General Care

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Although we briefly discussed feeding in the other paragraph, i thought it would be best to include an entire section on this topic.

A question that's often asked is what type of food?

Unfortunately one of the worst types of foods is the one most commonly used. Flakes make up a major portion of most goldfish's diet, and this is also a major reason for goldfish death. The ingredients them selves are normally not dangerous, but the makeup of the flakes means that the flakes begin to dissolve as soon as they touch the water. This leads to a spike in ammonia, which will invariably kill your goldfish.

Fortunately their are plenty of other options. One of my personal favorites are pellet's. These small spherical pieces of food are ideal for goldfish because they do not dissolve quickly, and because they help to mimic your goldfish's natural feeding style. Another great type of food is freeze dried food. This food should be used sparingly, as most freeze dried foods are primarily meat based, and goldfish are omnivores, leaning on the vegetarian side. Frozen foods are a wetter version of freeze dried foods, and are considerably messier.You can also feed goldfish fresh foods, like peas, carrots and other fruits and veggies.

Here is a list of foods that i found work well:

Flakes: use with caution as they can cause an ammonia spike

Pellets:like flakes, except easier for you, and better for your goldfish

Freeze dried: this includes freeze dried krill, daphina, plankton, tubifex worms, brine shrimp, and blood worms. Use sparingly as this food contains a lot of protein, and can be very messy.

Frozen:like freeze dried, except slightly messier

Fruits: these make great foods, you can find lots of recipies on line, and i might find time to post some, this section includes apples, grapes, bananas, and other non citrus fruits.

Veggies:even better than fruits, this section includes peas, carrots, corn, and other small or easily diced veggies.

Gel:this is possibly the best type of food for goldfish. The gel comes in dry packets that you mix with water and other ingredients to create a good food for your goldfish

Home made: this food is very similar to gel, except it contains very few manufactured ingredients, if any.

Live Food: live food is also an amazing type of food. Live food is generally bought at stores, or bred at home. It is better to breed your own food, because pet/aquarium stores supplies often have disease and unwanted parasites. Live food can include brine shrimp, Daphnia, blood worms, and snails. Fish can also be used as live food, but it is  ill-advised. Live fish are generally used for the pickiest of fish, and goldfish are by no means picky. Live fish can also harbor disease, so it is best to breed your own. The best types of "feeder fish" are probably live bearers. these fish are not only pro-folic, but also relatively nutritious. One fish that you should avoid in particular are goldfish.  Unfortunately goldfish are occasionally fed to larger members of their own kind, which can cause a variety of problems. The first one is disease. You probably won't be breeding your goldfish, and if you are already breeding your goldfish you already know almost all of what i have said so far. If your not breeding goldfish you will probably be getting your feeder goldfish from a store. Goldfish in stores are often kept in miserable conditions, which means that disease, parasites and bacteria will abound in numbers. So please, don't feed your goldfish other goldfish.

A bit of history on goldfish and their relatives

Goldfish were originally bred by the Chinese about 2000 years ago. Back then they were not known as goldfish, and they were general used as food. The first goldfish began to appear when the Chinese placed carp with genetic mutations into a group pond, allowing the mutation to become stronger, giving these fish a gold coloring.

This section brings us back to the first question we asked, what should a goldfish tank look like?

As we said before, a goldfish tank should be as large as you can afford, but  what should it look like? Most of the tank design will be up to you. But there are somethings that are necessary for your goldfish. The first one is a filter. Without a filter your tank will become filled with ammonia and other nasty things. There are lots of filters on the market, but their are several that make particularly good filters for goldfish. Sponge filters make good filters, and they do not require monthly replacement of the filter cartridge because they work through bio-filtration. Cleaning these filters is also easy, simply remove the sponge from the filter and wash it under luke warm water.  Canister filters also work well, but they require a good deal of effort to set up and maintain. The most popular type of filter is probably the power filter. to start this you simply slide a carbon cartridge into a slot, and plug the filter in. The disadvantage to this is that you will have to buy new filter cartridges when you replace them.

Now to ever one's favorite part, the decorations!

I will leave most of the decor up to you, but there are a few things that should be avoided.  Sharp objects are at the top of my list. This includes lava rock, decorative castles, and just sharp things in general. Another thing to avoid is putting anything directly in your tank. When you first buy a new decoration you may be tempted to simply drop it in your tank. But although that might be fine with some things, it can be disastrous for others. Store bought items might have dangerous residue on them, and items that you find outside (like rocks) might have harmful bacteria on them. Another thing that i should mention is live plants. There is no doubt that goldfish love live plants. They enjoy swimming through them, hiding in them, and they particularly enjoy eating them. But sometimes plants can carry a few harmful passengers. This list could go on and on, but for the sake of convenience ill keep it to the three most common/dangerous. First on our list is snails. Snails can be both a blessing and a curse. Goldfish love eating snails almost as much as they love eating plants. But snails often carry a parasite called round worm, which is a pain to deal with, and can often be fatal to your fish. The best way to remove snails is to wash the plant in warm water, and then place it in a quarantine tank for the next week or so. Another danger with plants is the introduction of parasites such as ich. The best way to treat plants with this problem is to keep them in a separate tank, and treat them with an anti parasite solution. The last unintended passenger i'll talk about is infection. Unfortunately stores often keep their plants in the same tank as their fish, which means that if a fish in that tank has an issue, it can transfer it to the plant. The plant will not be harmed, but it can transfer the disease to your fish.

