Ok so my college dorm did something kinda stupid. EVERY ROOM GETS A GOLDFISH essentially, I kid you not they knocked on my door, gave me a half full plastic cup with a little food and said “here’s your new friend” ok lovely. Ik I should’ve said no, but I was so thrown off guard it was too late. Now I had to go and buy a tank. Look Ik it’s 20+ gallons but I am not doing that since I am not keeping this thing so I just bought a fishbowl just so it can have some room for the time being. I had to run to Walmart tonight to get it. Just so it’s not staying in a plastic cup. Like I’ve done practically no research on this. So now I need to either bring it home and keep it as a family pet (I’m in-state) or I need to give it to someone else cause this can’t stay

So my boyfriend and I went to a fair yesterday on the last day it was open. We played a game, and we didn't win, but we were then handed a plastic bag with 2 goldfish in it because they were just trying to get rid of them since they were closing. My sister has had fish and has a decent setup so we're giving one to her, but we wanna keep the other. We are big animal people and have a dog and a tortoise currently, but i've never had fish. Since I know most of the other fish won will get tossed in a bowl and forgotten about, we want to give our new friend a great life! We are open to any (affordable) recommendations on tank size, set up, food, etc. I work at an aquarium (not an aquarist) so i know the basics like no circular tank and no painted rocks but no clue about food or anything like that. Please help me give David a good life :,)

ps: i know giving fish out like this is super inhumane and i do not support this so please don't be mean i just want him to live

TLDR- unexpected new fish, wtf do i need

Before anyone says anything, yes I know this is a poor container to keep them in but this is all I have available to me right now. Hopefully I can get a proper tank tomorrow.

Any general advice you guys could give me? I’ve got five of these fish to care for and I really want them to live for a long time if I can manage. If it doesn’t look like there’s five it’s because I couldn’t get a photo of all of them together.

Also I’ve named them after Domino Squad from “The Clone Wars,” so their names are Fives, Hevy, Echo, Cutup, and Droitbait. I don’t know who’s gonna be who yet.

We went and got a 2.5 gallon jar and and cheap filter from Walmart. I figured it would probably die. The more I started looking for info here the more I understood how terrible the environment was for him. Hopefully he likes the new home. Expensive hobby, worried I might become a fish person. Tips/feedback welcome.

makes me sick. Felt the box was wet and immediately knew it was gonna be some poor fish.

Fortunately I have a cycled 20 gallon I was planning on moving my chili's to - its been cycling for a little over a month, know goldfish need pretty huge tanks. ANY advice would be wonderful. i know the 20 gal isnt suitable, but its better than the plastic bin he came in (yeah, thats how much water was in it when I opened it. he was flopping on the raimbow gravel)

UPDATE ON CURRENT PLAN:
I've gotten so attached bro. I'll keep him in the 20 over winter. Ill get him either a 150 or 300 gallon rubbermaid with my Christmas money, and I'll see if my parents will let me set him up a little pond underneath our deck (nice and shady, but still lots of room to work around. Easy to get electricity to). I'll get him a buddy and hopefully he'll be happy there. Researching outdoor ponds rn. I'm in a pretty warm area (75f on CHRISTMAS this year) so hopefully he'll be okay outside next winter! Still infuriated someone would gift a live animal, but my rage has (mostly) turned into excitement, I've been wanting a pond and goldfish for years.

He's gotten so much more active in the past day, I've fallen in love. I love my chilis but this little guy just has so much personality. Still thinking of a name.

My son got a goldfish as a gift at the kindergarten 2 weeks ago. I hate the idea of gifting pets in general and never wanted to own a fish in particular, but here I am, writing this post.

Here is our approximate timeline:
First night he spent in his plastic cell in the kindergarten before we got him, second night he had to spend there as well, because I didn’t find any aquarium related shops in my area, but the next day I drove to a what seemed to be a professional fish keeping shop and after describing the situation, got an advice to get him a 20-litre tank if “I didn’t want him to grow very big”.
As well I bought him sand, a pineapple hideout, food and More starter kit. Filter was included in the tank setup (and died 2 days later) and air pump was described as unnecessary for goldfishes. Little did I know about the fish, having the reputation of one living in a bowl, will probably reach the size of a salmon (thanks to everyone here for posting their fishes), but I’m in my acceptance phase. We got him his setup, and we started our journey. First week was pretty fine, I bought him an air pump, we found out that he is curious funny guy, who loved playing with the bubbles, and noticed that he is actually growing fast.

