I had to choose the smily-face emoji...because there is no option for a screwed-up-ready-to-puke face...
Yolo and Boho???
More like Blister and Abscess...
A new start for my main tank?
- Thread starter jjohnwm
- Start date
Doctor (pulling rubber glove onto hand): "Okay, Steve, no need to get excited...just relax..."
Patient (bent over examining table, shorts around ankles): "Uh, doc? My name is Robert..."
Doctor: "I know. I'm Steve!"
Probably the same guy who first bred short-bodies and bubble-eyes...
Patient (bent over examining table, shorts around ankles): "Uh, doc? My name is Robert..."
Doctor: "I know. I'm Steve!"
Probably the same guy who first bred short-bodies and bubble-eyes...
Those are like the most cursed fish in the hobby, out of all the horrifying mutants and mutts those are the worst.
The Goldies, unsurprisingly, came through the winter...dare I say it?...swimmingly. I'm finding myself trying hard to not become attached to them, but they are colourful, active, always on display, fearlessly tame, surprisingly intelligent and aware of what's going on around the tank, and just generally make for a calm and relaxing tank that is wonderful to sit in front of and enjoy.
And they are pigs! We often refer to biomass in our tanks, as though that is the sole deciding factor when comparing ammonia production; i.e. 1 pound of biomass equates to a specific amount of ammonia produced per unit of time. Many critters, such as Oscars, turtles, plecos, etc. are thought of as high-level poopers and ammonia dispensers, but I have always thought that this was simply a product of their usually large sizes and high weights. Now I'm not so sure. It seems to me that a given mass of goldfish produces more waste than an equal weight of many other fish.
I suppose this could be carefully documented and measured and analyzed...but not by me. My casual observations definitely show that a mechanical filter is more quickly clogged by Goldies than by almost anything else. But...how much of that is due to the simple fact that the Goldies are still active and ravenous at temperatures which slow down the metabolism of many other fish that I keep with them? In order to get any food into my Cichlasoma dimerus, I need to feed a lot just to give them a chance to pick up some of it before it's immediately hoovered up by gaping orange mouths. And Goldies put fish like Eartheaters to shame when it comes to stirring and sifting the substrate to keep wastes suspended and thus picked up by the filter...and thus clogging it...
I actually tested the water in my Goldie tank several times over the past weeks and months, and other tanks as well as a comparison! Put into some perspective...and risking denouncement as a witch or caveman or Liberal...I virtually never test my aquarium water; I am comfortable enough with my water change schedule, my filtration and general maintenance routines that I simply don't need to see the same results over and over and over. I don't look outside every night to see if it's dark, either...I just trust that it is, based upon a lifetime of seeing it to be so.
It is unsurprising to me that the water in my Goldie tank, right before a change, has nitrate levels very slightly elevated above what I am accustomed to seeing in my other (planted) tanks. In fact, this has spurred me into cobbling together some planters to grow emersed plants to help out with the nitrates; I've had zero luck getting any plant species that I can maintain in other tanks to survive the Goldies and their appetites.
So the jury is still out on these fish, as far as I am concerned. I like them, and they will probably have a future with me long-term...as a species. As individuals? I suspect that if all of them are allowed to live and grow, I will be overcrowded within a couple years. Placing them outside for the summer will exacerbate this problem. And, of course, with tank water temperatures having risen in recent weeks to the mid-60'sF, the dang things are already chasing each other around, with big fat females full of eggs attracting a lot of attention from their boyfriends. I have enough now, and will soon have too many. Last years spawns went to live in the freezer, well-pureed into gel-food cubes, and I haven't even finished using them up...and now more on horizon? I may be one of the few backyard bird enthusiasts using goldfish instead of seed!
By the way, I have begun using the group name "The Goldies" to refer to these critters. But, a very perspicacious granddaughter was watching a show on the History Channel...weird, right?...and called me last night, right after it ended. "Hi, Grampa. The Golden Horde."
