Weird Fish Behaviour

Question
I have two goldfish-type fish in a freshwater tank. For the past few months they seem to sleep at the bottom of the tank. One lies horizontally, one goes nose-down, vertically. They do this for long periods of time until they notice me coming into the room or feeding them. Is this normal?

When I got them a year ago they seemed to swim all the time and were very active.

Answer
Hi Melissa,
Thank you for sharing your fishs' weird behavior with me. This is due to over feeding. Please cut back feeding so that each fish gets 2 - 3 flakes or pellets per day. If you overfeed, the water becomes polluted and the fish eventually die. You can read more about this at my web page for aquarium care:
http://steamboats.com/aquarium.html
If the fish become ill, please follow the instructions for emergency care. Please buy Cycle at your local aquarium supply shop and use it in the tank by following the instructions on the bottle.
Don't be mad at yourself, this is the most common pitfall of aquarium care.
If you want to discuss further, please write back again.
Nori