How to Care for Goldfish

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Step 1

Choose a fish tank that provides the largest possible surface area for oxygen exchange. Ideally, you should have at least a 20-gallon tank for one adult goldfish. You need an additional 10 gallons in volume for each additional goldfish that you choose to have.
Step 2

Goldfish need 10 hours of lighting a day. Choose fluorescent light rather than incandescent because these give off less heat. Fluorescent lighting is also energy efficient.
Step 3

A tight-fitting hood is essential. Goldfish have been known to jump out of their tanks. The hood can also be used to house fluorescent lighting.
Step 4

Use medium-sized gravel for the floor of your fish tank. Wash the gravel in hot water before you put it into the tank. Position rocks and drift wood in the gravel to provide the goldfish necessary resting and hiding places.
Step 5

Use fake plants because your goldfish will feed on real plants. Alternatively, use a tough, hardy plant species like the Java Fern.
Step 6

Install a good filtration system in the tank. This is especially important for goldfish, because they don't have a stomach and therefore produce a large amount of waste through their gills and feces. Choose a full-size canister filter, or a hang on filter. Clean or change your filters once a month to maintain proper functioning.

Step 1

Purchase nutrient-rich fish food that is formulated to meet goldfish dietary needs. This comes in flake form or as floating pellets.
Step 2

Add variety to your goldfish diet by providing fresh vegetable and animal foods. This can include live plants, leafy vegetables such as spinach and lettuce, Spirulina and other plant material.
Step 3

Keep in mind that while goldfish are continual feeders. You should only feed them once a day in small portions to prevent them from gorging themselves. Typically, you should add only enough food, as they can eat in 2 to 5 minutes, depending on their body size. One downside to overfeeding goldfish is that they produce and release even more waste into the tank water.
Step 4

Avoid polluting the water with decomposing food by removing any excess food using a net after you feed the fish.
Step 5

Use a feeding ring to maintain better control over the amount of food your goldfish eat. Typically, it attaches to the side of the tank. A feeding ring lowers the risk of overfeeding your goldfish.

Step 1

Change the water regularly. At a minimum, you need to change at least 25 percent of the tank water every week. The large amount of waste that the goldfish produce releases potentially toxic chemicals into the water. Goldfish also need and use up large amounts of oxygen from the tank water. Changing water not only removes waste, nitrates, ammonia and phosphates, but also helps aerate the water with oxygen. Let the water stand for a few hours before you add it to the tank or, alternatively, use a de-chlorinator.
Step 2

Keep the tank water temperature between 65 to 68 degrees F. This temperature must never rise above 73 degrees F.
Step 3

Use an aquarium test kit to check the nitrite and ammonia levels of your tank water. The pH levels should be maintained at 7.2-7.6 pH. If the pH changes to undesirable levels, you can purchase a buffer from the pet store to correct it.
Step 4

Purchase a detoxifier, and add this each time you change the water. Select a detoxifier such as Amquel, because it does not turn the chlorine in the water to ammonia.

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