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Jan 18, 2010
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#1
Hi. The reason for this question is based around the fact I am a complete novice when it comes to keeping fish. I DID have a goldfish once, that lived for about 10 years or something. I won the wee chap at the funfair. It was him (always thought of him as a guy) or a coconut. Seeing as coconuts are such a pain in the ass to actually get IN to & are rather disappointing once you get there, I chose "Archie". He lived a solitary existance. This was at his behest. How so? Well he ate the 2 "friends" I tried to introduce, at one point & another. He also survived a night on the carpet, having decided to leap out of his tank one night, whilst I was in bed. In the morning the burning effect the carpet must have had on him had turned him white down one side. Amazingly he seemed to shrug it off & was with me for a good couple of years after. Once he passed on to that great goldfish bowl in the sky (because they DO have souls by the way) the distress this caused me meant I was unable to LOOK at another fish for many, many years. Probably. Anyway, all that aside, I have 2 lovely wee fish now. Not sure of their name to be honest. They are almost white in colour, with a splash of orange on the top of their heads. They seem to be very friendly little chaps. They are always up at the glass if you are there & seem very curious. The are probably an inch long ( that's real inch, not MMAANN INCH) from top to tail & the tail is very impressive. My question(s) to you guys is/are this. Firstly, what are they actually called? Secondly, how much do you reckon I should feed them & how often? And finally, how much water should I keep them in? Now, you'll probably think I should have asked these questions when I purchased them. I would. But, you see, I did. Unfortunately the 17 year old waif behind the counter professed complete ignorance in anything whatsoever, other than the current series of x factor, or her boyfriends taste in clothes. Neither were of much use to me, unfortunately. So here I am;) Now, at this juncture I have 2 of the little chaps in about 4.5 litres of water. They are in a tank that resembles a huge brandy glass, the bottom of which is covered in pebble type stones. I am feeding them something called Aquarian, advanced nutrition, goldfish flake food, at the rate of 2 flakes each, every second day. I am feeding them at this rate because that is what someone advised me to feed them. There is nothing scientific about it. He just claimed to know. Therefore, I am now on this site, seeking some form of clarification, from people who actually know what they are talking about. All kidding aside, I don't want to wake up one morning to find them dead. So if anyone out there has any advice I could follow then I will appreciate it. Thanx.
 

Jan 18, 2010
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#3
Hmm, yeah, that's deep. As to the advice, well, there's as much chance of they 2 chappies growing to a foot long as there is of me waking up tomorrow morning & declaring that, henceforth, I wish to be known as Laura anne & claiming my full rights as a weirdo sexual, or whatever the trendy name for that carry on is. In short, none at all. Brain of Britain I am not. But is the size of the fish not relevant to the size of bowl, or indeed river they occupy? If not there's going to be a LOT of unhappy people, waking up one morning to find pinky & perky inhabiting half the lounge (certainly most of the settee) & perhaps even (depending on temprament) throwing their weight about & demanding all sorts of ridiculous things. No, the sheer enormity of this possibility is enough to make me dismiss it out of hand. Yes, I know, I could have been a polititian. Anyway, while I'm meditating on the enormity of your finishing quote, my two little chaps may be starving to death, or, quite paradoxically, overeating themselves to death. It is a quandry indeed. Should I feed them more, or less? More water or less? Toilet or just down the drain? Only kidding, only kidding. Don't want the goldfish liberation army smashing down the door. I did try & upload a couple of pics of them, but couldn't. It kept telling me it was too big. Not the fish, they're tiny, like I said, the pic. Somebody suggested they may be called orandas. I'm not sure. They do look kinda like them, but the ones I looked at online seemed to have big heads. Of course they may just have been ugly, I don't know. Or they may even have had tiny heads, but just even tinier bodies. Again, I just don't know. As for the water. They're in just under five litres. It's kind of the (loose) equivalent of me living in a room that measures 40 by 60 by 200. Anyway, I must leave you for now, whilst I meditate on the depth of your welcome connundrum. If there's anyone else who can answer my original questions then that would be terrific. I'll even tell you so. I'm like that me.
 

Feb 27, 2009
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#4
Firstly, what are they actually called?
No idea. without a picture what a fish is called. A lot of fish have white and orange on them.

Secondly, how much do you reckon I should feed them & how often?
Generally all they can eat in 5 minutes, 1x per day.

