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Everything posted by goldenlady

  1. Hi all, I didn't have room to add my last Goldie in my first post, so I'm adding Guinevere now. She was named after a queen because of her long flowing tailfin..kinda like robes. I have a 30 gallon tank, so I have to control myself ...(sigh) so many fishes, so many to wish on... and restrict myself to only 3 fishes to assure decent water parameters for my little family.
  2. Hi Everyone! I've never posted pictures before, but I finally got a digital camera and couldn't wait to share my goldies with you guys! After a zillion pictures, some came out, and here goes... Here's some pictures of my fish family: This is my red and white ranchu, Baby, because she came to me a month ago when she was just 3 months old. I'll keep a file on her development. I'd like to see her wen and the narial pompons develop more. I'm feeding frozen bloodworm, leafy greens, ProGold dry pellets, and am thinking of making some gel food. Does anybody have further suggestions? I call this photo: Baby Takes a Bow Here's her Topview: This is Shang, my Blue Oranda This is another picture of his face: This is Shang and Baby together:
  3. Hi Everyone! I've never posted pictures before, but I finally got a digital camera and couldn't wait to share my goldies with you guys! After a zillion pictures, some came out, and here goes... Here's some pictures of my fish family: This is my red and white ranchu, Baby, because she came to me a month ago when she was just 3 months old. I'll keep a file on her development. I'd like to see her wen and the narial pompons develop more. I'm feeding frozen bloodworm, leafy greens, ProGold dry pellets, and am thinking of making some gel food. Does anybody have further suggestions? I call this photo: Baby Takes a Bow Here's her Topview: This is Shang, my Blue Oranda This is another picture of his face: And here he is from topside: This is Shang and Baby together: And here's my last one of my calico ribbontail. I call the picture "All Alone At Home." There's actually two other fish, but they were out of the picture. :-)
  4. Hi everybody! I have a 30 gallon tank for 3 goldies, a Blue Oranda, a Ribbontail, and a ranchu. I am filtering with an Eheim Classic 2213 and a HOB Eheim Liberty 200 for added gph capacity. I use an air diffuser that I bought from the Goldfish Connection. I change 20% of the water twice a week and treat fresh water with Prime, and clean with a mag algae eraser. I am using only 5 lbs of gravel, artifical plants, rocks and a pagoda as decoration. I also regularly test my water parameters. Let's hope my fish live long! Here's a picture of my tank: Thanks for looking.
  5. I have an Eheim Liberty 200 filter and I was wondering if I can substitute another kind of filtration material in the box for the carbon and sponge filters that you have to buy all the time. The filter is effective, but costlier to maintain. Also, I've had this filter for 4 or 5 years and recently, once in a while, I've been hearing a noise that sounds like it is working harder than it should--kind of a buzzing or grinding (?). the outstanding feature about Eheims are that they are SOOO quiet. Can you get into the unit to service it? Are they water tight? How long are they supposed to last? Did I get water into the unit when I cleaned the unit (back part and underside) to make it noisy? I don't immerse the unit, but I do wash it out and use a brush to reach into the underside. I use the Liberty unit for my quarantine tank when needed, but I am using it on a daily basis to supplement my Eheim 2213 cannister. To my disappointment, I discovered that the water turnover rate wasn't as high per hour as I'd like. I mean, the filter is supposed to be plenty for a 30 gallon tank, but the gph isn't high enough! Go figure.
  6. There's a shop in London called Wholesale Tropicals 220 Bethnal Green Road Bethnal Green London United Kingdom E2 0AA Tel: 0207 739 5356 Fax: 0207 739 5356
  7. I catch my fish by hand. I wash my hands and then I wet them in the tank before I handle the fish. The rare times I have had to move them from tank to the bucket dedicated for aquarium use or from the bucket to tank, either regular or quarantine has been fine. I hold the fish with one and cup it with the other and am quick with the transfer. Better than scratching them with a net.
  8. I usually go for size. But sometimes you can't know how old fish are or what kind of conditions they have been kept in. Mainly, I used to buy big fish that seemed to be developed. I just bought a baby ranchu, however, so I am going to do right by it and see if its wen and pompons will grow into something interesting. I'm feeding my fish blood worm for high protein, Pro-Gold, Spirulina, fresh lettuce, peas and who knows what's next! Do any of you have a successful food for wen development? How about Hikari Oranda food?
