Goldfish Care - Keep Them Healthy!

Did you ever think about how long a goldfish can actually live? Well the world record seems to be about 43 years. This goes to show you that with the proper goldfish care, they certainly can thrive and live a long life.

So how do you take care of a goldfish?

Perhaps the most important thing regarding caring for a goldfish has to be the proper aquarium or fish tank. Before I go on any further, try to avoid the trusty old fish bowl. The fist thing with that is you can’t expand the number of fish you can keep. The more scientific reason is something called water oxygenation. This is the process by which oxygen in the air mixes into the aquarium water. The larger surface area your tank has, the better this process can occur. If you have a choice, go for a longer and shorter tank rather than a thinner taller one.

Having a clean house, well actually clean water, is the other most important thing in goldfish care. You see, these fish are pretty messy and will dirty their tank pretty quickly. Many people tend to make the mistake of over feeding them, causing them to eliminate more waste, poop if you want to get rather graphic. If you combine that with all of the excess food that they don’t finish, this all ads up to a really awful place to live in. Changing about a fourth of the water every month should take care of this problem.

Keep an eye out for changes in your fish’s behavior and appearance. Any changes could be a sign of some kind of sickness or disease. A common problem is called Ichtyopthirius, which is characterized by little white spots on the body of the goldfish. If your fish have this, it needs to be taken care of immediately.

The final part in goldfish care, is feeding your fish. Remember not to overfeed.

Goldfish are some of the most beautiful fish you can keep, and also some of the easiest. That may be one of the reasons why they are so popular.