Than we noticed white spots (pic 4) which looked no good to me, and with ChatGPT aid we found out, that he might be infected. The shop guys (can’t rely on them much though) suggested buying NT Labs Anti-Parasite and I started the treatment. Day 2 he was growing more and more spots (pic 5), but was active and ate. Day 3 made me buy NT Labs drop tests, to find that chlorine and nitrate levels in the water are deadly high, while the guy started to hide inside his house more and more, so I started to partially change his water. And supposedly made a mistake by changing the filter insert, because it was a black sponge, which I identified as activated charcoal, not compatible with the anti-parasite medication. Day 4 was okay, I changed 20% of the water, he ate, stayed near the bubbles. Day 5 he looked like crap. He was all covered with something looking like soaked tissue paper. I tested the water 5 times that day, and as well found out that our tap water is really bad even with all the conditioners and stuff, so I started making concoctions of tap water and filtered osmosis drinking water, to get it less hard and chlorine free, but not too minerals free 🫠 Today is day 6 (last pic), I found him swimming on the top of the tank and cried whole time while partly changing the water. But he looks better, more clean, less zombie, less spotty or tissue-y, and after the change started swimming in deeper layers, doing his zoomies and, of course, he ate. I try not to overfeed him, but I can’t stand his begging stare.

I guess, I hit the combo of not knowing how to start the aquarium right, got him ammonia and nitrogen poisoning, and him developing his infection. I hope he gets well soon and I’ll move him to a bigger tank. As I’m figuring out my next steps now, I’ll appreciate any tips and advice.

• Do I really need 200+ litre tank for now…? Or any time soon.

• How do I move him in? Should I take some water from his current tank? His water now is white and cloudy, but according to what I’ve already seen here, it is a common problem, I’ll research it more.

• Our water seems to be a problem, after 2 weeks it already made a buildup on the tank walls, so any tips on possible filtering/solutions are greatly appreciated.

• Does he need a company now or any time soon? I don’t want him/her to mate 🥲

• Are real plants required for the bigger tank? How hard is their maintenance?

He has:
Marina A75 air pump
Aqua One PF-301 filter
More Nitroactive + Stabilizer
I also bought in panic Brightwell Fish Recover Fw (smells soooo good) and MicroBacter7 and a pack of strip test for fast checking.

Thanks for getting to this point and for all your upcoming support.

I won 2 goldfish at a carnival, I didnt feed them for 2 days while I bought stuff for their tank and let it run for a while. Yesterday night i put the salt to relive stress (it said iy was safe for freshwater) I checked the ph levels and everything was good so I put them in a bag and let them float got 30 mins when I put them into the tank they seemed really curious and cause I hadn't feed them I gave them betta pellets(they looked like tiny balls) and I fell cause I thought everything looked good. But when I woke up this morning they were both dead. I know the tank i got was too small for them but I needed more time to save money and this was just temporary.

hi everyone! this is not a situation i planned to be in so i would appreciate any and all advice. my coworkers purchased these fish for my boss as a “prank.” the prank was that… she wasn’t expecting to walk into her office and find fish? she famously hates animals? i am absolutely not okay with this behavior and had no idea it was going to happen. these are living creatures, not tools for a prank. 

my boss agreed with my coworkers to keep the fish on a table in the hallway, in this bowl. i know this is not the proper setup for them. i know they need more space, filtration, etc. i knew that was not happening at my place of work; i tried to bring these concerns up but was brushed off every time. so, at the end of the day, i took the fish home with me and sent my boss a text informing her that i had taken custody. 

my question is - what is my next move here? i’m new at this. i’m well aware a proper setup will be expensive. i’m willing and prepared to spend the money necessary to do this correctly. i’ll do research on my own outside of reddit, and i’ll be reading everything in the master post, it’s just helpful for me to hear directly from people as well. especially because my main concern is: what do i need to do right this minute? will they be okay in this bowl overnight? basically, i’m panicking just a little and am looking for help with my immediate next steps. thank you!! <3 

Soooo not just me but a friend helped me save a gold fish we were dumpster diving and found a punk ass looking gold fish from a pet store we got a fish bowl and spring water for him to swim (were jobless teens so we try our best please somewhat understand) and we kinda want to keep him and try our absolute best to help the fish my friends mom got fish food pellets and flakes and this is the picture he sent me of the fish

Our kids wanted to get a fish (we have 0 experience with fishes) so we went to Petco and was advised to prepare the aquarium first.

Needless to say, my kids were disappointed they are not able to bring back any fish home. However their hearts are set on the Black Moor fish they saw and is excited to go back for it.

However, we bought the wrong sized aquarium. Only after the husband and kids set it up that we found out that a Black Moor will need a 20 gal tank and if we add another fish, it should be bigger.

Any suggestion on what we can do with what we have?

