goldfish rescue

hi i went to my dads house yesterday and he has a pretty little pond in his garden, he had some fish that he said are called shibunkin or somthing, but they had the bosy of a fantail bit with only one tail, does that make sense? and they were all orange. anyway, in this tiny pond his goldfish had babies! there were about seventy some fish in there, not counting the adults. they were so tame, i could reach in and pet them! and they would all nibble on my fingers! they were so cute! well to the point, there is way too much fish in that small pond (it looks like 60 gallons to me, maybe less, and the parents were eating the babies!)and dad said i could try a "rescue mission" if i wanted. so can i put at least one of the babies in my aquarium? they are only an inch long and i dont want them to die! please reply with a solution!

I've read about people keeping goldfish in tropical fish aquariums, but it's not a real compatible situation. Besides, anything from an outside pond could have diseases or parasites capable of devastating an aquarium fish population. As a temporary fix, you may be able to house them in some gallon jars or fishbowls. I have four acrylic aquariums that hold two gallons each and come with their own under gravel filter, a small pump and a light, and they were less than $15.00 apiece. I think they're from PETCO or PetSmart and are available on line. You could probably find similar things in their retail stores. Right now, I think PETCO has free shipping with orders of $50.00 or more, but that could have expired.

After saying all that, why bother? The week end is about here, and you can probably find a yard sale ten gallon aquarium for a dollar or two. Goldfish like cold water, so you wouldn't even need a heater.

Please excuse all the suggestions. It's just that I would hate to see all your fish get sick because of an act of kindness.

I agree totally with John. This is a tough thing to witness. Perhaps you could put out an ad to sell them for something like fifty cents each. You could make a little money and give them a better chance at life. It seems like the pond must be a pretty healthy environment for them to be breeding in there, but too many fish both dead and alive could change that. They need to be taken out for the sake of the older fish and for the young ones. However, if you are unable to do anything for whatever reason, don't feel bad. Your thoughts are certainly in the right place.

aww thats sooo cute!! If i were in your shoes, i would take out the parents and put them in a cold water tank for the moment. I put my goldfish in my tropical tank, and it died, i wouldnt risk putting them in a tropical tank. A plastic tank would do for a while, just until the babies are big enough to have their parents back, and not be eaten!!! Thats what i would do in that situation. You've got yourself a good breeding pair there!!!

Goldfish can tolerate ammonia better than most aquarium fish, so you don't have to worry about cycling a new tank or bowl for them.

yeah they're a pretty hardy fish! siklids are very good parents. sometimes, when they have babies, they put them in their mouth to let them get out all the left over food out of their mouth, then spit them out again. it looks very much like they're eating them, but they're not. maybe thats what your goldfish are doing, are you absolutely sure they are eating them??

Some African Cichlids are mouth brooders. They put fry in their mouth to protect them or to move them.

awesome! so maybe the babies might survive! could i maybe put one in a 5 gallon bowl for now until i buy another tank? and what size tank would you reccomend? i really want a goldfish!

Sure, you could put several little goldfish in a five gallon bowl. You may want to start them out in the pond water, add an airstone and syphon the gunk off the bottom every few days just to keep things healthy. I'm not familiar with the particular goldfish you're talking about, but I know they can be quite colorful as well as hearty. Post a picture if you can.

yeah i like pics too!

i will post a picture of my aquarium tonight, but i dont know when i can get a picture of the goldfish.

It's no big deal if you don't post pictures. It's fun to see other people's aquariums, but it sure ain't a necessity.

good because i dont have a digital camera.

so are you putting the parents in the bowl or the babies?? I would put the parents in there if i were you, you dont want to go disturbing the fry, or else they may die. keep us posted please!~!!~!!

i am going to keep the parents of course, but some of the babies have died thanx to the neighbor's barn cats...they won't get away with this. anyway, maybe i'll buy a plastic pool from walmart and put them in it.

Don't forget that a small bowl is just a temporary home. Some goldfish can get pretty big and need a large aquarium. The little ones can get a good start in a bowl if you keep up with maintenance and move them as they grow.

If you have room, you can house quite a few fish in one of those rigid plastic fish ponds. They're fairly popular here in Phoenix, but I'm not sure about the rest of the world.

most of the babies have something that looks like fin rot, maybe a victim of fin nipping? anyway, i tried keeping one but it died overnight. the water parimeters were the same as the pond too. poor little guy.

Sorry to hear that. It is good the parameters were the same at first, but what are they exactly? There is a chance that is was good enough for the adults to survive, but too harsh for the babies. Maybe next time you can gradually improve it over time(if it needs improvement)with water changes. Goldfish are usually pretty tough. About how big were they?

hey you know that little guy you said died, that was probably because of trauma. The adults can take alot more of it than babies, and still survive, so rather than putting the babies in the bowl, and letting them die of this, i would recommend separating the parents, and putting the PARENTS in a goldfish bowl untill the babies get big enough to be reunited.

Sounds like a good idea. The fin rot you see on the babies probably is just that, and it may have been caused by the stress of moving. When a fish gets stressed, it's immune system stops working. The drip acclimation method causes much less stress than the float and dump method. It's discussed in another posting, maybe under the tips section.

The goldfish are huge now. i will just leave them alone, they seem better off that way. but i have heard the drip acclimation methood mentiond alot. what is it exactly? do you just add tankwater to the bag over time? or is it somthing more?

There is a post in the "Tips and Tricks" section of this forum, and it explains some of the method. It works because the fish are very gradually introduced to their new aquarium water. Drip acclimation is much better than the plastic bag floating technique, as most of us drippers will witness.

Hey just found a great video on looking after Marine Fish, Sure you will find it useful as I did
http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=fd6pp5&s=4&hid=1&tag=fish+marine