I purchased a five gallon tank for grandchildren and gold fish keeping dieing?

Question

The tank has a filter on it and I thought the gold fish would make it in there. We started out with 3 gold fish and the water was in the tank for one week before we put the fish in.

Answer 1

Yeah, goldfish need 20 gallons for just one. They're really dirty fish and for the filter to be able to take out the waste they produce there needs to be a lot more water.

Gold fish also need an aerator, which puts air in the water so they don't suffocate. Some filters do that automatically, though.  

Answer 2

fancy goldfish need 20 gallons or the first and 10 for each additional

comet/common/feeder goldfish need 50 gallons or the first and 20 for each additional

they can grow over a foot

just buy an aquarium heater and get 1 beta (Siamese's fighting fish)

or

3 guppies

or

if you can find them 3 leopard fish (coldwater)

the betta needs its own type of food but the other 2 can just have tropical flake

Answer 3

One of the biggest problems would be that beginners start too small I would recomend a tank of at least 20 gal. You should float the bag in the tank for at least 15 min but no more than an hour. This method seems to keep the fish from getting too stressed. Third look at the feeding pattern you should only feed once or twice a day and only feed what they can eat within about two min remove excess food. This will help keep the amonnia(which in high amounts is deadly to fish)in check.

Answer 4

A 5 gallon tank is plenty big for 3 goldfish.  I kept a single goldfish in a 1/2 fish bowl and it lived a long tim.

Make sure that you have an air pump along with the filter.

Also, when you put the fish in, did you float them, so they got accustomed to  the water?  

Make sure you are feeding them twice a day and not too much.  Fish will eat until the die.

Answer 5

Way too small a tank.

Read up on 'Cycling' a fishtank - preferably 'Fishless Cycling'

You could keep a Betta Splendens (siamese fighter - very pretty) but you will need a small heater.  

Answer 6

common misconception...goldfish need 30 gallons for the first and 10 more for each fish.  in a 5 gallon you could have 3 male guppies or 1 beta, not many choices.  Make sure the tank has cycled, that is a big reason for fish dying early on.  http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-cycl...