Hello everybody, Hello to all who are new and want to successfully keep fish.

As we face problems with some members keeping their fish healthy, I thought of a few things, I like to put on here:

When you are reading this, you already may have got a fish and a tank or -which is better -you plan to do so.

Planning and being patient are the two most important things to successful fishkeeping.

1. Planning:
Look around in your house / appartment where you intend to set up the tank.
Due to excess algae growth and temerature fluctuations please chose a place away from direct sunlight aircondition, window , but close to a power point.
Before you decide on the fish species you want to keep, make sure you get the proper tank size and it fits into the place you want to set it up.

Done all this? Bought the tank?  Then you are ready for

2.Setting up the tank
assemble the tank stand, place the tank on it.
Put gravel in it, enough to plant some live plants. Arrange the gravel like a slope, high at the back, lower at the front. Plant high plants in the background, smaller ones in the middle and if you like some ground coverage at the front. Pieces of rock or driftwood look very nice too.
Place filters, airstones, heaters, lights ( don't plug them in yet )
Fill the tank with water, best over a saucer so your newly scaped tank won't get destroyed, or with a hose, holding the end towards the glass.
Don't forget to add conditioner and beneficial bacteria, also test the pH. You want to adjust this one to be comfortable for your fish.
Now you can plug in the equipment.

What is conditioner?
It is a liquid to be added to tap water according to instructions to remove chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals, which are highly toxic to fish.

What is beneficial bacteria?
They are important microorganisms to aid in the Nitrogen Cycle. Ammonia is introduced to the tank with fish food and fish waste. The bacterium Nitrosomonas converts Ammonia ( highly toxic to fish ) into Nitrites ( stil very toxic to fish ) and the bacterium Nitrospira converts Nitrite into Nitrate ( in high concentrations toxic, but under 40ppm no danger for fish ) For more info please read up in "Articles" on this site.

To know where you're at in cycling your tank you MUST have a test kit for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and pH.
We recommend a liquid test, as the strips are not reliable.

It is recommended to do a fishless cycle, here is where patience kicks in.
Add fishfood to your newly set up tank and let the bacteria work. Add it daily as if you'd feed fish. Add bacteria daily for one week. The water will get cloudy. This are the bacteria to find their home.

Test the water every 2nd day.
First Ammonia will show up, Nitrites and Nitrates will be 0 ppm at the start.
After a while Ammonia will drop and Nitrites start to peak, Nitrates will be 0 ppm, your tank is in the middle of cycling.
When Ammonia and Nitrites drop and Nitrates peak your tank is nearly fully cycled.
A fully cycled tank has got Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrites 0ppm and Nitrates shouldn't be higher than 40ppm, ideally arround the 10-20ppm mark

All done? it can take a few weeks... Now you can go and get your darling fish and

3. Introducing your fish
Float the bag for at least 15 min.
Gently open the bag and let some tank water into it, for the fish to adapt to the tank water.
Slowly let the fish out, leave the lights turned off and let the fish adapt to his new home.
Don't be surprized if he hides for the first minutes or hours, depending how stressed he is after the journey.

Here another basic rule:
10 gal per goldfish is minimum ! Better 20 gal for the first goldfish and then add 10 more for every additional goldfish Got a smaller tank? Don't get goldfish, go for small tropical species or a Betta Splendens.

ALSO PLEASE EVERYBODY READ THE "ARTICLES" ON THIS SITE, ESPECIALLY (Link is not visible to guests. Please register to view.)

THANKS

Thanks, OrandaLover... well I started with fishkeeping only in March this year... I wish I had all this info beforehand... would have made things lots easier...so basically I'm a beginner too but I took it all serious what Minde and Nossie, Kat and Andrea told me when I started And I read up a lot on other sites, googled, bought books....

Thankies, please add if there is some more to add,
everybody feel free to do so

Yep, very good, missed that one

The reason why it's 20 gallons for the first goldfish is because the measurements of a 10 gallon would be too small for an adult goldfish to be comfortable. So if you have a larger tank for example 50 gallons, you can easily put 5 goldfish there and all of them would still be comfortable and have enough space.

By the way, it takes several hours for a fish to adjust to new water, so adding a cup of tank water into the bag when you've bought a fish and leave it there for half an hour is just a waste of time for all of you. Just stabilize the temperatures and the fish will adjust safely. Leave the tank lights off if possible the first 24 hours, and don't feed.

When it comes to goldfish keeping, you don't need a heater, but they're usually included when buying an aquarium package.

can I just say that most aquatic veterinarians specializing in Goldfish in particular recommend you keep your goldfish water constant and in the 70's F.  Being that goldfish are extremely messy and give off 75% of wastes (ammonia) through their gills, the higher degree water helps the beneficial bacteria growing in your tank and filter media abundant and ready to handle the extra ammonia.  Only 25% of goldfish waste is through excrement.

well, I use to think you didn't need one either and I never kept one for my pond fish, but when I started collecting the fancier types, especially the orandas, well they just did better with a heater in their tank and so now everyone has a heater!!

I agree and I hate nets!  Nets are just stressful and abrasive!!  Can take the scales right off a fish that is stressed and struggles.  Just add a few drops of water condtioner to your hands and scoop up the fish with your hands right out of the bag!  Works much better!

The only purpose I use my net for is rearranging the gravel and plants. It's important to note when using your hands to hold the fish to keep your hands clean (as Minde said) and to keep a firm but not squeezing grip. I've had a fish jump out of my hands before but fortunately they landed in the tank! 

Nossie: Do you have good heating in your house? How does your tank always stay at 25 degrees??

I also use a net to catch dead leaves or left over food, when I have to catch my fish I catch them in a small measuring cup.

This is a great post!  I have a question that I don't think was covered, during the fishless cycling, should I be doing water changes?

You should start a new topic, and if you search this forum using the SEARCH button, you will find many posts related to size of tank.

To answer your questions, one goldfish should have a minimum of a 20 gallon tank, as they can grow very large.

As for color, goldfish will lose their color if they don't get enough light. 

This is a question I posted earlier but I think it got missed. Should I do any water changes during fishless cycling of a new tank?

The bacteria will need oxygen, so changing the water is always a good idea Besides, it feels a bit like that would get the tank used to your maintenance somehow, doesn't it?

Maybe, maybe. I added a few of my fish to the tank after about 3 days, and then I changed a small amount of the water every now and then according to the tests.