Someone talk to me about goldfish please

[Chinchilla]

Earlier this year (June) I acquired 3 goldfish from someone who couldn't care for them - they were in a small outdoor pond with 2 fish that had died - but having done some digging online I'm really confused on the size of tank they need, I know they need bigger (mine is just a small spare we had used to get them out of pond so they didn't die too because it was filthy). One facebook group said (not a very reputable source I know) said that fish this breed need to be in a pond or tank of at least 6ft and that I should rehome my fish because they're not living in something that size. But then some other sites said tank size is irrelevant and it's water quality that matters.
I'm a complete novice and utterly bewildered, and don't want to get slated online again but want to do what's best for the fish.

 

[Equi]

For fish, my advice is buy the biggest and cheapest tank you want to. I have a blue barrel that has a fish in it and its been banging about for years getting fed now and then (it clearly hunts and eats other things) its water is fresh rain water. In winter it goes to the bottom which has natural shelter in it. I went on a fish fourm once and was banned within about five mins due to the fact i had a fish in my tank that was not supposed to be with another fish and i was cruel and they would be very unhappy and stressed and will die by tomorrow - said fish lived together happily for years thank you very much. My philosophy with fish (like gold fish) is don't baby them too much. They don't do well with too much change, keep it simple.

 

[cobgoblin]

It depends how big the fish are... If they have been in a pond and grown to a large size, then they will need a very large tank or another pond. Our pond goldfish were 9 or 10 inches long.... I don't think they would have done very well in a tank.

If they are smallish... Just buy the largest tank you can.

 

[Teajack]

AFIK the rule of thumb for coldwater fish is at least 24 square inches of water surface per inch of fish excluding tail, definitely a minimum and I would want to double it at least.

 

[Chinchilla]

The pond they were in couldn't have been longer than a foot and a half and it was at least 1/2 full of leaf litter, they do have more space in the tank they're in although I acknowledge they could do with bigger (hence why I was looking at tank size guidelines online as I don't want to buy something bigger only to then have to get something else a few months down the line). They're about 4.5" long including tails I think, but I'm not very good at measuring them - when they see me they go straight to the top of the tank to beg for noms!

 

[Equi]

Feel free to share a photo, we are not going to be fish snobs here and chastise you it will be a simple yeah maybe bigger or itll do fine. Goldfish tend to grow to their environment a lot of the time..i had a goldfish from my primary school fete and it lived for 10 years in a pet shop bowl and never grew much. Thats not the type of tank i would want to see a fish in now days, but it was to make a point lol

 

[Chinchilla]

This is their current digs. About 100litres, seventy something by thirty something by twenty something cm I think. (I do have it written down somewhere lol). To me they need bigger, I did try asking a so-called fish rescue how 'urgent' it was they got an upgrade but they didn't answer that, just told me that I should rehome to a pond which wasn't actually all that helpful. ¯\_(`~`)_/¯ but when I then tried asking how big of a pond they didn't say!
To me they still have plenty of room to move, so could use a bigger tank (as they are growing...), but not desperately ?

 

[cobgoblin]

They could do with a bigger tank, perhaps 2x or more... But I wouldn't say it was urgent, they look quite happy.

 

[Chinchilla]

They could do with a bigger tank, perhaps 2x or more... But I wouldn't say it was urgent, they look quite happy.

I'm looking at 5 - 6ft ones ideally, they've grown loads since I got them, but those sizes are expensive and don't often come up secondhand (which is the only way I'm ever going to be able to afford one lol!)

 

[cobgoblin]

If you're anywhere near Blackburn there's a 6ft one on shpock...

https://www.shpock.com/en-gb/i/XR4I2kxQtAA0U0iG/fish-tank

 

[Chinchilla]

Lil fishy update....My 3 are moving temporarily into my mum's 4ft tank with her 3, and then when Solstice (chinchilla) cage is moved we're buying a 6 or 7 ft tank for them all. Keeping my small tank as a spare though and to grow the fishes' plants in, but 4ft tank and spare chinchilla cage will be sold.
Having animals in cages is such bloody hard work, my house rabbits are the most low maintenance of the whole bloody menagerie lol.

 

[Zero00000]

You can pick up these size tanks cheap, I got my 5ft tank for an absolute bargain, it was 1.2k new, he had it for a little over a year and I got it for £150 with everything thrown in, 5years on I still love my little bargain, not many people can fit a 5/6ft tank in their homes, so they don't sell well, I was cheeky and offered below what he was asking, it had been for sale for so long he accepted.

 

[Chinchilla]

You can pick up these size tanks cheap, I got my 5ft tank for an absolute bargain, it was 1.2k new, he had it for a little over a year and I got it for £150 with everything thrown in, 5years on I still love my little bargain, not many people can fit a 5/6ft tank in their homes, so they don't sell well, I was cheeky and offered below what he was asking, it had been for sale for so long he accepted.

Yeah I've actually seen quite a few that size for <£250. My budget is probably £200 or ideally much less though, but I've even seen a few that sort of price with all filters, air pumps, gravel etc.; setups which were probably cost several thousand if all added up. It's far more doable than I realised, I even saw a pond for just £100 with everything included because as you say people can't fit these big setups in so if they move house or whatever they have to be sold ASAP so often go for very little money.