rescued goldfish from a tiny tank.

[runningbug123]

This is long so I shall try and give you the facts. 

I rescued 2 fancy goldfish and 3 shrimp from a neighbor one very small and the newer of there two fish I believe is a medium fancy. They bought them from pets at home. I have had fancy goldfish in the past and they are not the large viaraty.

They were keeping these 2 fish in a unfiltered 5L tank and the medium size fancy outgrew it in a month. The tank was not only so tiny but also so green you couldn't see the fish through the glass. 

The children got bored of the fish and the parents couldn't keep up with the water changes needed. 

We had a old aquarium in our garage that was 100L and the plan was use that until our custom tank is delivered in July / August. On bringing in the old tank from the garage my husband slipped and dropped the tank. 

I went out and bought the biggest tank and filter I could for £50 from a reputable shop they helped me out and gave me some used filter sponge to speed up the cycling process. 

The small fish tank temp was 28oc when we got them so through regular water changes I have got this down to a constant temp of 20oc. 

The tank they are now in is a 30L with a filter and I do a partial water change every three days as if I do it weekly I needed to take out 80%.
it's not ideal but it's better than a 5L hot green tank where they were at the top gasping for air. I have positioned the filter at the top of the tank and it's creating some lovely bubbles for them. 

Is there anything else I can do for these fish until the are housed in there 240L aquarium in the summer?

The larger of the fish is getting bigger but the smaller one seems to be the same size as when I rescued them. 

[TreeSparrow]

First of all, well done for rescuing these fish from their dire accommodation and almost certain death.

Sounds like they have a palatial dream home on the way. Great news. In the meantime I think you could improve their chances by increasing your water changes to every 2 days, or if you can, to daily. I'd do 50%.

A few questions:
What size are the fish exactly?
Do you have test kits, e.g. ammonia, nitrite, nitrate?

[runningbug123]

I've got the test kits on order from Amazon.

The bigger fish is 3.5inches including the tail.

And the smaller one is less than 2 inches.


I've just check the water (day 2 post water change) and it's crystal clear so will leave it until tomorrow to do another partial water change as it seems to be working better than a 80% once a week.

When the fish came to me one was white and gold it did originally have black in it and it lost it all, the black is back and it's getting darker and more colour daily so I'm really hoping that's a good thing.

[TreeSparrow]

Most goldfish are born black and loose it as they mature.

If you're buying test kits make sure you buy liquid test kits. Don't use the test strips. They're rubbish.

How did you check the water if your test kits haven't arrived yet? You can't see ammonia in the water so I'd change water now to be on the safe side. You cannot change the water too often.