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*** Every once in a while, a scale falls off of one or another of the
goldfish. Sometimes I find these scales floating around in the water when I
do a water change. Several years ago, I took two scales, put them between two
pieces of plastic wrap, taped the plastic wrap to a plasti frame (the kind
used to frame 35mm slides for slide projectors), and scanned them in using the
slide scanner where I used to work. The result was an image like this. *** For those of you who are thinking about getting goldfish, a word of advice - don't overcrowd your tank! This 20 gallon tank should have one goldfish in it, not four. overcrowding means more water changes, bigger water changes, more needed filtration, and if you skimp on any of those things, more sick fish and sadness. So - don't put more than 1 goldfish per 10-20 gallons of water, and you and your fish will be happy as clams. :-) *** I used to subscribe to a great mailing list specifically for goldfish owners (who are often blown off or insulted by seemingly arrogant and rude tropical fish keepers). If you want to subscribe (start receiving messages from the list), send a message to the following address with the word subscribe in the body of the message (any other words are irrelevant) to:
To receive the list in "digested" form (a few big messages a day with everyone else's inside), send a message with subscribe in it to:
Once you are subscribed, send mail that you want to go to all members of the list to the following address (same for raw and digest subscribers):
To get off of the list, use the same e-mail account you subscribed with, and send a message to the same address you used to subscribe, but include the word unsubscribe in the body of the message. It's very fun reading - the list is full of very friendly, helpful, patient people, with a healthy range of abilities (from beginners to experts). Most people on the list are there to help, as well as to ask questions and learn, so no question seems too stupid or is asked too many times. If you keep goldfish as pets and would like a friendly forum to discuss them seriously with other goldfish lovers, this is a great list.
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Mike and I went out Saturday to buy some more hay for our bunnies, and we went to a farm/feed type store.. we wandered through their inventory and saw a nice black rubbermaid tub meant to be used as a source of water for livestock. It was 150 gallons. It called to us. It was a bit expensive, but we finally decided to just go for it. We have been talking about building a pond for a long time now. First we were going to build it outside, but the growing season is so short in VT that the fish could only be out for 2-3 months of the year.. so then we decided to build one inside with wood and a pond liner.. but when would we have time? We talked about it, but didn't do anything. With spring coming, we knew we wouldn't have any time for the next 6 months or so, with gardening, yard projects, exercising, and other things to do..
They also could have orderd a 300 gallon version, which was 6' in diameter, but it was more than twice the cost. We thought about where we would put it in the basement and decided that the 150 gallon version was enough for now. The person at the store said that most people bought the 6' one as a hot tub. I think it would make a GREAT small children's swimming pool too - or adult pool - it's indestructible and deep enough to have a bit of fun. It was tempting. :-)
We decided on the 150 though, figuring that even if we bought the 300 gallon one later, we'd always have a use for the 150 (or we could sell it). We set it up in the basement, filled it up with water, hung a light over it, put a sponge/powerhead in for a filter, and popped them in. They... were SO CUTE!! They are so used to being cramped that they huddled together, rubbing each other and staying close to the bottom... As of today, they were a bit more outgoing, and spent some time coasting from side to side. OOOHhhhh, I'm so happy. We also put the little calico fantail from upstairs down with them. The fantail had been in an 189 gallon whiskey barrel pond, but it had no filter, and the little guy was all by himself.. we figured he'd be taken care of and better appreciated in with other fish. We'll just keep the whiskey barrel for plants.
This is sort of a religious experience for me. I have been promising these fish that I'd do this for so long. Yes, I know they're 'just fish', but to me, they're a sign of my committment to my pets. I felt SO bad about my little nose sore guy, and yet, I did nothing (I changed a lot of water, but that didn't help enough). We should have done this LONG ago, but at least it's done now.
The tank is really sturdy. We forgot to check for leaks in our excitement.. there is a screw bolt near the bottom for drainage that drips at a rate of about one drop per hour.. so far, it's evaporated faster than it's accumulated.. but we'll probably unscrew it and put a little teflon tape in there next time we empty the tank. For now though, it's fine.
It's relaxing to watch the fish glide through the water.. beautiful orange silouettes on a black background.. when we fed them this morning, they actually seemed to "frolic", splashing the water as they went up for a bite.
Long term, we're hoping to build a wooden panel/bench around it, so that you can sit or lie near it and look down.. we're also hoping to finish part of the basement and put this pond in it. For now though, it's wonderful.
Notes from Autumn, 1999
The fish have been doing well, but I have a frightful story to tell!! We had a few friends over for the evening, and I took my friend Stef downstairs to visit the bunnies with me and help me bring them upstairs. She hadn't been over our house since we got the pond, so I randomly walked over there to show the fish to her. Just as I was noticing that I could only see 3 comets in the pond (I always instinctively do a mental count of fish when I walk by), she heard something in the corner.. one of our comets had leaped out of the pond and was coverd with dust, fur, gravel, and other mysteries of the basement floor.. and was gasping slowly. Poor fish had obviously been out a while - her fins were shredded, although they were still there..
I picked her up and plopped her back into the pond, thinking that would be the quickest way. She sort of half-swam sort of sideways, but within a few hours she had righted herself and shed the debris that had been clinging to what was left of her slime coat. It's taken her a while for her scales and fins to grow back, but now (December, 1999) she looks almost as good as new (though the new scales are white still, not orange). I'm so glad we found her in time! From then on, I keep the water level down about 7" or so from the rim. I've never seen them jump since, though they do flick their tails and smack the water with their lips when feeding.
Notes from early January, 2000
The fish are doing well. We have been feeding them Tetra pond food for spring/summer/fall, which looks like puffed pieces of cereal - it floats, which is very convenient. I'm hoping it's not too rich, since the water always hovers around 58-60 F. They seem to eat well. Every week or so, we toss a net-ful of duckweed in from some of our other tanks. It's almost always eaten entirely by the next day, and in its place is a bunch of green poop, which I vacuum out. The filter got unplugged a few weeks ago for a while, and the water got cloudy and bad-looking. I changed 75% of the water then, and again two weeks later, and the pH is back up above 7 now (it was in the "yellow" region of the bromothymol blue pH indicator!). The fish seem to have recovered from it.
Mike and I bought a water lily for 50% off this fall, from a local garden shop. We put it in the pond, elevated on a glass jar so that the leaves can reach the water easily. It is making new leaves slowly, but the fish keep biting pieces of them off - probably because the floating food gets stuck near the surface/leaf interface. I'm thinking of making a floating feeding ring for the fish, to keep the food away from the lily. I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to the lily.. it's right under our light (a compact fluorescent kind), but I hope the low temperature isn't going to hurt it. Right now, it's stuck in a sort of half-dormant, half-alive limbo. I am considering bringing it upstairs in a bucket, so it can get more light and have a less turbulent existence. If it can make it to summer, it can go outside in our whisky barrel pond.
In other fish news, we're going to pick up a shubunkin from a co-worker to add to our pond. She has several fantail-type fish, and the male shubunkin is beating them up trying to breed with them. the female let loose thousands of eggs, but got badly hurt in the process. We're going to take him, and hope that in our larger pond with four other comet-shaped fish to frolick with, that he'll do fine and not pick on our little calico fantail. We'll see - more news to come!
Last Updated January 3, 2000