"Huh?" Hard to sound smart when that's all you can come up with...
"The Golden Horde. That's what we will call the Goldies from now on. The Golden Horde...except for Fred."
Fred is the single Goldie with a deformed tail, a result of some injury early in life. He's always been a particular favourite of my underdog-loving granddaughters. The name "Fred" was an early suggestion of mine for another of the fish, but they liked it so much they recycled it for this one.
So that's that. Gotta go now; I need to feed The Golden Horde...and Fred.
I'm finding myself trying hard to not become attached to them, but they are colourful, active, always on display, fearlessly tame, surprisingly intelligent and aware of what's going on around the tank, and just generally make for a calm and relaxing tank that is wonderful to sit in front of and enjoy. And they are pigs! We often refer to biomass in our tanks, as though that is the sole deciding factor when comparing ammonia production; i.e. 1 pound of biomass equates to a specific amount of ammonia produced per unit of time. Many critters, such as Oscars, turtles, plecos, etc. are thought of as high-level poopers and ammonia dispensers, but I have always thought that this was simply a product of their usually large sizes and high weights. Now I'm not so sure. It seems to me that a given mass of goldfish produces more waste than an equal weight of many other fish.
I suppose this could be carefully documented and measured and analyzed...but not by me. My casual observations definitely show that a mechanical filter is more quickly clogged by Goldies than by almost anything else. But...how much of that is due to the simple fact that the Goldies are still active and ravenous at temperatures which slow down the metabolism of many other fish that I keep with them? In order to get any food into my Cichlasoma dimerus, I need to feed a lot just to give them a chance to pick up some of it before it's immediately hoovered up by gaping orange mouths. And Goldies put fish like Eartheaters to shame when it comes to stirring and sifting the substrate to keep wastes suspended and thus picked up by the filter...and thus clogging it...
I actually tested the water in my Goldie tank several times over the past weeks and months, and other tanks as well as a comparison! Put into some perspective...and risking denouncement as a witch or caveman or Liberal...I virtually never test my aquarium water; I am comfortable enough with my water change schedule, my filtration and general maintenance routines that I simply don't need to see the same results over and over and over. I don't look outside every night to see if it's dark, either...I just trust that it is, based upon a lifetime of seeing it to be so.
It is unsurprising to me that the water in my Goldie tank, right before a change, has nitrate levels very slightly elevated above what I am accustomed to seeing in my other (planted) tanks. In fact, this has spurred me into cobbling together some planters to grow emersed plants to help out with the nitrates; I've had zero luck getting any plant species that I can maintain in other tanks to survive the Goldies and their appetites.
So the jury is still out on these fish, as far as I am concerned. I like them, and they will probably have a future with me long-term...as a species. As individuals? I suspect that if all of them are allowed to live and grow, I will be overcrowded within a couple years. Placing them outside for the summer will exacerbate this problem. And, of course, with tank water temperatures having risen in recent weeks to the mid-60'sF, the dang things are already chasing each other around, with big fat females full of eggs attracting a lot of attention from their boyfriends. I have enough now, and will soon have too many. Last years spawns went to live in the freezer, well-pureed into gel-food cubes, and I haven't even finished using them up...and now more on horizon? I may be one of the few backyard bird enthusiasts using goldfish instead of seed!
By the way, I have begun using the group name "The Goldies" to refer to these critters. But, a very perspicacious granddaughter was watching a show on the History Channel...weird, right?...and called me last night, right after it ended. "Hi, Grampa. The Golden Horde."
"Huh?" Hard to sound smart when that's all you can come up with...
"The Golden Horde. That's what we will call the Goldies from now on. The Golden Horde...except for Fred."
Fred is the single Goldie with a deformed tail, a result of some injury early in life. He's always been a particular favourite of my underdog-loving granddaughters. The name "Fred" was an early suggestion of mine for another of the fish, but they liked it so much they recycled it for this one.
So that's that. Gotta go now; I need to feed The Golden Horde...and Fred.
