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Goldfish care advice from the experts

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Can a goldfish live in tap water?

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If you’re new to keeping goldfish, you may be wondering whether they can live in normal tap water.

Lots of beginner goldfish keepers think they can simply add water straight into their tank along with their goldfish.

However, if you want your goldfish to live a long and healthy life, this is definitely not a good idea.

Goldfish shouldn’t live in untreated tap water

Can a goldfish live in tap water?
Can a goldfish live in tap water?

Goldfish cannot live in untreated water straight from the tap. This is because tap water contains chemicals that are bad for your fish. And, even worse, can kill all of the ‘good bacteria’ in your tank.

Good bacteria develops through a process called cycling, which we talk about in more detail here.

Essentially, cycling involves cultivating bacteria that will take your goldfish’s waste (ammonia) and turn it into less harmful chemicals.

It’s vital that you maintain this delicate eco-system of good bacteria. But adding tap water can completely destroy it. The chemicals in tap water can kill some or all of the bacteria. This stops the bacteria from processing ammonia, which causes ammonia to build up and does serious harm to your fish.

What about water changes?

You might be wondering – “hold on, if I can’t add tap water, how do I do water changes?”. And of course, you do still need a regular routine of water changes.

While you shouldn’t add tap water straight into your tank, this doesn’t mean you can’t add it at all. You just need to treat the tap water first and only add small amounts at any one time.

We recommend a product called Seachem Prime for treating water. Each week, you can remove up to a third of the water from your tank and replace it with treated tap water. Just be sure to follow the instructions on the bottle.

Finally: You should never wash your filter, filter sponges, decorations or substrate (such as gravel) in tap water! These are the prime living spaces for that good bacteria we mentioned. So keep them in tank water at all times!

How to transport goldfish

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If you’re moving house – or you’re thinking of moving goldfish for any other reason – you might be quite concerned about how it will go.

Don’t worry.

Follow these simple steps and your goldfish should be absolutely fine.

Preparing the tank

Moving goldfish: How to move goldfish safely
Moving goldfish isn’t easy: never attempt to move a full goldfish tank!

Never attempt to move a tank while it’s full of water and fish.

In addition to being extremely heavy, glass tanks are not designed to be moved whilst full. The sides of the tank will move with the shifting pressure of the water inside it, causing the sealant to split and the tank to collapse.

You therefore need to empty your tank before moving goldfish anywhere.

How to empty a goldfish tank ready for moving

First, remove any live plants and put them in sealed plastic bags along with a little tank water.

Then take the tank’s filter media and place it in a plastic bag, keeping it immersed in tank water. This will preserve the colonies of good bacteria that live inside it. This is important, as preserving the original filter media means you won’t need to restart the cycling process all over again.

Next, ornaments should be cleaned, wrapped in newspaper or bubble-wrap, and placed in a sturdy box. Gravel can be left ‘dirty’ and placed in plastic bags.

Only now is it time to remove your fish. Use a net to remove your goldfish and place them in plastic bags (available from your local aquarium supply shop) with some water from the tank. Fill the bags about half-full, leaving a large air pocket inside the top part of the bag to provide the fish with oxygen. Double-bag just in case of leaks, and seal each bag with elastic bands.

Finally, siphon all the remaining water from the tank.

Packing the tank

Wrap the tank in bubble-wrap – paying particular attention to protecting the corners. Secure the bubble-wrap with parcel tape so that it doesn’t slip when picked up.

Then wrap the tank in a furniture blanket secured in place with more tape.

Put the tank into a sturdy box.

If someone will be moving boxes for you, label the box ‘Fragile’ and use arrows to indicate which way up the box should be carried.

Moving your goldfish

Don’t feed your fish for 24 hours before they are moved. This will help to reduce the amount of harmful nitrate waste in the fish’s transport container. (Don’t worry – your goldfish can easily survive without food for this long!)

Pack the bags of fish in a polystyrene travel box. Place the bags vertically so that they support each other and won’t fall over in transit. It’s important to use a polystyrene box to insulate the fish and keep the water temperature stable.