Now that we've covered the things to do before putting decor in your tank, we can talk about what you should put in your tank. Live plants are a great option as long as you wash them. Fake plants work too, although they do not look nearly as nice. The advantage to fake plants is that your goldfish can't destroy them. Moss balls also work well. These small spheres of moss make a great addition to your tank, and make a good grazing material for your goldfish. Be warned that your goldfish will destroy these plants, and that it is a good idea to simply replace them once a year, rather than attempt to discourage your goldfish. Moss balls can also transfer unsavory passengers, so it's a good idea to wash them in a way similar to plants. Smooth rocks work well, and goldfish can enjoy the added comfort of a few caves, just make sure these rocks are well secured and don't have any sharp corners. Fake items also work well, just keep in mind that some of these may have some unwanted chemicals.

We've figured out how to care for your goldfish, what your goldfish needs to eat, and what to decorate your tank with. But what if, despite your best efforts your goldfish falls ill?

Fortunately goldfish are relatively hardy creatures and do not become sick/injured to easily. But in the event that they do you need to be prepared. Most goldfish become infected after something traumatic or upsetting has recently happened in their lives. The bacteria and parasites that make your goldfish sick are ever present in the water, so if your goldfish's immune system goes down they will eventually contract something. Open wounds can become infected, parasites can be introduced through plants and new decor, or your goldfish can become stressed, allowing disease to get passed it's defense's. Thankfully there are lots of remedies out there for goldfish illnesses, and i have included a small list of common diseases and their remedy's.

Note: Do not confuse ich with the white dots goldfish get on their heads and fins when they are in breeding condition.

Round Worm: round worm is another common parasite. This one can be a little harder to identify. Symptoms generally include a sunken belly and white, stringy poop. The best way to treat round worm is to buy/use a commercial remedy. I have found that seachem's (https://www.seachem.com/) products work very well for this type of thing. 

Anchor worm: Anchor worm manifests it's self as white strings hanging off the body of your goldfish. these can sometimes be removed by hand, but a commercial remedy is usually preferredr.

Bloating/constipation: this issue usually occurs when your goldfish has been over fed. The easiest way to solve this is to add the right portion of Epson salt to the tank, and then feed your goldfish a small portion of peas, preferably after a 24 hour fast.

You now know how to care for your goldfish. You have also found out a little bit about your goldfish's history. But do you know what type of goldfish you have?

I am devoting this section to classifying your goldfish. I may not have included all species of goldfish, so if you have any questions you can contact us in the social section. I have divided this information into two sections, Single Tail, and Double Tail. Single tail tend to grow larger, live longer, and have less health problems than double tail. Double Tail are interesting, but not very practical, and hard to care for. I highly recommend getting a single tail if its your first goldfish, but you should be fine either way

Common: The common goldfish is the hardiest type of goldfish. This goldfish is usually the one you see in pictures and adds. The common goldfish typically has and orange-gold coloring, with a short tail. This goldfish is typically the largest species, and can grow to 10 inches.

Shubunkin Goldfish: This species is my personal favorite, and the namesake for this site. Shubunkin goldfish are generally shaped in a similar manner to common goldfish, although they have longer and more flowing fins. They have a much wider color variety, with blue, orange gold, silver, and black being relatively common.

Comet Goldfish: These goldfish are very similar to common goldfish, but they have much larger fins, and a sleeker shape. Their fins allow them to swim faster than their other relatives, which means they generally need a bigger tank.

Fancy Goldfish: Fancy goldfish are the common goldfish of the double tail family. These fish come in a variety of colors and generally tend to be more rounded than single tail goldfish. They are harder to feed that single tails because their digestive system is in a less efficient shape than then other goldfish. Double tail goldfish also swim much slower than single tail goldfish, so they should be housed together. 

Black Moor: The black moor is built like the fancy goldfish, and has similar feeding habits. But they differ from fancy goldfish in the shape of their eyes. Black moor eyes are rounded/bubble shaped, preventing them from seeing as easily as other goldfish. Their eyes also make them more susceptible to sharp points, so you should take care in decorating their tank.

Ryukin Goldfish: These goldfish are similar to fancy goldfish, but they are often faster and stronger than normal double tails. They should still not be kept with single tails, despite their faster speed. The ryukin goldfish is also taller than fancy goldfish, and has more flowing fins.

Were sorry if we didn't include your fish's description in this section. We will try to add more species in the future.