  9. It is so emotional to have to let your babies go. I know the empty feeling...I felt that way when my youngest child went off to preschool, and felt the heartbreak for a year as I anticipated my eldest going off to college. It was never going to be the same. And we hobbiests form an attachment with our goldies...like you said, you got up in the morning and went to feed them...I feel like crying with you. It IS sad. I had to part with one of my goldies, a nacreous veiltail, and darn, if I didn't make sure he went to someone I felt confident would give him a good home!
  10. I wondered about your theory that fish may see colors. The fish lure makers seem to agree that fishes eyes have both cones (which distinguish color) and rods (which distinguish ligh and dark). Red is the longest light wave length, and penetrates water well. As a matter of fact, in murky, turbid water red is the only color that will penetrate. So fish do see red. Blue can be seen best in clear water, according to the article writer I read at: http://www.egblures.com/dofish.html
  11. Ok. I'll test the water tomorrow, and keep up the meds for a few more days.
  12. I have an HOB (hang on back) Eheim Liberty 150, also. Eheim claims it has 150 gph capability and is for tanks up to 35 gallons. Would adding this power filter be enough? I ended up buying Eheims because the aquarium center where I live thought so highly of them. They use the Professional cannisters in their store. I had no idea that the Eheim 2213 wasn't enough. Eheim claims it is supposed to be good for tanks up to 66 gallons. I thought I had more than enough filtration. I am so disappointed. As for the pimple on my fish's caudal fin: I first noticed it last night. I do have Medi-Gold, so I can begin feeding the fish that. I just changed water last night, and testing today, the pH is 7.0 and Nitrites are at a slight tinge of pink, but not perfectly clear (0). I can bring the salt level up to .3 today if I need to (1 Tbsp to 1 gallon). I had it at 1 Tbsp to 5 gallons yesterday.
  13. I should have mentioned the pH out of the tap. It's 8.6 according to the pH testing I've done. Ok about the Prime. I kind of thought I wouldn't need Stress Zyme because of what it said about it being a dechlorinator, but I added it because the bottle said it had "dual action live bacteria" in it. Thanks for confirming that I don't need to add it, too. My tanks been up since July when I installed a new Eheim 2213 filter. It's funny about the nitrites, because the ammonia can register 0, yet nitrite readings don't register 0. Since I just changed 50% of the water today, when should I do another change? In a couple of days? I really appreciate your quick response, Tropicana and JenW. I'm quite stressed about this, because I was so looking forward to letting my three fishes get together today.
  14. Just when I thought things were going well and I could introduce my new fish that I've had in quarantine 3 weeks into the main tank, I now see a white pimple thing on the caudal fin of one of my older fish! The fin is also bloodied around the white pimple. Can anyone tell me what I should do? My tank is a 30 gallon. I have 2 fish in it now. I just changed 50% of the water and put in Prime, 3 tsp. Jungle pH 7.0 Stabilizer, 10 ml Aquarium Pharaceuticals Stress Zyme, and 6 tablespoons of aquarium salt. The water parameters are: pH 7.0, Ammonia 0, Nitrites under 2.5, but not 0, Nitrates between 0 and 20. I wonder if dabbing the spot with hydrogen peroxide and treating the area with neosporin would be appropriate.
  15. The accepted measuring standard is from tip of the nose to the end of the tailfin. I suppose the caudal is counted because it needs room to move in.
  16. I love the ranchu with lots of growth on its head and cheeks--what is sometimes called a lionchu. The lionheads are too straight backed for me. Next is the beautiful oranda--once again it's the wen that get me! I saw somebody's picture of her tank of orandas, and they were so cute, being of one kind in the tank with their fab "brains!"
  17. I suppose there is little that can be done about it, but my fish just ate its poop. He had bloodworm yesterday, and this morning he recycled it by eating his poop. Will this be bad for him?
  18. I bought a good ranchu from the Fish Corner recently. Neo Ranchu has excellent ranchus. They're both internet vendors. The Fish Sempei in Canada has excellent fish but shipping is a bit more.