And you’re good to go! Follow all of these steps and your goldfish should arrive at their new home unscathed and with minimal stress.

Goldfish Tank Decorations: Why you should decorate your goldfish tank

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Goldfish tank decorations include ornaments such as bridges, and live or fake plants
Goldfish tank decorations include ornaments such as bridges and decor such as live or fake plants

Once you have purchased your new goldfish, there are a whole host of questions and areas to think about. One very popular thing to do is place certain decorations in your goldfish tank for the fish to swim around.

Do goldfish need decorations?

Goldfish will find new items in the tank fascinating, so new tank decorations will help to keep them occupied and interested in their environment.

Goldfish tank decor will also encourage your fish to swim around the tank – searching for food or playfully following each other – which helps ensure they remain stimulated and well-exercised.

What decorations do goldfish like?

Popular goldfish tank decorations include:

  • bridges
  • plants
  • rocks
  • driftwood
  • models of shipwrecks
  • castles
  • other sea creatures, both real and mythical
  • random objects such as models of cars

Just be careful to choose quality, well-reviewed goldfish decor that is safe for your fish. You don’t want to put anything in your tank that could pollute your water or injure your goldfish with sharp edges.

How to decorate a goldfish tank

You can decorate your tank pretty much however you like. However, one important tip is to make sure you don’t put too many decorations in.

A very rough rule is to max out at one quarter decorated to three quarters open water. By doing this, you will still give your fish plenty of space to swim.

You may also want to re-arrange your ornaments each time you change the tank water. This gives the fish added stimulation and stops them getting bored with decorations always being in the same place. Your goldfish will really enjoy the feeling of having a whole new playground to explore!

Goldfish tank decor is important

There are many great ways to care for your goldfish and, in our opinion, adding decorations to your tank is one of the best.

Not only do decorations benefit your fish – helping to keep your goldfish happy – they also make the goldfish tank look nicer.

There are many great ornaments available, so why not browse for goldfish tank decoration ideas and find something new for your tank?

Goldfish water parameters: Goldfish pH, water hardness and more

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Water is water, right? Goldfish live in mucky, scummy ponds and don’t seem to have a problem all of their lives. Does that mean you just forget about your goldfish tank water parameters and hope things will be fine?

No, you definitely can’t!

The quality of water is as important to goldfish as the air we breathe is to us. If your fish’s water is poisonous, their health will seriously suffer.

Goldfish water parameters gone wrong
Keep your goldfish water parameters in check or you could poison your fish

You might know what it feels like to breathe car exhaust or other noxious fumes. It makes you feel ill and can lead to long-term health problems.

It’s the same for goldfish. But they have no escape, as they are captive in their tank.

Over time, poor water quality puts stress on your fish’s immune system, leading to serious health problems and even death.

To help you avoid this, we’re going to take a close look at goldfish water parameters. Including:

  • Facts about water quality
  • How to prevent bad water quality
  • How to test your goldfish tank water
  • Chemicals including ammonia, nitrite and nitrate
  • And factors such as pH and water hardness

Facts about goldfish water parameters

There are lots of opinions surrounding exactly what is the best kind of environment to keep our goldfish friends in.

While there will be some variation in advice depending on who you talk to, one thing is certain: clean water is far better for goldfish than dirty water.

In fact, clean water is necessary to maintain your fish’s health and will not hurt them. The only possible exception to this is moving a fish from dirty water to clean water too suddenly. You should always change your goldfish water parameters gradually, so that your fish can acclimatise to their new surroundings.

While ponds or lakes may seem dirty, the truth is that algae and mud don’t cause any problems for goldfish. While pollution from rotting debris is diluted by the large water volume and made less harmful by helpful “good bacteria” present in wild eco-systems.

However, in the home aquarium, water and space is much limited. This means things become foul very quickly if the water is not changed.

How do you know when things are going wrong? The best way is to use a test kit to monitor your goldfish water parameters.

You should also look out for an concerning changes in your goldfish’s behavior, such as rubbing up against tank decorations.

Preventing poor water quality

The best way to keep good quality, stable water is to make sure that you have as much water volume as possible for your fish.

