One fish died, one left

[Studentnursesos12e]

Hi

So we basically inherited two fish from our next door neighbours who have the same landlord. They’d only had them 2-3 weeks before they moved out. We’ve had them since March. We took them on threat of them being flushed if we didn’t.

One is a goldfish (?oranga) he’s still alive, the other was a blacktail (think)he died yesterday.

When we got them the tank, filter etc came with them. The tank is 24 litres, we have realised this was too small for two fish and I was going to bring up my old (empty) tank from home which is 38litres. (home is 195 miles away so no easy task)

However, now we only have one fish. I have also ordered a new filter as ours has completely broken and wasn’t really working before.

Should I still bring the 38L tank up, or is 24L okay for one fish ?

Also does any one have any advice on how to keep him alive. We do partial (20%ish) water changes every week to ten days and since getting them in March have done two 60% water changes.

We feed him two to three times a day, the fish food is the aquarian brand.

We added the tap safe, and want to change the gravel, but don’t know how to go about it.

At home I have a cat, looking after a fish is more technical.

Thanks

At the moment what you're doing is fine. You will need to do weekly, if not twice weekly, partial water changes as Goldfish are some of the filthiest fish out there.

A 24 litre is a very small tank, Goldfish get very big. I would be looking at least a 60 litre temporary upgrade with final tank size for a single adult being over 120-150 litres. In the right conditions you should have him (or her) for at least 10 years.

The fish in the pic is from Google in a temporary show tank.

This was Bruce the Oranda, a record breaker and pond-grown.

Thanks @bunnygeek I’ll bring the 38L tank in the mean time as it’s an improvement on 24L and will look for a 60L+ tank.

Weird question but how long does it take them to grow to full size? I’d say William is about 5 months old and still quite small.

Also will he be okay on his own ? Or should we look into getting another fish (or shrimps/snails)

Thanks again