What to do with... "Liberated" Christian Goldfish?

Question

I liberated 3 goldfish from the university cafe where they were being used as table decorations in about 1/2 to 1 litre fishbowls (without filtered) by the 'Christian Fellowship' group for 'Jesus awareness week'...

I have them in a 5.7 litre tank with a filter at the moment. is this ok? What now - do i keep them in this tank or what?

Answer 1

5.7 L is WAY better than 1L, but it's to small long term.

It depends on the fish what size tank they'll need, but the bigger the better.

Take a sample of water down to your local petshop and ask them to test the water for you. Most will do it for free.

They'll be able to tell you the gH of the water, and if you need to add any aquarium salts to the water.

If they tell you the pH needs to change, don't buy any pH up or down products. Get kH powder. It's a bit slower, but it's safer and easier.

Well done for liberating them :D

Answer 2

A gallon is roughly 4 liters, if you hang around here long enough you will learn to think in gallons  :-)

An inch is about 25mm.

Answer 3

the standard rule of thumb is 1 inch of fish per gallon of water in a tank. Make sure they are in an adequate tank first. it is also important to ensure they are in de-chlorinated water. I could go on but it is clear you need to visit a pet store ask them and they will get you what you need and tell you what you need to know. Good Luck and Godspeed!

Answer 4

The inch per gallon rule doesn't apply to goldfish anyway, they're too large and messy.

Your tank is too small for the fish, treat it as a holding tank while you seek better accomodation. Are they common (long-bodied) or fancy goldfish (short-bodied)? Commons need a large pond, minimum 1800 litres, they can get up to 14" long excluding fins.

Fancies aren't hardy enough for ponds and need large, overfiltered tanks, at least 50-75 litres per fish! Fancies can still get to around 8" excluding fins.

Goldfish tanks need to be overfiltered (goldfish are messy), fully cycled (research the nitrogen cycled) and highly oxygenated (surface movement allows for oxygen exchange).

Well done for liberating the fish, now pamper them and they'll hopefully last for their full 20 year lifespan (or longer!).