today I brought a starter fish bowl (until I can get a tank ) and put my fish in them, acclimatising them like the instructions said to. I have since read about how a new bowl or tank needs to cycle but my fish are in it and are sitting in the bottem not moving much. Will they be ok until the bowl improves, i've been told its about 6 weeks until the tank is cycled.

i would get that tank asap. in a small bowl those levels are going to turn deadly in just a few days- you will need to do daily w/c's to keep things safe for them until you get the tank. i would say putting them in a larger uncycled tank is better than letting them go thru a cycle in the bowl (smaller bodies of water pollute quicker). what type of fish do you have?

the fish are probably still settling into their new surroundings, most fish will have a little sulk for the first few hours but do keep an eye on them as it could be a sign of sickness. water changes will be their friend until you can get a larger home for them

cycling time can vary, if you use existing filters/media/substrates etc it will speed things up as they already have bacteria in/on them. you can borrow some media out of a friends filter (make sure the tank is healthy though). products like cycle dont seem to have a very good success rate so i wouldnt waste your money on them. when i do fishless cycles they take between 3-4 weeks, they took the same amount of time when i used fish too.

best of luck

Thanks, I won't be able to get a tank for a few days at least, but its a big bowl with a big area on top. There is also oxyweed in there for them. Should I try and feed them now to see if they move. As far as I can tell they don't look stressed, they are just not moving much. I really appreciate any advice.

Oh, and they are comets. Two of them.

how big are they? coments are messy little critters (not so little once they reach full size around 20-30cm though :lol: ).

you could try a few flakes or perhaps a shelled pea depending on how big they are, if they dont eat just wait- dumping more food in will just foul the water.

they will be fine in that tank for a few days (or weeks if you are willing to keep up with the large daily w/c's) as long as you change their water frequently so the toxins dont build up. do you have a test kit to moniter whats going on in the tank?

No test kit. Silly me took the advice from the pet shop. They just sold me the starter kit and my two fish. They are starting to swim round a bit now, i'm going to take some of the oxyweed out as I think there might be a bit to much in there covering to much of the surface. And the calico one is eating so hopefully they will be ok. First things first I am going to sort out a tank and filter.

where abouts are you (in NZ)? perhaps put a post up in the private trade and exchange, someone may have a tank going cheap in your area

Hi Blondie,

don't feel too bad fish shops are often only interested in getting you to buy now. Goldfish are pretty hardy so they should be okay, but they are messy and do grow very fast so a bigger tank is going to be a must have. Often member here give away or sell small tanks very cheap, if you update your location you might get some one local offering you one.

As Sharn has said water changes will help them, personally I wouldn't remove any of the oxygen weed it wont make much difference to the water surface area and as long as it's getting some light will put oxygen into the water which will help the fish. It will also add to the surface area for the bacteria from your cycle and last of all, goldfish love to eat it.

I would hold off on feeding the fish will eat the oxygen weed if they get hungy, the food will just add to the waste in the water making it more toxic which the cycle is starting. Fish can easily go without being feed for a week or more

Im going to look at some tommorow so hopefully they won't be to expensive.

Also forgot to add when I first filled the bowl before aclimatising the fish I added some cycle that the pet shop sold me and some aqua safe clorine treatment that came with the bowl. So I am hoping that these do help.

aqua safe will have removed the chlorine which is a good thing, cycle wouldnt have done much at all but it wont have hurt

im not sure what the ideal size would be to house two comets permanatly but because of their max size it would be over 150L i would imagine. many people put them out in ponds as they get larger because they require alot of room- apparently cold water fish need more room for their size than the equivilent tropical fish (not 100%).

on the other hand if you keep upgrading it means you will have a few tanks to house other fish as the goldies go up in tank sizes :lol:

There still only quite small, by the way, when measuring them do you count the tail fin in the measurement? I was thinking that when I get my new tank and then get the first fish settled would the bowl I have now serve as a quarrintine bowl for any new fish? Its one of the bowls that have the coloured plastic bottom and top, not sure of its capicity, but thought it would come in handy if I get more fish later.

SL (standard length) is when you measure the fish without the tail.

TL (total length) is when you measure the fish with tail.

TL can be deceiving and in quite a few species cases because their tail can make up a considerable amount of their total length therefor it is hard to determine the actual body length of the fish. you can choose either way to measure your fish but IMO SL is easier as you dont have to guess whether the fish has an unusually long tail :lol:

it depends what type of fish you would be quarentining as to whether the bowl would be suitable but in most cases it would probably be too small (depending on the species), i have one of the ones you have from when i first started too and i beleive they hold around 4-5L. that would only be fine for neons, siamese fighters, white cloud mountain minnows and other small fish. you would also need to keep that bowl running or have a filter running in the main tank to hold good bacteria that you could switch over. i have used my bowl to hold fish in if they have been fighting and have wounds etc, i just float it in the main tank with its own airstone to keep the temp about right but it isnt for long periods of time.

i personally use a 2 footer for quarentine for fish under 15-20cm.

wow, ok my fish are only about a inch long sl at the moment but I realise they will get big. How do fish survive in fish bowls. I assume they can but they obviously don't do well in them. My fish are now starting to swim around a bit and are settling now so I am starting to feel better about them. Thankyou for all your advice, I have learn't a lot of helpful stuff tonight.

Does this bowl have any kind of Filtration or is it just a bowl with water in it?

IMO change 50% water every couple of days and feed every couple of days and they will be fine till you get a new tank

If it doesnt have a filter It wont cycle as there isnt anything to cycle

Regular water changes and not much food and they will be ok

Not all fish shops are interested in just taking your money

Some are definalty but not all

Brad

No filter. I have plenty of oxyweed in there. Thanks for that opinion. I will still get a tank but just wanted to make sure they wouldn't die before hand. Didn't think they would but after all the websites i've looked at I wasn't so sure. They all said bowls are bad.

IMO they arent the best but its not like they are going to die straight away

I know of people that keep them alot in bowls and though I dont exactly reccomend it It will work

Brad

Well, I now have a tank, i'm almost ready to go. I just need a filter and some more stones as it is a huge tank and two bags wasn't enough. I can't wait till its all up and going, even half set up I think it looks really good. And the best bit is its big enough to get a few more fish.