My Story
I recently won a goldfish at the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair. There were some white and white spotted fish and I thought having a white goldfish would be cooler than a regular gold colored fish, but it didn’t really move much. So I picked the most energetic gold goldfish of the bunch and bought a 1.5 gallon fish tank for my little fishy. It’s good that I didn’t pick the white one because that either means its lacking sunlight or it’s sick.
My fish was a little less than 2 inches long so I thought that tank would be sufficient. After all most people keep their goldfish in tiny little fish tanks. I never would have thought that the goldfish would grow any bigger than 3-4 inches.
For any fish you shouldn’t fill up their tanks with unconditioned tap water. The people at the fair filled up the tank with aquarium water and the fish looked happy as can be. It was zipping around and around so happy to finally escape from the bag.
On the second day we went to pet smart to buy some water conditioner for Pebbles (our fish). We asked the fish expert there what size water conditioner we should get. Then they asked how big our tank was, when we answered they said that the tank wasn’t nearly big enough.
I had always thought that a 1 – 2 gallon tank was perfect for a goldfish. But each goldfish needed at least a 10 gallon tank! It was kind of hard to imagine that since I assumed that goldfish stay very tiny. But there are reasons why goldfish need such big tanks.
Rules and Common Mistakes
The stereotypical goldfish would live in solitude in it’s little bowl with a few plants and decorations. The fish would be fed every day and would have clean and filtered water. If all goldfish lived like that then they’ll live a long, healthy, and happy life right? Wrong.
Tank Size
For your first goldfish a 20 gallon tank is the best option and 10 gallons bigger for every goldfish you add. But a single goldfish can also survive pretty well in a 10 gallon. DON’T USE FISH BOWLS!
Putting fish in fishbowls is the most common mistake made by gold fish owners. Goldfish have gotten a bad reputation that they don’t really deserve. People are sometimes more hesitant to get their kids goldfish than any other fish because they are under the impression that it will die in a few weeks.
Goldfish tend to die very quickly due to several different factors, one of them is the tank size. Goldfish only stay very small because if they are put in such small tanks they don’t have much room to grow. Their body stops growing but their organs don’t and they die because of their organs bursting from the inside.
When we realized that we needed to get a big tank, filter, heater, plants, water conditioning, and that it would be a lot of maintenance we donated pebbles to the local congressional aquarium and it seemed happy as can be. They would put it in a huge tank with other gold fish it would have its own space and lots of friends!
Tank Type
Getting a smaller tank is not recommended but it is much better than getting a fishbowl. I got a rectangular tank that was 1.5 gallons and the goldfish in it would probably last longer in it than if it were in a 1.5 gallon fishbowl.
Fish bowls limit the amount of oxygen a fish needs to survive. With the top opening smaller than the largest radius of the bowl sometimes the fish doesn’t even get to live to be an adolescent. That’s why lots of aquariums have air pumps although they aren’t common in fish bowls since they “aren’t necessary”.
Goldfish Growth
Goldfish are thought to only grow to be 3 – 5 inches at the max. But in reality gold fish that are kept in bigger tanks grow to be over a foot long and weigh nearly 2 – 3 pounds! The small tanks don’t let them grow to their full size and they usually die in their early life.
The goldfish that people usually get from fairs and some pet-stores are super small because they are just babies! Goldfish sold as “tank suitable” will grow to about 10 inches while those sold as “pond suitable” will reach a maximum of about 18 inches. By the time some goldfish are 3 years old they can be over 6 inches long.
Goldfish Lifespan
What most people don’t know is that gold fish live for a very long time. A very very long time most goldfish that are given proper care and treatment, assuming that it has no illness can live to be anywhere from 10 – 15 years long.
There are even some gold fish that can live to be 20, and even 25 years old. But there was one exceptional goldfish named Goldie that lived to be 45 years old! That goldfish can outlive most dogs and cats. Goldfish have the longest life span of all aquarium fish.
