Regular Member Shahbazin Posted May 7, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted May 7, 2015 In July of 2013, the next door neighbor's kid gave my daughter a tiny orange goldfish as a birthday present for her 6th birthday. At the time, we had several bettas hanging around in little plastic tanks, so I guess 1 more fish seemed reasonable. I was vaguely aware goldfish didn't live in little glass bowls (what the promptly christened "Clownie" arrived in), so I got a 10 gallon tank kit, & a few guppies to keep her company. Do I hear a laugh in the background? Yeah, so the little critter grew vigorously & was eating all of the plants (& looked likely to eat the guppies, soon). So I thought, she needs more room - where I grew up, lots of people kept goldfish in the stock tanks their cattle drank out of to keep down algae & eat bugs - I bought Clownie a 100 gal. stock tank from the store we buy our chicken feed from, & sank it into the ground like a pond on the edge of the garden in the back yard. She acquired 3 more little feeder tank friends from Petco, so she'd not be lonely (I'd heard goldfish were social - I'd read that Watership Down-like book "Troubled Waters" about the adventures of a goldfish when I was a kid.) One daughter called hers "Dragon", the other "Ghost" & mine is "Lotus". A few months later, neighbor kid's sister says mom wants her to find home for her goldfish, would we like another? She came over with it in a cup, it looked OK, no fungus or anything, so speckled goldfish ("Rainbow Sprinkles") joined the group. Blue heron noticed mini pool - tried to eat fish - eeek! Fortunately, we had some chunks of quartz & flakes of granite in the tub, plus a lily. No goldfish appeared for a month (I saw one or 2 when changing water), but they all turned out to still be there - piece of chicken wire was added to scrap of shade cloth on top of tub. Not real satisfactory - can't see fish real well now, kinda junky looking, & after a year & a half, I'm getting tired of bailing 1/2 the water out with a bucket every week from ground level & below to change water. Really, a tank is so much easier to clean & care for. Electrical hookups for tub not going to happen, surely filtration is a good idea - what with all the sun, the water has a lot of algae. I start reading more about fish - perhaps, if in a big enough tank, they can come back in the house? Got a 75 gallon, discovered nitrogen cycle, am currently doing a fishless cycle, plan to move fishies inside when done. I realize that with 5 fish, I am maxed out spacewise, but am really motivated to not rehome kids' pets if we can make it work. Here's Ghost (orange, was olive gray), Clownie (big white, was orange), Dragon (smaller white, was orange & black), Lotus (orange & white), & Rainbow Sprinkles. The lily leaves are 1 1/2" for scale. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member 4prettyfish Posted May 7, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted May 7, 2015 Hello from someone else in San Diego County. Welcome to Koko's. I enjoyed reading your introduction. The fish are beautiful. How big are they now? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member DawnMichele Posted May 7, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted May 7, 2015 Welcome to Koko's!!!!!! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Shahbazin Posted May 7, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted May 7, 2015 Thanks! Not counting the tails, they're in the 3-4" range, near as I can tell. This is Clownie nose to nose with a female guppy a couple of weeks after we got her, so they started out quite small (about the size of her tail, now): We still have the 10 gallon, & it's now inhabited by a betta, 3 cory cats & 6 small livebearers (a mystery fry came with guppies, turned out to be female, produced many like its smallish colorless self, despite only males in tank being guppies. Possible mosquito fish cross?) Here's our betta: We also have a cat, a dog, 22 chickens (ages 1-14 years), & 2 mice (both female). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member goldfishgirl82 Posted May 7, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted May 7, 2015 Hello and welcome! I am also in San Diego! Nice to meet you and read your story. You have some nice looking fish. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member mysterygirl Posted May 8, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted May 8, 2015 Oh, that's a great account of your entry into goldfish keeping. And NOW look at them! They're big and beautiful. Good job! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin koko Posted May 8, 2015 Admin Share Posted May 8, 2015 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member jmetzger72 Posted May 8, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted May 8, 2015 Welcome 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Fish Of Gold Posted May 8, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted May 8, 2015 Hello! Welcome to Koko's You have great looking fish I love their names 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member goldfishgirl82 Posted May 8, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted May 8, 2015 Here's Ghost (orange, was olive gray), Clownie (big white, was orange), Dragon (smaller white, was orange & black), Lotus (orange & white), & Rainbow Sprinkles. The lily leaves are 1 1/2" for scale. Funny how after time names that go with color don't fit anymore with goldfish. I named a fish that was all black "Shadow" and now he's all orange. It doesn't quite fit anymore, but I guess them's the breaks. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helper Arctic Mama Posted May 8, 2015 Helper Share Posted May 8, 2015 I was born and raised in North county, we had such awesome fish stores down there compared to here in Alaska It sounds like you'd have quite a journey but good on you for doing the research, getting a great big tank, and bringing them back inside. It might be slightly overstocked for the size and amount of goldfish but with good filtration and fastidious water changing habits I doubt you'll have any problems. Generally speaking, goldfish do wonderfully with 20 gallons per fish, though ten per fish is certainly much, much better than most conditions they're kept in. I can't wait to see your tanks when it is completed and the fishless cycle completes itself. It will look fabulous with your goldfish inside, I'm sure. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Shahbazin Posted May 8, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted May 8, 2015 Thanks for all the welcomes! This board is a lot more hospitable than some other fish boards; I usually do put a lot more research into a pet before acquiring one, but it seems that often, goldfish Just Happen. I'll feel a lot more comfortable having them indoors where I can keep a better eye on them, & after the Heron Incident, I'm a bit paranoid about something coming into the yard & eating them. I've always liked calm, long finned fish, & the goldfish crew is so friendly, always swimming up to the edge of their tub & begging for food when they see you. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helper Arctic Mama Posted May 8, 2015 Helper Share Posted May 8, 2015 Do try hand feeding them if you like them swimming up to greet you - most Goldies respond wonderfully to that, and it is extremely simple to train them in that manner 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member 4prettyfish Posted May 8, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted May 8, 2015 Thanks for the other photo's. Your betta is a beautiful color. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Daniel Posted May 9, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted May 9, 2015 Welcome to the site! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Reds12 Posted May 19, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted May 19, 2015 Late to the post but welcome! I'm also in San Diego Your fish are beauties...love those long, flowy tails! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Shahbazin Posted May 19, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted May 19, 2015 Thanks! Seems like there's a fair number of goldfish folks locally I'm looking forward to getting the fish moved (tank cycling is still ongoing - darn those nitrites!), but I was getting down on my knees to look at them closer after feeding them yesterday, & I saw definite "breeding stars" on the gill area & forward edge of the pectoral fins on 2 of them - looks like Lotus & Rainbow are males, pretty sure Clownie is a female, Ghost probably female, don't know about Dragon (stayed down lower & kept moving real fast, plus s/he is a white fish). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member 4prettyfish Posted May 20, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted May 20, 2015 (edited) It does seem like there is a good bunch of us here in North County. I'm in Fallbrook. Born and raised and still living here and raising my daughter in Fallbrook. My daughter is going to all the schools I did from grade school all the way up to High School now. I'm not sure if that's a good thing though. hehehe It's a good quiet town. Congrats on confirming having some boys in your tank. Edited May 20, 2015 by 4prettyfish 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Mr.B Posted May 21, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted May 21, 2015 Welcome to the forum. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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