Keeping and breeding fancy goldfish has been a passion of mine for a long time
I think these stunning fish have surely underrated in the hobby, and I wish to include more coverage
here on YouTube. I've decided to share my love of these little water pigs by creating a new series covering
the key basics of keeping, feeding and breeding fancy goldfish. In this first episode, I want to share with you my experiences and opinions when it comes
to the March Christ tank for fancy goldfish. Hello friends, and welcome back to the channel
If you're new here, my name is Richard, and I'm a fish and shrimp breeder based in the UK
Now, I think tank size is one of the most important factors when it comes to getting
fancy goldfish. Far too often, I see people keeping their fish in aquariums that are essentially far
too small. Fancy goldfish grow to be large fish, they're a big apricot, and they make a lot of nest
The greater the water volume they live in, the healthier they will be. A well fed and well cared for fancy goldfish can easily reach 8 to 10 inches in size
As such, they either need an aquarium, which Max is ready to use, or we, as the Goldfish
Owners, must be prepared to upgrade their tank as they get larger
Now, let me add a quick caveat to this video. Needless to say, bigger is always better
Whilst you can keep one kind of goldfish in a 40 gallon breeder, there's no doubt that
being in a 400 gallon tank would be even better. But we have to be realistic, and when we give sizes, or when I give sizes in a video
like this, it's kind of the minimum sizes. If you can go bigger, so much the better
So what is the ideal tank size for a fancy goldfish? In my experience, one fancy goldfish needs at least 20 gallons of water
Then for each additional goldfish we add, we want to have at least 10 to 15 gallons available
So, a 30 or 40 gallon tank will work well for two things
Whereas for three, you might want to look at a 40 or a 50 gallon tank
Essentially, the greater the water volume is, the better. Now in the tank behind me, you can see I've got four of these little beasts in a tank
which measures 180 metres, which is around 47 gallons. But I do so knowing full well, to keep them happy, and to keep them healthy, I'm going
to have to carry out large water changes. On this tank here, I've changed 50 to 75 percent of the water every single week
In reality, you can keep as many fishes as you want within any given tank, providing
you're prepared to keep up with the work. The more fish you have in the tank, the more frequent you will need to carry out water changes
Once all four of these guys are fully grown, I should move them into a 155 gallon tank
I've got in the next room. Now one thing to bear in mind is it's not just about water volume, it's also about the
shape of the aquarium. A 40 gallon cylinder tank holds 40 gallons, so it has a relatively small surface area
compared to a three foot long tank which also holds 40 gallons of water
Surface area is crucial when it comes to oxygen exchange. When it comes to carbon dioxide that the fish have breathed out leaving the tank, and fresh
oxygen coming back in, it's all about surface movement, it's all about surface area and
surface application. The greater the surface area, the greater the opportunity therefore gaps will stay between
the water and the air above. So with that said, what are the consequences of not providing a tank that is large enough
Well there is an old saying that says a goldfish will only grow as big as the tank it's kept
in, but unfortunately that's not true. What typically happens is when goldfish are kept in tanks that are too small, they become
stunted, their growth becomes stunted and they don't reach their full potential
Their growth isn't really stunted by the physical size of the aquarium, but rather by the quality
of the water that they're living in. So the job of the fish that we have in our aquarium is to convert the goldfish' weight
which is high in ammonia, to a far safer nitrate. Now nitrates are still toxic to fish, but only at higher levels
What typically happens is the more fish you have in a body of water, the higher the levels
of nitrate tend to be, and that is what often causes the stunted growth in the goldfish
So when stunted goldfish are kept in tanks that are too small, they typically end up
living in water which has a high concentration of nitrates, and those nitrates will quickly
affect the goldfish' growth and can easily prevent the goldfish from growing to their
full size. Now the black clowntail behind me here, she's pushing 8 inches long, and she's about 18
months to 2 years old, and she's managed to get to that size I believe because she's on
a good diet, but also because I carry out huge water changes, and I keep the nitrate
levels in this tank as low as possible. So in my opinion, the minimum size tank for a single fang-tailed goldfish is about 20
gallons, which is around 75 litres. For a pair of fang-tailed goldfish, the tank wants to be at least 30 gallons, which is
around 113 litres, and for a trio of fang-tailed goldfish, you really want a 40 or a 50 gallon
aquarium, as a minimum, in my experience. To be fair, you may well find your fang-tailed goldfish out there these sizes if you keep
them well and keep up with water changes. Now if you're not sure how much water you should be changing your goldfish tank and
how frequently you should be changing it, check out the video I've linked just up there on screen
Thanks for watching