Welcome to How to Take Care of a Goldfish
The complete pet goldfish care guide for every beginner and novice owner.
Learn how to take care of a goldfish in a
Get information on setting up a tank,
routine maintenance, feeding tips,
treating sick fish, tank accessories,
decorations, aquatic plants and more…
With the proper aquarium maintenance,
a goldfish can live a long and happy life
Feel free to bookmark this site and use it
as a guide for answering questions.
In our Bowl section, you can find information for beginners on how to get started. Read about caring for a goldfish in a bowl that you might have won at a fair, learn about the anatomy of your new pet or find fun facts. If you are considering building a garden pond, our Pond section will help answer all your questions. Find info on setting one up, maintaining it, dealing with the elements and learning how to care for aquatic pond plants and marginals. For those of you with a fish tank, our Aquarium section is full of resources on how to maintain a proper tank, run tests on the water parameters, diagnose and treat a fish for an illness and get information on all the different types of breeds that are available.
Author: Tim Winter
Sorry to hear that about your fish. There was likely something off in terms of the water quality. Next time try to cycle the tank first to avoid new tank syndrome or at least change the water often and use water conditioner.
I have just gotten a new common goldfish yesterday, but today he lays in one area of the bowl, does not eat, gasps for air, and oftentimes will let his head rise a little closer to the surface. I have read your article about low oxygen levels and moved my goldfish to a very wide bowl, gave him live plants, and blow bubbles in his bowl 10 min every hour, and have done this all of today. He is not recovering. What do I do now?
my fish died in three days,one day thay were fine,day two thay were always at the top,day three thay were all dead.
There are a lot of good lights out there and but it depends on the size of your tank and what hood cover you have. Not all hood covers will use the same light bulbs. Find a low intensity fluorescent tube light (not too bright) that will recreate the lighting that would be found in a goldfish’s natural environment. Here is a good rule to use in finding the right light: 0.25/1 watts per litre/gallon to 0.5/2 (divide the wattage by the tank size) keep it on a 12 on 12 off cycle to create day and night. You can buy a timer to automatically do this for you.
I would test the water for ammonia, ph, nitrates and nitrites and see if something in your tank water is off. Make sure you have good oxygen exchange in the way of filters and surface area on the surface. If you have a small bowl or little tank, you might consider upgrading to a 10 gallon tank. If you see any discoloration or something that doesn’t appear to be normal on your goldfish, take a look at my post on goldfish diseases to see if it might be sick. A goldfish that is lethargic and not eating can be due to a sickness or simply due to living in cold water temps (50-60s). Then again nothing might be wrong with your goldfish either. best of luck
Please email me the answer ty. But what kinda light if any should i use for my gold fish tank?
HI
I have a goldfish and he is about 2-3 years old. He is not eating much and he just floats around at times. Also, he is becoming jittering and swimming and moving all over the place really fast. What should i do?
It looks like you have done some good research on goldfish care. You have a pretty good list so far. In addition to those, I would suggest getting a aquarium water test kit to test your water. If levels are off, you know it’s time for a water change. I also think decorations not only look nice but they keep your goldfish feeling safe and secure; especially if it can hide in or around them when it gets stressed. Good luck with become a goldfish owner.
A hiding goldfish might not mean it’s sick. I might just mean that it is stressed or afraid. Give it some time to get comfortable and see if that helps. If that doesn’t, tell me what symptoms it is showing so I can help in diagnosing it.
This can be several things. It might just be that it ate too much food which has thrown its balance off. It could also be a swim bladder infection or worse, dropsy. First test your water and then do a water change. To treat an over fed goldfish, try not feeding it for several days. If that doesn’t work, try feeding it some green vegetable matter like peas. This will help the digestive tract. to treat the others, look for the treatments on the list of goldfish diseases post