I slam the door and shut the blinds.. dirty sunshine

[blonde_lightnin]

What the hell is up. I used to be a total LJ whore updating like 6 times a day and now I can go for days without updating! Muahahha I'm cool now! Oh ya! *does a happy dance*... don't worry I still lurk around when I get home and check out your journals and post a comment when I have anything productive to say

Comments

[chibi_goth]

lol...get ready for the big gold fish shpeel.

I keep ornamental goldfish at home, I have three tanks and 7 babies. One 3foot 30 gallon, one 25 gallon and one ten gallon.

First off, goldfish produce a lot of waste [as you've noticed], therefore, the waste in the water produces a LOT of ammonia. It is imperative that you keep the ammonia levels in check. As well as the Ph, Nitrites, Nitrates and Chlorene. Chances are, you use tap water for your fishies right? Well, your water should be treated with a solution that will illiminate all chlorene from the water. You can pick up a bottle at wal-mart for three bucks.

Secondly, goldfish need a LOT of space, despite what our society has imposed on us. We have the cute stereotypical image of a goldfish in a bowl and its cute oogly eyes smiling back at us. The truth of the matter is that goldfish need 10 gallons PER fish. It may sound completely insane at first, but once you take it into perspective it really makes a lot of sense. Goldfish produce a lot of waste[as we've seen before] and depending on the breed, their full grown length can be from 6'' - 16''. Goldfish are pretty hardy fish and they SHOULD live for atleast ten years...in the right conditions.

Thirdly, it is imperative that the surface of the water is agitated, frequently. The fish need a lot of oxygen in their water to breathe. This problem can be solved with either getting an aeration setup [something that pumps and fizzes bubbles into the water] or getting a power filter.

Power filters are great for keeping goldfish. They offter three different kinds of filtration:

Mechanical filtration: traps solid debris like uneaten food and fish waste. This REALLY helps keep the ammonia in control.

Chemical filtration: uses media [activated carbon] to absorb [attract and hold] dissolved pollutants which can cause discoloration and odor and potentially make your fish ill.

Biological filtration: we don't need to go into it right now, but it involves establishing a culture of beneficial oxygen-loving bacteria to eliminate toxic substances like ammonia and nitrite.

[blonde_lightnin]

Yes they are sooo messy. THe girl warned me but I didn't expect them to be like this. Holy thy're crapping everywhere all the time. And don't worry I do treat the water with sum product to eliminate chlorine, and I also have another thing that breaks down waste. I'm pretty sure my fishes are gonna die if we don't get a filtered tank soon. The bowl is pretty big but without filtration and a bit more room I don't think they can survive. I just hope they can hold up a lil longer. I thought about putting them in the bathtub but thats too dangerous. Poor fishies are so sick I know they are. They're supposed to float around the bottom and sift in the gravel when they're healthy, and Eggy and Nemo are always.. ALWAYS.. . at the top gasping for breath :( its so sad

[chibi_goth]

:x Well remember love, if you want to keep both of them you'll have to get at the ultimate LOWEST a 15 gallon, a 20 will do you just fine. What breed are they? What's their current length?

[blonde_lightnin]

I'm not sure about the breed. I forgot it already cuz i'm memory-deprived like that. They're about 1.5 inches each, not included their long tails. They actually seem to look much better today. But i definitely need a bigger home for them.. i'm not sure how many gallons this bowl is, but it was the largest bowl they had at the pet story. Hmm.. its about the size of 3 of my heads.. how big is that? lol. If i can't get a bigger tank maybe I'll bring them back. Not for a refund but in hopes someone who can take better care of them will buy them.. what do you think?

[chibi_goth]

Hmmm...well if you can take a picture with your cammy I can try and figure out what breed they are. If not, you can just describe them to me or I can show you piccies of baby fish if you really want to know. lol, three heads? ;p About 3 gallons I'm guessing @.@; Well, I think they have a really good chance with you in comparison with the majority of people who buy them. You obviously do your homework. I wouldnt take them back, not if I didn't want to expose them to death. But hey, aquariums are for some people and aren't for others.

It's a lot of stuff to buy and a lot of hard work at first, but once you get your tank properly cycled [we can go over that later] then it's not that hard. You just have to do a 50-30% water change each week, then you can do a kinda superficial 10% change 4 days after that to keep things in check. It's just a matter of getting the right cleaning supplies and tools and taking like 15 minutes a week to clean it. lol I should take a picture of all my fish supplies for you. lol...

[blonde_lightnin]

Yeah i like pictures :D

We're so dorky blabbing about fish

I was just looking thru the book to see if it would make me remember the name. They only have a pic of a lionhead in there. Mine looks like a common goldfish but the tails are really really long so I think they're comets. Such purdy long tails. When my mom gets home from work today, I'm gonna try and convince her to get us an aquarium, the thing is, she doesn't like goldfish. She only likes tropical fish which need to be kept at warmer temperatures. Plus i don't think gold and tropical fish get along with each other well cuz the tropical ones aren't as messy as goldfish.

Worse comes to worse and I can't get them a better home within the next few days what do you think I should do to keep them alive longer until i have enough money to buy a tank myself (i'm still paying off my SG). Do you think i should change the water often? I think I might clean out their bowl cuz there's a lot of crap accumilating at the bottom :X Poor fishies are always at the top gasping for air I feel so bad I wish I could help them. It fuckin pisses me off so much that the girl that sold me them didnt tell me they would get sick in a bowl. If she had told me they needed 10 gallons of space per fish I would have waited until I could get a tank.