problems with fish tank...?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ColourfulTears
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ColourfulTears

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I'm not sure about the size of my tank, it's designed to hold up to about 6 average goldfish. I have 5 small goldfish and 5 danios. They seem happy except, the light that came with the tank heats up the water, and when the light is on the goldfish stay at the very bottom of the tank. The Danios stay up at the top. When I turn the light off the goldfish seem much happier. The problem is I have a live plant in there, which the goldfish are not nibbling on, and I don't want it to die. Also tanks look much nicer when it's lit.

The light is a U shaped flourescent. The temperature without light on is about 22 deg C. With light is about 24 deg C.

Any suggestions?
My danios are deffinitely cold water, as I bought then as coldwater.
I have a filteration system, and now the light is off they are swimming around the tank.
 
The idea that goldfish prefer cold water is a myth. People assume that Goldfish perfer cold water simply because they can tolerate it, but they are ignorant. Goldfish can *tolerate* cold water, but prefer warmer water. Warmer water is hostile to many of the parasites that infect goldfish, so by keeping your water warm you can prevent them from getting sick in the first place.

So temperature is not the issue. Your tank maxes out at 75F (24C), which is actually well within the ideal range for goldfish (72F to 85F). Your water temperature is not the problem. Its fine.

Goldfish in the wild tend to hang out in the middle or bottom of the water column. I would not worry about it if they don't come up to the surface much...so long as they are swimming around and active, they are fine.

And no, Danios are not cold water fish. According to Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danio#In_the_aquarium - they require water in the 68F to 80F range. That is tropical.

A bigger problem might be the size of your tank. Without know the exact size of your tank, I cant know for sure, but it sounds like it might be overstocked. If by "average" you mean 3-inch goldfish, then you would need a thirty gallon tank at a bare minimum just for the goldfish alone. Overstocking may stunt the goldfish's growth, which will dramatically shorten their lifespan and make them more vulnerable to illness. If your goldfish are lethargic (not very active), that is a sign of Ammonia poisoning, which is a sign of an overstocked tank.

Do not trust the pictures on the box for the tank when determining how many goldfish it can hold...the pictures are always wrong.
 
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