Take Good Care Of Your Goldfish And He May Outlive You

     Goldfish are fairly easy to care for and can be quite long-lived with some of them living over 30 years! Unfortunately, most goldfish in aquariums don't last that long because they are not properly taken care of.

Important thing to consider when thinking about your goldfishes health is the size of the aquarium you have him in. The larger the aquarium the better the water quality will be for your fish. This is both in terms of toxicity of the water and of how much oxygen gets into the water. A tank that is short and long will be better because there is a lot of surface area to allow air in. The trendy tanks that are very tall but small and circumference might look good but they do not provide the best environment for your fish. The more gallons of water you have for each of your fish the cleaner and healthier the water will be.

Goldfish, being omnivores, eat both meat and plants and you should provide them with a diet that is rich in both. Just feeding on the flake food that you find in the pet stores isn't ideal. You can actually buy special goldfish food as well as frozen foods for your fetish. If you do buy them frozen foods be sure that you saw them out before putting them in the aquarium. The thing about goldfish, however, is that they are a lot like dogs in that they will tend to overeat so you have to be careful about not overfeeding them.

If you do feed your fish too much then, not only will they have more waste that they are excreting into the water, but excess food will accumulate on the bottom of the tank. The waste in the food will rot causing ammonia to build up making the water quality unhealthy for your fish.

To keep the water quality at its best, you should change the water In the tank about once a month. Siphon all the food off the bottom intake at about 25% of the water replacing it with new water which is at room temperature and has had water conditioner added. The cleaner you keep your aquarium water the healthier your fish will be. But it's important to remember not to atke up too much water at one time as this will have an adverse affect on your fish.

Goldfish like the temperature in the tank to be somewhere between 65 to 68 degrees F. anything more laughs will cause illness in your fish. Higher temperatures will cause less oxygen to be in the water which can eventually your goldfishes organs. Temperature fluctuations are not good for your fish so be sure you have a good heater thermostat and you can regulate the temperature accordingly.

Good filtration in your aquarium is key to keeping your goldfish healthy. in addition, you should not overfill the aquarium with too many fish. The general rule is about 1 inch of fish per 1 gallon of water, but remember goldfish are not just linear they're rounded so you'll have to take this into consideration. Also, don't forget that your goldfish will grow. Use a test kit each week to measure the ammonia nitrite and nitrate levels in your fish tank and adjust water accordingly.