This means that you will have to avoid irresponsible overcrowding and give each fish the space it needs. It is much harder to keep water clean when you have an overstocked tank.

Secondly, you will want to do lots of water changes and keep every aspect of the tank as clean as you can. This includes:

  • thoroughly vacuuming any gravel
  • cleaning the filter in old tank water (not tap water!)
  • going no longer than a week without a water change

Beware of giving out too much food, as this can lead to excess waste in the tank. This food then rots and can badly hurt your water quality.

Many people struggle with keeping their water in check without realizing that they are contributing to the problem more than the fish!

Goldfish tank water parameters

There are 4 main water parameters that you should consider:

  • Ammonia
  • Nitrite
  • Nitrate
  • pH.

KH and GH are also helpful, so you might want to monitor these if you have tests for them in your kit. However, the four parameters above should be your top priorities!

Ammonia

This is probably the most important parameter to be aware of. Why? Because ammonia is the #1 most common killer of aquarium fish globally.

Ammonia is a highly toxic substance produced from your fish’s waste. It is not the waste itself, but a byproduct of the waste breaking down.

The only acceptable level of ammonia is 0ppm (parts per million). In other words, none!

(That’s assuming there are already fish in the tank. If the tank is still in the process of cycling than you will need to have ammonia to keep the process going.)

Fish-keepers will often struggle with ammonia problems because their tanks are overcrowded or because they are feeding too much.

Nitrite

Nitrite is the product of ammonia being broken down by “good bacteria”.

While nitrite is a step in the right direction – it’s less harmful to your fish than ammonia – it is still very dangerous and is known to cause “brown blood disease” or nitrite poisoning.

Like ammonia, you do not want to have any nitrite readings in a “cycled” tank.

Nitrite surges will only come after ammonia surges. So if you have an ammonia spike and don’t do anything about it, be prepare for more troubles to come.

As with ammonia, nitrite tends to rise in established systems when water changes aren’t done frequently enough.

Nitrate

When good bacteria has broken nitrite down, it becomes nitrate. Nitrate is a far less toxic substance than ammonia or nitrite.

When nitrate readings begin to show up on a cycling tank, that is typically an indication that the cycle has completed and the tank is ready to receive fish.

For goldfish, it is not recommended to have more than 40ppm of nitrate in their tank.

Signs of high nitrates can manifest as green water and algae blooms. The best way to lower nitrates is to change the water. For the average aquarium where water changes are done regularly enough, most people will never have issues with it.

pH

pH, or “potential of hydrogen”, is a way to measure how alkaline or acidic something is. You may remember from science class that pH is measured on a scale of 0 to 14, with 0 being the most acidic. A pH of 7 is considered neutral.

The ideal pH for goldfish is 7.4.

When the pH falls lower than 6.5, the nitrogen cycle begins to experience difficulties.

Controlling the pH of water that comes out of the tap soft can be done using commercially available buffers.

KH

This stands for Carbonate Hardness. A lower KH is a warning sign that the pH may be likely to get out of control at any given moment.

There is not a strict ideal for KH, though readings above 200 might indicate that your pH is on the higher end of the scale.

GH

GH is an abbreviation of General Hardness, which is the measurement by which one can determine how hard or soft the water is.

More dissolved levels of calcium and magnesium in the water increases the water hardness. While less calcium and magnesium means softer water.

Testing your goldfish tank water

All of these water parameters can be easily measured and tracked through the use of simple testing kits.

There are two main kinds of test kits available: liquid and strip tests. Using a strip test is the fastest method, however many keepers advise liquid tests because they are claimed to be slightly more accurate. Both will get the job done and the main thing is to have something on hand if there is ever a crisis.

Regardless of what kind you choose, it is always important to analyze the results in an area with good lighting. If you don’t have a particularly good eye for color matching, try asking someone else their opinion.

While water testing is often available for free at local pet stores, it is still recommended to have a kit on hand at all times.

Goldfish owners should buy a test kit that measures ammonia (such as this one) and one that measures nitrite and nitrate (such as this one). Then test your water before each weekly water change.

And whenever you suspect a problem, be sure to test the water right away! It could save your goldfish’s life.