releasing carnival goldfish

[noaccountnam]

this is the message i posted on a different forum earlier today:

"hi all,

let me preface this by saying that i had no interest in getting a fish tank. none what so ever. this past weekend my husband and daughter won four goldfish at a carnival and i assumed they'll die by the time the family brings them home. they didn't. we put them in a mason jar and one fish died a few hours later. the rest survived overnight and the next day my friend brought over one of those cheap little fish bowls (and gravel) which we transferred them to. they seemed miserable, floating on the bottom, and one of the fish developed what looks like ripped fins.

since the expense of setting up a tank wasn't anywhere on my radar, i started looking for a free tank and found a 10 gallon one on craigslist. it included a fluval 1 plus filer, air pump, thermometer, and heater (i think the girl who gave it away had tropical fish in there). last night i set up the 10 gallon tank: gravel, water at 65 degrees, 5ml of stress coat, and air pump/air stone. there was no time to cycle the tank as the fish were looking pretty iffy in the fishbowl and i had no alternate place to put them. i was half expecting them to be dead this morning but they are alive and two actually seem pretty spry now, swimming around exploring the tank. the fish with the ripped fins doesn't seem as active but looks better than it did yesterday.

my questions:

1. i keep reading pretty mixed information on maintaining a 10 gallon tank with goldfish in it. i read everything from 2-3 gallons per fish to 20 gallons per fish. these fish are about 1.5-2.5 inches in size. will they be okay in a 10 gallon tank, at least for the time being?

2. aside from water changes, what do i do to avoid ammonia issues since it seems that goldfish are great at creating waste?

3. any other pointers on how to keep these fish alive?

4. how necessary is light? the hood that came with the tank is rusty around the electrical outlets and the bulbs which i bought today do not work in there. is this something that can wait until i can buy a new hood?

5. do i need to test the water? any recommendation on strips? i know that right now the water is at 7.5 pH but all i had was ph strips.

6. i had a 20 gallon tank about 15 years ago and we had fancy goldfish in the tank along with a beta fish and some bottom feeders. what's the protocol on adding bottom feeders to the tank and if that's a good idea, any suggestions on what we should add?

i wasn't interested in setting up a tank but now that they are still alive, i'm kind of invested in keeping them this way!

thank you so much for any pointers and sorry for the long post!"

from the info and feedback provided to me, it seems that rehoming these guys is the best option for my situation. does anyone have any suggestions on how to go about finding them a new home in the NYC area?

[Astchiefy]

Well first let's just say that it is great that you've taken the time to ask how best to care for these animals. Goldfish are pretty easy to care for but require good filtration in a small tank. You don't state whether that fluvial provided is a internal or canister filter. If its in good shape it should do well provided it makes carbon pad changes changes easy enough that you'll keep up with maintenance. They poop a lot which often pushes people to buy bottom feeders. Most bottom feeders don't clean the tank of goldfish poop so this often results in starved bottom dwellers or dirty water. Goldfish tend to grow nicely, so fewer fish will be kept in a smaller tank such as 10 gallon. Gold fish are cold water as long as the tank is kept above the 50 degree mark indoors. You can find the finned friends often in frozen over ponds in winter but indoors i doubt youll have that problem. A good gravel cleaning while performing regular water changes and filter maintenance will definitely get you off to a good start. My personal preference in feeding goldies was pellets rather than flakes but that's my pref. It helps keep the gravel cleaner cause you can add small pellets and removed uneaten food. Goldfish love eating plants like duck weed and leafy veggies. Keeping the set up simple along with good maintenance will help caring for these animals easier than expected.