Jade

We have a water cooler in the house. On it, we use 5 gallon tanks.

Right now, my goldfish is swimming in a sad one gallon.

What if I took a tank, cut off the spout part, and put water in it?

Wouldn't that be cool? It's unique...

The dark blue coloring of the outside wouldn't bother the fish, would it?

susitna-flower

Jade, the color shouldn't hurt him, might make it hard to see through though. My question is how you would fit this with a filter, heater, and I would worry about air exchange...co2 has to be able to escape the tank, and oxygen injected (air stone).

There are calculations about how much healthier tanks are when they are longer, and how a tall tank has problems (water columns). So I would have to say, though this would give your goldfish more water, it wouldn't necessarily be that much healthier.

Jade

Like this:

Put the 5-gallon jug on it's topside, with the spout pointing up.

Cut off the spout so that the jug is like a barrel with no top.

It doesn't seem too hard to add-in all the accommodations of a regular fish tank.

King_Snuggles

I would get a large bubbler to move the water.
I have seen that idea in a movie i dont remember which one though

GreenMan13

Sounds like a good idea to me.

The surface area would be at least the same size as the one gallon tank you have it in now. Air bubbler would not hurt at all though.

Don't know if you could use a HOB filter; the plastic might be able to bend enough to get it to hang on there. A canister would probably be best since they are just tubes you can hang on the edge.

Keep us updated if you decide to do it. Pictures too.

sirdarksol

The only problem I see is mechanical filtration. A sponge filter would provide air bubbles (which would artificially create surface area for gas exchange) as well as biological (and a small amount of mechanical) filtration.
Other than that, I think it would work.

Bonochick

It's creative, but your goldfish should still be in something bigger than a 5 gallon. I mean, obviously that's better than 1 gallon, but you might just want to invest in a bigger tank.

Oh, and not related, but I see you're in the U.P. I live downstate now, but I'm originally from there.

sirdarksol

I missed the goldfish thing.
Bonochick is right. 5g is better than 1g, but a goldfish is happier in something larger, like 20-30g.

GreenMan13

One thing that might be cool is if you got a bunch of those jugs and connected them all together with some short length/large diameter clear piping. Maybe even in vertical layers too. This would be a lot more work though to get to work. Just throwing out idea for people.

Attached Images

5gallonsJugs.JPG (13.3 KB, 21 views)

Barbrella

It's not a matter of a goldfish being happier in a large tank, it's a necessity since goldfish pollute the water rapidly and need plenty of clean, well oxygenated water especially when they grow 8+ inches. One goldfish in a 5 gal will soon have ammonia burns/poisoning and deteriorate.

They cannot live long in 5 gals.

sirdarksol

I disagree with this statement. Goldfish are very intelligent compared to most other fish, and are very aware of the limited space they are living in. If the space is limited too much, they become stressed or lethargic, either having constant panic attacks or just hovering.

The rest of what you've said is right, I've just found that people more often respond to the statement that a goldfish is happier than they do to the statement that goldfish can't live in 5g. I guess this country has been so convinced that goldfish bowls are proper that they'll only buy that goldfish need a lot of water after they've provided a big tank.

Jade

Well, I currently have a 1.5 gallon tank, so I'm looking to go up a notch.

rummerman

If all else fails you can get a 10gallon from walmart for 9.97!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Harley

This is my idea! The cooler water goes down to the water jug, gets heated and oxygenated then rises to the main tank. Then once again the cool water gets pushed down heated and oxygenated then rises to the tank again! The air stone would also help with the flow of the tank! The flow and heat would'nt be great but it's for a gold fish and if you need to you can put a HOB (hang on back) filter in too! Just my idea! Do you think it would work?

Attached Images

Tank Idea crop.jpg (56.1 KB, 24 views)

sirdarksol

That's an awesome idea, but the bottom part of the tank needs to be entirely sealed or it won't create a "circuit" of water like you've described (and likely will leak).

Harley

Good point!! A leak down there would spell disaster!!

sirdarksol

But, as long as you don't cheap out on supplies, and don't cut any corners while putting it together, it should work (this means I won't be taking this project on anytime soon.)