Fancy Goldfish

Scientific name: Carassius auratus

Fancy goldfish and the regular goldfish is one of the oldest fish kept for ornamental purposes. They have been kept in china for several thousand years and fancy goldfish has played an important role in the Chinese culture. Many of the older fancy goldfish types as well as the regular goldfish are quite hardy and can be kept in garden ponds in area where the water temperature doesn’t drop to low. Many classic fancy goldfish can tolerate temperatures down to and a little below 15 C / 59F. Fancy goldfish can grow very old and fishes older than 20 years are not unusual.

An aquarium for fancy goldfish should be no smaller than 100L / 25 gallon. Many types of fancy goldfish will however eventually grow out of an aquarium of this size and a larger aquarium is than necessary. Fancy goldfish should never be kept in a goldfish bowl and I might add that goldfish bowls isn’t suitable to keep any type of fish in. The aquarium needs to be well filtered since fancy goldfish produce large amount of waste matter and require high oxygen levels in the water. A suitable circulation is about 10-12 times the aquarium volume an hour. Fancy goldfish usually dig a lot so under gravel filters are not recommendable.

The aquarium should be decorated without sharp objects since the fish might hurt themselves for them. Always use fine grained sand or gravel with large grains since the goldfish might accidentally eat medium sized grain that might become stuck in their system causing constipation and death. Large grained gravel has the added benefit that it can offer some protection to eggs laid in the holding tank. While fine grained san has the added benefit of being easier to clean. The colour of the gravel is of no importance. Fancy goldfish prefers to have planted areas available in there aquarium. They do however eat most plants so you will have to choose plant species that are goldfish safe. Goldfish safe plants that thrive in the conditions fancy goldfish prefers include Elodea, Anubias, Java moss and Java fern. They will eat the elodea but they grow fast enough to withstand the grassing goldfish.

You should change at least 25% of the water in an aquarium with fancy goldfish one a week. This is however to be consider a minimum and water changes of this amount twice a week is to be preferred. You should also vacuum the gravel weekly and rinse the filter at least every two weeks.

Fancy goldfish do best kept with other fancy goldfish. They can however be kept with other fish that thrives in lower temperatures. Suitable companions include danios and minnows. Apple snails also do well with goldfish. Fancy goldfish should however never be kept with tropical aquarium fish such as tetras and cichlids.

Fancy goldfish are very easy to feed and will accept most vegetable and meaty food. They do well on a diet of goldfish pellets or other flake foods/pellets. Their diet should however always contain vegetables. Suitable vegetables for fancy goldfish include lettuce and boiled peas. Adult goldfish should have one day a week without food. It is recommendable to soak the food before feeding it to your fancy goldfish to avoid that the food expands in their stomachs after being eaten.

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