Recommended Tank Size?

[ash212]

Hello folks,

I recently agreed to care for some goldfish as their owner was moving house and didn't want to continue looking after them. Stock included 2 common goldfish, one fancy and one weather loach, I decided to purchase an additional comet goldfish (largely due to my daughter picking one out in the pet store). One of the fish recently become ill with Ich, which is now cured, but it was during my research into the disease that I discovered the tank I was provided is hugely overstocked and generally too small (25 gallon). My partners family has kindly offered to re-home the common goldfish in their large pond, but I'm wondering what tank size I require for the remaining fish? (1 comet, 1 fancy and loach).

This is a brand new experience for me but I'd like to give them a good quality of life, I've also found myself fascinated with fish in general and maintaining aquariums.

I've been looking at a 200L (UK 40 gallon) tank, but I don't want to go too heavy as I live in an old third floor apartment and I'm unsure of the weight issue.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[KingFisher]

Here is a thread that will help: http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquariumforum/showthread.php?t=95134

[Triton]

The comet gets very large (14") therefore needs a tank that smallest dimension is double that so it can turn around. I've seen 100 gallon tanks be too small for these guys.

The loach gets around 10" long and I'm not sure, but I believe the fancy gets fairly large also.

While goldfish might be cheap and small at first they get very large. If you want to start a smaller tank I highly recommend you rehome all of those fish to larger set ups. You can start off with some plattys that are colorful and stay smaller. For a 40 gallon tank I'd recommend a max fish size of around 2"

[Stlouisfish]

The comet gets very large (14") therefore needs a tank that smallest dimension is double that so it can turn around. I've seen 100 gallon tanks be too small for these guys.

The loach gets around 10" long and I'm not sure, but I believe the fancy gets fairly large also.

While goldfish might be cheap and small at first they get very large. If you want to start a smaller tank I highly recommend you rehome all of those fish to larger set ups. You can start off with some plattys that are colorful and stay smaller. For a 40 gallon tank I'd recommend a max fish size of around 2"

+1 on above advice

[genocidex]

that pond sounds like a good home for them all. not sure on temp requirements on that loach tho.... maybe make your own pond?

[ash212]

that pond sounds like a good home for them all. not sure on temp requirements on that loach tho.... maybe make your own pond?

Thank you all for the advice.

The fish are now re-homed in a large garden pond and doing very well, I didn't realize the pond already had a Loach or two in there so the dojo has some company. Currently in the process of setting up a 30 gallon for two black moor goldfish.

Thanks again