Goldfish Care Guide

Think your goldfish can’t remember one moment to the next? Think again. A schoolboy scientist in Australia has proven that goldfish have a far better memory than the three-second retention span of urban legend.

Hello and welcome to the Goldfish Care Guide, which we hope will become your number one Internet site for goldfish news, care tips, equipment reviews and other fishy goings on.

A healthy goldfish aquarium starts with healthy goldfish. Making sure you buy goldfish without any diseases or physical damage will save you big problems down the line.

Goldfish and bowls go together in the English language, but they shouldn’t in real life. A bowl might seem an ideal home for a goldfish (at least there’s no sharp corners on which it could cut itself!) but in fact they make a terrible home for most kinds of fish.

The Fantail is the most robust of all the twin-tailed goldfish. Indeed, despite its high dorsal fin and flamboyant caudal (tail) fin, the Fantail Goldfish has no problem swimming at at all, even in moderate currents.

If you want an elegant goldfish that’s as tough as it is pretty, the Comet Goldfish is for you. Sort of a halfway house between the Common goldfish and the Fantail, the Comet has a sleek, elongated body that ends in a single scissor-like tail.

Observe your goldfish regularly, and look out for any change in their appearance or behaviour that could indicate disease. If your fish is hiding on the bottom or not eating, it may be an early warning sign that something is amiss.

Cared for goldfish rarely get sick, even when old. In the early days of an aquarium, however, when you’re still buying new fish for the tank, it’s very easy to introduce goldfish diseases or parasites.

All three kinds of aquarium filter in use today (undergravel, internal and external) will help keep a goldfish aquarium clean and healthy.

Goldfish and bowls go together in the English language, but they shouldn’t in real life. A bowl might seem an ideal home for a goldfish (at least there’s no sharp corners on which it could cut itself!) but in fact they make a terrible home for most kinds of fish.

Here’s a short but sweet video of a beautiful fantail goldfish. Enjoy!

Practical Fishkeeping magazine went to Aquarama in Singapore (lucky things!) and came back with this amazing video of dozens of kinds of fancy goldfish.