MaddieLynn

I have 2 goldfish in my 55g right now. I fantail/ryukin from Wal-Mart, and one black moor that I got from some friends who were keeping him in a really tiny tank.

The problem is with the moor. His tail is bent (probably from not having enough room) and he's really a bad swimmer. The ryukin keeps harassing the moor like he's a mortal enemy or something. I think that if the moor could swim normally, he would quit, but that he doesn't know what to make of a goldfish who just sits around at the top all the time.

So, to keep the moor from getting killed, I moved him to a 5g with a sponge filter. The problems are

A) The tank is waaay to small,
B) A sponge filter isn't enough for a goldie,
and C) the sponge filter isn't even cycled yet :-(:-(:-(

So, what do I do? I need to somehow nurse the moor back to health before I put him back in with the ryukin. If I did daily water changes, could I keep him in the 5g for a couple of weeks? He had been kept in a tank aroun 1-2g with no filter and infrequent feeding for a couple of years.

I've been feeding them some shrimp pellets with different bits of veggies and occasionally some frozen food. I'm planning on making some gel food soon. What food would be best to get him strong fast?

Shawnie

I would get a tub at walmart or somewhere..they are cheap and you can get a much bigger one....then you have no choice but to cycle it with a fish and be prestine about water changes....the 5 gal will not help him and probably make his body much worse or not heal at all...

Beth1965

Getting ready for your pond??
Shawnie's advice sounds good, you probably have a decent size tub right there are home.
Good luck.
Beth

Bad Wolf

could you get another tank? or get a friend to adopt him? and how big is he?

MaddieLynn

I'm not going to give him away.

Here's what I've decided to do:

Keep the ryukin in the 20g rubbermaid tub with the sponge filter because I think he has an excellent chance of surviving the cycle. I'm keeping the moor in the 55g with a cycled filter. When he gets strong again, I'll re-introduce the ryukin.

I don't think I'll be able to set up a pond any time soon :-(. I'm planning on keeping fancy goldies in hte 55g permanently.

gremlin

You could also put a divider in the 55 gallon - that way you can have both fish in the one tank, but they won't be able to get at each other. You can use plastic canvas for the divider. WalMart has it really cheap - or you can go to Michaels or JoAnns and get it. WalMart usually just has the 9 x 12 inch sheets, but it comes in larger pieces as well. It also comes in a variety of colors - or white - or kind of clear. It would allow the water to circulate, but would probably block the fish from seeing each other. The 25 (or so) gallons on each side of the divider would be sufficient for swimming room and you wouldn't have to worry about a fish in an uncycled container.