  19. Thank, Devs. By the beginning of next week, I'll be ready to move my blue oranda into the regular tank, so I'll be checking the params and using a big plastic bag to house the fish and gradually introduce the regular tank's water to it. I hope the goldies will thrive together. The tank is only 30 gallons. Water quality is the thing and making sure the baby gets high quality foods to help it grow.
  20. I bought my Eheim 2213 from a vendor on eBay. It was a fine transaction and my filter was brand new and runs beautifully! Saved some money, but didn't see another vendor for even cheaper in time!
  21. yeah. I almost had an incident recently, I looked up barely in time! It was teetering right at the top lip! Whew!
  22. I have an Eheim fishfood server. It can be programmed to serve the desired number of times a day according to what time you set it for, and the aperature can be opened or closed to size to control the amount of food that goes into your tank. While it is safe to not feed for a week, I feel a bit better knowing that even a small amount of food being dropped into the tank will mean my pets are eating--and not each other.
  23. I bought an aquarium thermometer and when I prepare the warm and cold water for my tank, I try to get the temperature in the fresh water to be at the same temerature as the existing tank. It spares the fish of a shock. Get a regular thermometer; I understand that the stick-on ones fade after a while. You don't have to keep the thermometer in the tank if you don't want to. I read about a fish that got so excited at feeding time that it broke the thermometer hanging against the glass with a hard wag of its tail. That created a crisis. The test kits are expensive (to me), but they include everything. However, buying seperate tests for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH may end up costing more. For sure, every fish hobbiest has to have them. I didn't test water or change it enough for years, and I kept losing fish. I started keeping tropical fish almost 40 years ago off and on, and used to think it was the fish life cycle that explained the deaths. After so many deaths, I closed my tank up. But I missed an aquarium, and after a while I began with fancy goldfish. I wanted nice fish, so I was willing to invest a lot of money in them, so I began to study. I now know that balanced water and its purity is absolutely the most important thing to keeping your pets alive. Prime is highly recommended to dechlorinate, but some kind of dechlorinator is a must at water changes, as chlorine will kill your fish. Overstocking as you have is ok for now, but if they live, it won't be long before you will have to get a bigger tank. So you may want to return some of the fish or plan to buy another smaller aquarium and split your fish, or buy a bigger one to house them all together. Treating your fish for disease after you get them is recommended. Since your fish all arrived at once, you can treat them in the same tank. I recommend getting some Prazi-Pro (It isn't overly expensive) to treat for flukes, a common problem for fish raised/kept in overcrowded commercial conditions. It's also recommended that you feed the fish with an antibiotic food like Medi-gold for at least 2 weeks during the medicinal treatment. The Medi-Gold can be bought from The Goldfish Connection and so can Pro-Gold, an excellent, balanced fish food. You may find something at the pet store, but personally I like to get supplies from fish experts. The Medi-Gold can be kept for the occasion when you have any kind of emergency where your fish are stressed, or if they should get an infection despite excellent water conditions (As I said, to keep their environment clean, you should do at least once-a-week water changes.) A tool to facilitate efficient water changes is nicer than having to dip out water every week. Anyway, if you test your water until your tank cycles, treat the fish at the beginning with Prazi-Pro and medicated food as a preventative, keep changing your water and treating with Prime every week, and feed them with good quality food, but do not overfeed your fish, you should do very well and enjoy an attractive, tranquil visual addition to your room of a pretty tank with happy, gracefully moving fish. Fish keeping is no different than having any other kind of pet. With dogs and cats, you have to inoculate them, buy licenses, buy food and toys, provide a bed, house them if you go on vacation and treat them if they get sick. Fishes are a lot quieter and can be responsive to you when you approach the tank, wiggling their little bodies in greeting in anticipation of a goodie, and they can be lots of fun to watch. Sometimes, they'll even play in the bubbles from the aeration bars you put in your tank. I had a Moor that did that. At first I thought it was accidental, but I noticed he habitually swam in and out of the flow--maybe it was intellectually stimulating, maybe he liked the way the bubbles felt...He was a very alert fish...so who knows. Most of my fish have not done that. Have fun with your fish buddies!
  24. I think I prefer females because they will not become aggressive. I don't want to breed fish, so I don't care if I have a male. I will choose basically by appearance and personalilty.
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