So say I had rescued 10 small feeder goldfish from an absolutely disgusting Wal-Mart….?

So say I had rescued 10 small feeder goldfish from an absolutely disgusting Wal-Mart….?

What would be the best temp housing? Will a ten gallon work for about a week? and what should I buy in the long run? Surprisingly, I’ve never really owned goldfish before so I’m kinda lost. I started out with 11, but one actually DIED while I was waiting in line so I didn’t get charged for him. The rest look/seem fairly healthy though.

I also “rescued” a green(?) male betta with some type of fin rot and ick, but he’s been medicated. It was so sad. They had him on the bottom shelf with his upc bar code almost ripped off. The lady at the register actually gave him to me for half price when she saw that his water was brown and he looked dead. Out of the three bettas on the shelf for sale he was the only one building a bubble nest in his cup though so I figured that HAD to be somewhat of a good sign. Is there anything I can do to possibly make him more comfortable? I have him in a one gallon hospital tank.
lol After I get them (the goldfish) healthy I was going to give them to my little sister as a Christmas gift:]
I’m just trying to be prepared. It was a spur of the moment purchase thing.

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3 Comments for So say I had rescued 10 small feeder goldfish from an absolutely disgusting Wal-Mart….?

  • 1. Dano  |  February 15th, 2011 at 9:11 am

    I’m sorry to say but by you rescuing those 10 goldfish they will just replace them with 10 more. It really really nice of you to do that though.

  • 2. jukari2003  |  February 15th, 2011 at 9:42 am

    Its amazing people care so much about fish, when there are far more important things to worry about.

  • 3. John  |  February 15th, 2011 at 9:43 am

    Hi Kayla, you are a very nice person to care for the poor fish-they certainly get a raw deal out of life simply because they are cheap & plentiful & stores like Wal-mart go a long way to furthering this shameful situation.

    Unfortunately the bottom line is those Goldfish need at least 10 gallons EACH to thrive so you are looking to a 100 gallon tank with filtration double that but obviously taking them back is not an option so what is the biggest tank you can afford/fit in your home? Keeping them all in the 10 gallon is not an option as they will soon die from living in their own waste & being confined. You are going to have to spend some serious money immediately simply keep them alive.

    Each of these fish will grow to over a foot long if properly housed & cared for so you need to be making long term plans. Perhaps you & your sister could have 5 each but you will still both need large tanks to accommodate them. Assuming you have the space available for this check on your local Craig’s List & Freecycle Groups. There are often large tanks going cheap or free so you can get a bargain. If the large tanks are not an option how about keeping just a few-perhaps 2 or 3 each in at least a 20 gallon tank & offering the rest on the above mentioned 2 sites? There are plenty of kind people out there who may adopt them but beware of short, badly written replies-these are usually from people wanting a free lunch for their carnivores so wait until you have several replies, you’ll be able to spot the nice ones.

    I know the above may all come as a shock to you but there really is so much more to keeping Goldfish than most people realise & to be honest it’s never a good idea to make spur of the moment decisions about animals when you are unsure of their proper care althugh I can absolutely sympathise with how you must have felt-I won’t even go in those places as I know it will upset me. Best thing to do immediately is to study the link below-then you will at least have a basic understanding of cycling, treating water, maintenance & general Goldfish welfare. The most important concept of immediate concern should be getting yourself some dechlorinator to treat you water, untreated water contains chlorine &/or chloramine which kills fish. You will need to be doing some serious water changes to keep these fish healthy in such a small tank& you need to ensure the temperature of the new water is almost exactly the same as the old so you’ll need a thermometer & a master test kit to monitor your parameters.

    Regarding the Betta-he will be fine for the moment in his temporary tank but , like all fish he needs a large tank with a fitted lid & a filter [although not as large as the Goldies!!] also you must never mix the two types of fish. The second link below is an excellent Betta source.

    Please feel free to email me & I will try to help further.

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