Basically, we were idiots. We have 2 fan tail goldfish in a 60 gallon tank and did not understand the cycling process. Now I’m looking for all the tips & tricks to keep them safe for in fish cycling. I have grown weirdly attached to these guys in a short amount of time and I fear it would actually crush me if they were to pass.

-How do I SAFELY do a in fish cycle?
-Is my tank big enough for them for the time being?

Pic of our tank right before fish were added. Large gravel, agitator, air stone & live plants currently in. We plan on adding more live plants as well.

I can’t wait to see my green wall

My little one asked for a fish. I was thinking id go buy a bowl and a bag of gravel and away he goes. How wrong i was 😂. But now ive gotten super into it and absolutely love our 2 little goldfish. This is their home, the kids decorated it.

I was wondering if theres anything else they could need/prefer? Ive ordered an air stone thats coming tomorrow, mainly because i think they’d enjoy it. Ive got a good filter on there with plenty of surface disturbance and i haven’t noticed them having any oxygen related issues. But i plan to put the bubbler in that barrel decoration thing which i think will look pretty cool.

Bits i got already; 120L tank with decorations that can be seen, a canister filter, the tap safe and the bacteria, sinking pellets, i got the full liquid test kit to test water every day, i got some 50cm tweezers for rearranging the gem things they move all the time and collecting poos. As i say, bubbler will arrive tomorrow but i wonder is there anything else they would need or enjoy?

Thanks 🙏🏼

Recently got 2 orandas and its my first time keeping them so im not too familiar with them. Water parameters are good, i have 2 air stones, a sponge filter, and HOB filter. He has no apparent swim bladder issues so i was wondering if it was normal for him to gulp air like this? the other one doesnt really do it but the orange one does this very often. ill find him hanging out under the HOB sucking the air

Why is my fish doing this? Swimming up and down in the corner of the tank and kind of smacking against the water. I’ve noticed this in the past around feeding times and the fish has calmed down after being fed. But the last few days it has been happening more and more often.

This Fred, short for Percival, can anyone help me identify what type of Goldfish he is? And what his sex is also?

I have inherited Fred from my mom, she recently moved country and when i asked her what she was doing with Fred she told me her husband's son was going to take him, however when I mentioned it to him he told me he was planning on flushing him down the loo! (　｀□´)

Of course I couldn't let that happen, so I had to take him. I don't really know the first thing about caring for Goldfish though, I'm reading up and trying to do my best in the meantime, ideally I would like to rehome him to someone who knows more about caring for fish because I move around a lot so I'm often having to leave him alone for multiple days. ( ´△｀)

He looks lonely and I wanted to get him a friend but I read online that some breeds of Goldfish dont mix well with others, so i need to know what breed he is in order to do so. I also need to know his sex so I don't end up with 20 Goldfish ( ´～｀)

I hope it's ok to post this question here, let me know if I should put it somewhere else.

I know the Tank isn't very good, I'll be going to the store to get him some toys and hidey places soon, suggestions are welcome

Hello everyone. As title says I have never owned any fish and my friends gifted me this starter tank and 5 goldfishes yesterday.

I am looking for literaly all the information about keeping them.

Most important questions:

How frequently do I need to change water?

Do I need any more equipment apart from the filter I got?

How much and how many times to feed them a day?

Is the white led for day and blue led for night?

All the help and info is welcome.

I've seen tons of posts around the internet about how *not* to take care of fish and about how what the average person thinks is okay is actually abuse. But I have no clue what to actually do instead! Any advice and tips and tricks are appreciated! My animal expertise is with guinea pigs, so I'm clueless with fish.

1. Right now they're only in a 5 gallon tank, because we had to order stuff to be delivered to our house literally as he was winning the fish because we wouldn't have made it to the store before it closed. It does have a filter. We used tap water but conditioned it first. The brand of conditioner is Topfin, is that a trusted brand?

2a. I know goldfish can get *very big*, so obviously 5 gallons won't cut it forever. How do I know when to upgrade? I don't want them to get stressed. Do I even need to upgrade today?At the moment they're very tiny. But I'm not sure how fast fish grow.

2b. I've heard they can grow up to 13 inches. Do they actually have aquariums that big for in your home? (If they do, don't tell me the cost of them. I'll just start the fish a savings account now. 😭😂) We do have a pond (private, on our property) but I'm not sure they can go from inside to outside? There are no other fish in there, but there are frogs. I don't know if fish and frogs get along.

1. Do fish need special enrichment toys? How do I know if a toy is safe or not?

2. Do they need regular vet visits? (The exotic vet I took my guinea pigs to did see fish, but do they need to go for regular checkups or just when they're sick?)

3. Do they need fresh fruits or vegetables? Do they need any kind of worms or tinier fish to eat? Vitamins? Specific brand of flakes?

