Need Advice

neonman

Hi all I need some advice.

My wife got the kids a fish tank its an aqua one ecostyle 32 (20 litre tank) and got 5 goldfish with it.

I have since started to read up on how to keep goldfish and what they like dont like their normal behavior etc To my surprise I read that goldfish should be kept in a tank no less than 80 litres? The reason I started to read up on them is that I wanted to keep the healthy and happy so would like some advice on what I should do now? Buy a bigger tank?

I'm also pretty annoyed that the shop sold this size tank and 5 goldfish when it seems that the size of the tank isn't even close to keeping them healthy.

By the looks of it I have:

1 common
1 fantail
1 black telescope
and maybe a comet or two.

Thanks
Neon

Knine

You need to bring the fish back to the pet shop. I would not even put minnows in that size tank. Sure the tank would not even be cycled.

If you want to keep fish but don't want a huge tank then get a 60 litre or similar size & get a shoal of White Cloud Mountain Minnow or stick in a heater & get a Siamese Fighting Fish.

Before you get any fish read up on how to cycle a tank.

neonman

Thanks for the reply from reading other posts on here I pretty much thought that was going to be the response.

I was shocked at the information I read yesterday evening to be honest. I am also annoyed that someone can sell a tank that size and also give you fish that are not suitable for the tank. Anyway that is another story.

I will bring back the tank + fish to the shop that my wife got it from and buy a bigger size tank and get White Cloud Mountain Minnow or Siamese Fighting Fish with a heater. Is one easier to keep than the other Cloud Mountain Minnow vs Siamese Fighting Fish?

Can't just get rid of the fish and not replace them with something else as the kids will be very upset.

I'll look into how to cycle a tank in the meantime.

Sleepy

White Clouds are easy keep but might not be as attractive to the kids as something more colourful.

I'd recommend bringing the stuff back to the shop and getting a starter 60l tank kit which should come with a heater and filter, cycling the tank and getting some mollys / platys or guppies which are all very easy to keep and, importantly for the kids, very colourful

neonman

Well I rang the pet shop and they were having non of it. I told them what I read that goldfish shouldn't be kept in that size tank and the owner said that they have kept goldfish for years and never had a problem with them. They gave me the line that they adapt to the environment they are in and wont out grow it :mad:

Where do I go from here? Take the loss on the chin and try re-home them and get a bigger 60L tank as suggested by Sleepy?

I take it there are no laws against this practice or something the DSPCA enforce?

Sleepy

There doesn't seem to be.

I'd have thought that it would fall under the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act but given that you'd need to bring an expert the courts would recognise as being more qualified than someone who owns an aquarist shop it'd probably end up costing far more than the cost of re-homing them and picking up a new tank. (BTW, second hand tanks are cheap, approx €1 per litre if you take a good look around adverts / donedeal and you'll usually get heaters/filters etc. thrown in).

Pim Pictus

You could give the fish away and get suitable fish for the tank you have. The pet shop sound like jokers but I wouldn't be upset about "taking it on the chin" either. The pet shop were wrong to sell them and you were wrong to buy them with no research.