August 18, 200818 yr comment_258317 Hey, My girlfriend's got two goldfish, both fantails about 4cm long. The tank is 31*20*20, so about 9-10 litres excluding substrate and other bits and pieces. The short story What temperature will her goldfish be comfortable at? The lowest setting is 16°c. The long story Anyways, we went to get her second goldfish yesterday from a private seller, and all of his goldfish were really active and looked really happy. Turns out his tank was set at 29°c! So that got me thinking about my girlfriends goldfish, he seemed pretty sluggish and just sat at the bottom all day. So we threw my 50w heater in and set it at it's lowest setting, 16°c. It took probably 3-4 hours to climb up to that temperature from an ambient of 11°c. He seemed pretty happy around 14°c, quite active and stuff, but when it got to about 15/16°c he started darting around, panicking and panting pretty hard - so we turned it off. It's now the morning and the tank's at 8°c. They're back to mooching on the bottom, doing nothing. Is 16°c too hot for them? Are we raising it too quickly? What's the deal? Cheers, Romeo Report
August 18, 200818 yr comment_258318 16 should be fine. I'd aim for something like 20 the goldfish will still be comfortable and it's warm enough for the hardier tropicals so you can have a good variety. Report
August 18, 200818 yr Author comment_258319 Cool, thanks. She's had the heater on for about 20 minutes and the two goldfish are hovering right beside it. So I guess that says something ;D. 16°c it is, I don't think she has room for any more fish in there so that'll do until she can get a bigger tank. Report
August 18, 200818 yr comment_258320 bare in mind if u only want to keep goldfish no heater is perfectly fine also they can over winter in ponds taht ice up Report
August 18, 200818 yr Author comment_258322 RE Spoon Oh right, they're pretty hardy then! But they'll be more active and happy in warmer water right? We're not going to shorten their lifespan by any great margin by heating the water to 16°c are we? PS: Since we got the new goldfish the other one's really happy. They spend most of their time cuddling together and following each other around, it's pretty cute. Report
August 18, 200818 yr comment_258323 nah it wont most peoples houses are around or over 16degC aneway 29degC would shorten their lifespan tho remembering they can live for a very long time and get very big (u have seen my black moor , he will get to twice that easy) my tank is too small for my goldfish im gunna build a pond when i shift keep some in there then maybe buy a bigger tropical community and keep the goldfish in my 200L and turn the old goldfish tank into a brackish tank so i can get a puffer Report
August 18, 200818 yr comment_258324 To my knowledge i always thought goldfish were *cold* water fish. I have 4 in a 40 liter tank on the deck. (covered).(awaiting for a pond to be built for them) They sort of hibernate during the colder weather and don't eat much. But they are all fine. Come Summer they are back to normal. Your girlfriend might like to think about a bigger tank for the goldfish down the track as they grow bigger and need more space to swim etc. but definately don't add any more to that tank. Good luck and enjoy the goldfish Report
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