 50 so I refreshed the water) but no nitrate and I don't have an amonya test. The tank is 60 liters.
I've places the fish in my shrimp tank where it's terorizing the shrimps so it's not afraid anymore. XD
Still this is not a permanent solution, now I'm afraid they'll both get lontly and anti social. How long can they stay alone before this happens? Should I maybe try and put the smaller one back every week? Or in about a month? or get them both companyons? Return the smaller smaller fish? I don't know!
 

Feb 27, 2009
4,395
0
36
#4
I'm not sure what caused the death of the other goldfish. One day he was a little lazy and the next day he was dead.
Goldfish (any fish really) are not 'lazy' and would not die as a result a day later. I suspect the behavior was an indication of poor water quality. 60 liters of water is not enough water to keep one goldfish healthy for long. Most will say you would need 80 liters for one, and 120 liters for two (40 more liters for each additional goldie).

The water values were good, I had a bit of nitrate (between 25 and 50 so I refreshed the water) but no nitrate and I don't have an amonya test.
I'm going to guess you meant NITRATE first, and NITRITE as your second NITRATE above. A reading of 25-50 nitrite would instantly kill any fish.

What test kit did you use to get a reading of "between 25 and 50" for nitrate? I've never seen a test kit that gives a range. Most will say 0, 5, 10, 20, 40, 80 (each value doubling after zero). How did you 'refresh' the water? Is that a water change? If so, how much did you change and did you vacuum the gravel? How often do you do water changes and gravel vacuums? Do you run a filter on the goldfish tank? If so, how do you maintain/clean it?

I've places the fish in my shrimp tank where it's terorizing the shrimps so it's not afraid anymore. XD
Fish are not 'happy' any more than they are 'afraid.' Nor are they 'lonely' nor do they become 'anti-social.' They do not have the human emotions you mentioned. If the smaller goldfish is acting more normal now, it is likely that the water is in better condition in the shrimp tank.

I would recommend a larger tank for the two goldfish, and an accurate test kit (one that uses test tubes) to monitor water quality.

Just my 2cents.
OC
 

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