And finally, how much water should I keep them in?
115 litres

But is the size of the fish not relevant to the size of bowl, or indeed river they occupy?
If your intention is to deliberately stunt their growth, I guess so.

I did try & upload a couple of pics of them, but couldn't.
Have the pictures hosted somewhere and post the link for them here if you want to show them.

Should I feed them more, or less?
Answered above.

More water or less?
Answered above.

Somebody suggested they may be called orandas. I'm not sure. They do look kinda like them, but the ones I looked at online seemed to have big heads.
If you do have an oranda goldfish, they will get 7-8 inches in total length if given the proper environment.


If there's anyone else who can answer my original questions then that would be terrific.
I'm sorry you did not like my answers. Since you do not want my opinions, I'll bow out of answering anything further.

Good luck with your fish.
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
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Northern NJ
#5
You are one hilarious person Gazza :)

The answers above are pretty much what you're looking for in terms of tank suggestions and feeding.

For the image question, like Orange said use a site such as Photobucket to up load pictures onto this site.

Once you upload the pictures of your beloved goldfish on this site, we will be able to tell you what kind they are. If their body and face looks anything like the goldfish in my signature below, they are Oranda Goldfish. Orandas don't have to have big and brainy heads in order to classify them as orandas. they could simply look like mine:


I have kept goldfish for more than 12 years and can tell you that yours will not live happily in a 4 liter bowl. they will not live happily in a bowl period.

For two goldfish, regardless of breed you need to have at least a 30 gallon tank. this is even slightly smaller than what Orange suggested. 115 liters is even better.

If you have any further questions don't hesitate to ask.
 

Jan 18, 2010
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#6
Hi there Newman. Thank's for the advice. It's appreciated, believe me. The previous advice was also much appreciated. It's just "my way" as the late, crooked, great, Frank Sinatra once claimed, before taking the 5th. I fed them as suggested, ie, as much as they could scoff in 5 minutes. I then cleared the debris from the top. They seemed to enjoy it. One of them (perky) even winked at me ! High praise indeed. Of course, it could merely have been some form of muscle reaction, or a tic, but how likely is THAT? No, there's definitely some form of understanding there. Something on a higher plaine, if you will. Non fish keeping type folk wouldn't understand this of course. But that's why they don't & we do. The secret is safe with me sir. As for the photo upload thing, I'm not too sure what that means. Does it mean I should register with with this photobucket site, upload my pics onto there, then from there to here? If so, then this is what I shall do. I must confess to being a little alarmed at the growth potential here. There I was, thinking I'd get my baby daughter a couple of itsy bitsy fish. Little did I know I could in fact have a pair of monsters lurking in the corner, just waiting for the moment to leap out & reveal their true gargantuan proportions, probably eating me in the process. I'll need to start watching that whale wars, double quick. No, I think the best course of action here, before getting greenpeace involved, is to get these pics uploaded pdq. So that is my next course of action. In the meantime I will continue to pacify them, giving the impression all is well. I "may" build a 10 yard exclusion zone around them, for my daughters sake. The thought of potential legal action, should my baby employ the services of some legal hot shot is never far from the modern parents mind, unfortunately. Then again, does that mean I'm impinging on the fishes aquatic version of our human rights? Man, this is so confusing*twirlysmi Anyway, to you & to the previous person, thanx for your help. I do appreciate it. Just trying to add the odd smile as I go along. If you can possibly let me know about the photo upload thing that would be great. So grateful shall I be, I'll upload a pic of me with a vaccum cleaner on my head & a smile on my face. That sir, is a promise. It's an old, Scottish, traditional, thank you, dating back to the early days of hoover appliances, though not before.*thumbsups
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
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Northern NJ
#7
haha, well I can tell you that you do indeed need to register on Photobucket (in my opinion an easy-to-use site) and upload your pictures to here. once they are uploaded, each picture will have several tags to go along with it. These tags include one that can be copied from photobucket and pasted into a post on this site. that tag is the Image tag of your picture. all you do is copy the tag and paste here. viola, you now have that picture in your post. :)

The eye winking I believe is just a simple muscle contraction of the eyes that causes the fish to "blink" there seems to be no function for this (as fish do not need to hydrate their eyes because they're in water..) other than to just maybe exercise the eye muscles...but you will get no scientific answer from me because I am not a marine biologist :D