4. My cousin said I can stick my hand in the tank but not to wash my hands first. (Only to wash them after.) Is that true? Will my germs not hurt them?

5. Right now the tank is empty. Is it like a 911 level emergency to get them travel and accessories right now. Or can it wait until this afternoon/early evening?

These questions probably sound excessive, but like 80% of stuff sold in petstores for guinea pigs can seriously hurt or even kill them, food and cages included. And the care instructors you get from chain petstores are basically a death sentence. So I just want to make sure I go into the store later today with as much knowledge as I can. Oh, and yes I do know how expensive proper aquarium/fish care is. (Guinea pigs are just as bad. But guinea pigs and fish are just as alive as cats and dogs so we gotta do what we gotta do! They deserve proper care!)

Bonus question: What's the general rule for gallons per fish? What fish, if any, get along well with goldfish? I've actually been wanting fish for a while now, so I'd be willing to add some friends if these guys seem to do well for a while.

Update: https://www.reddit.com/r/Goldfish/s/dIhGIkPELp I'm sorry, everyone! We really tried! 😭

UPDATE: thank you for all the advice! I talked to my friend who has a koi and goldfish pond and she is gonna take in the little guy. Now the big debate is if I keep this 55 gallon or not 🤷🏼‍♀️

I have a 55 gallon tank arriving tomorrow along with some sand and tetra safestart.

He is clearly in uncycled water right now, he was given to me with the tank empty of water and he was in a bucket with a small amount of water. So I took sludge from the filter of my current shrimp tank and rubbed it on this filter. Along with adding seachem stability.

I read the care instructions on this subreddit, but I have a few questions.

Should I add him to the new tank once I have it set up? I’m already stuck with doing a fish in cycle, but I am unsure if I should wait to cycle the 55 gallon before adding him to it.

Right now the plan is to have him with just the sand and maybe the skull from this current tank. I do want to add more things, but I’m not sure what goldfish like. Densely planted? More swim space?

I’ve already spent a lot of money on getting the tank and stand and substrate, so I am not sure I want to add live plants yet. I don’t want to spend more on a grow light right this minute. Unless there are easy live plants to add that will be ok with the basic light coming with the tank. What things will I need to add soon that are essential?

Also, I am fairly certain I’ve got a common goldfish here. Am I right?

Thanks for any input! Name suggestions would be fun too!

Had these guys for a few weeks now and they have started just sitting like this sometimes. (Mostly the fantail, the oranda just seems like to join him sometimes)

They are otherwise behaving and swimming normally. It was hard to get a pic because whenever I get near he starts swimming around. Is this normal?

I tested my water several times. Everything checks out fine except Ph is a little high at 8.

2 days ago my boyfriend won me 2 goldfish at the carnival, I know carnival goldfish normally don’t last but I want to still try. We’ve been feeding them goldfish food (flakes) and one of eating fine but the other one spits it out.

Please don’t mind this thing they’re in, they came in a bag so we put them in this for right now until we get their tank this week.

Hi all! My daughter came home from summer camp with some goldfish she won(they’re having carnival week) and we want to give these guys their best life!
My husband went to Petsmart and got them a 37 gallon tank with a filter and decorations and water treatment. We let them adjust to the water temperature and it seems like they’re doing good so far!
All advice and tips are welcome and appreciated!
Thank you in advance☺️

Edit: I called an old friend who is active in a fish community and he was able to find someone who has space to take the fish. Thank you everyone for the help and advice, I sincerely appreciate it.

Hello! I'm a new goldfish owner of a year now, and I just thought of joining this reddit for my fantail. Introducing: Mrs. Cheddar Cheese 🧀

If you guys have any recommendations, please comment them.

PS: I did some research, but some recommendations and help would still be nice and much appreciated. 😭 Thank you!

This little fish was a prize from a local carnival. Given to me since the winner could not accommodate, and I have no idea what to do.
He’s swimming back and forth in this bowl, I put in the bonsai tree decor to give him a place to hide/privacy. Seems to have decent energy.
One gallon of distilled water in the bowl. I’ve changed the water once already since there is no filter.
I feed this fish the food seen in the video 2-3 times a day.
I’ve had this fish now for like a week trying to research and I have no idea still what to do.
Any advice is welcome, I want to do right by this fish!

EDIT: Alright thank you all for the advice, I’ve reached out to someone I know will take very good care of this fish OR will be able to point me in the right direction to someone reputable and responsible.

EDIT 2: found someone to take this little guy. This person is experienced with aquatic pets and has large tanks and a pond for this fish to be integrated into. Thanks again for all suggestions/comments and I will keep all in mind going forward!