A Long Story With A Question If This A Common Common Goldfish Behavior?

Long Story (if you don't care about the long story just skip down to the question):
Now we had this Common Goldfish for about 3 weeks already. My kids first got it at a contest and brought it home in a little fish bag. Of course we didn't have anything to put it in and I asked my wife why are we keeping this when we have nothing prepared for it? So one of the older kids cut out a Milk Gallon Jug from the top and filled it with water and put the fish inside. And oh boy, was this fish depressed for the first 2 weeks. It literally just sat in one spot never moving unless food is put in to eat. The kids were disappointed of course that it wasn't moving. This Common Goldfish is about 1.3 to 1.5 inches in length when we got it. It's now about 2 inches in length. Now on the 3rd week (this past week) I got it a neat fish bowl that comes with a filtration from amazon and some decor and moved the fish over to it. This is where I made a mistake, I dumped out all the old water. Since the old water was filled with brownish greenish stuff I figure this is bad water now. As soon as I dumped it out and looked over, this Goldfish was bugging out. It was swimming around the bowl at high speeds, it must of done 50 laps in 10 seconds around that bowl. As soon as I approach the bowl, it goes and tries to hide from me. So I took it out and put new water into the old Milk Jug and it was STILL bugging out in that Milk Jug. I took it out again and put it back into the fish bowl and tried to figure out what was happening. I took the water the pet store and they did a water test for me and says the water is fine, just no nitrate which is a bad thing they said. I'm like oh okay. They told me I shouldn't have thrown the old water out as some of that nitrate in there could of helped. I come back and this Goldfish is still bugging out. Swimming at high speeds and being skittish around anyone that approaches. Three days later, it is still bugging out. Now I reviewed it one more time if there was anything else that is doing this to the fish. I looked at the water conditioner I used earlier and found out that I used the wrong water conditioner. The Goldfish wasn't liking the conditioner I was using so I went to the pet store and used a different conditioner. So I took the fish out of the bowl and put the new conditioner with the new water in the milk jug and it was fine. It no longer bugged out anymore. Dumped all the old water with the wrong conditioner in and replaced it. Boy this was crazy. Now the fish is all depressed and sitting in one spot of the bowl. I went to the store and bought some stress relieving aquarium salt and a day later after this, it started swimming around the bowl (slowly but it seems to started to pick up a bit by bit).

Now the question:
Just the past 2 days I noticed that my fish is starting to swim real fast just like it did when I messed up with it's water. However, instead of non-stop swimming and hiding whenever someone approaches, it actually slows down for a bit then continues. It's still a bit skittish at first when someone approaches but it doesn't hide anymore. I'm just curious if this is normal behavior or is there something else this fish is telling me? I recorded a video to show you how he reacts when someone approaches him.


Now this second video is blurry because I had to zoom in. This is how this Goldfish is swimming when someone is either not there or not near him.


I double checked the current water at the store and this is the result they gave me:
PH: 6.5
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5.1

I have no way of checking the water temperature, but the current room temperature this fish is in I have it set to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. So is this a common Common Goldfish behavior?

 

I would say the fish is stressed, as it should be what with being in too small a tank. Normally a happy goldfish would be swimming around slowly, checking things out and picking at the substrate for bits of food.

A common goldfish can reach right around 10in long, so that means at least a 40gal tank for it to move around and grow to its full potential.

 

Definitely stressed out. The fish has been moved around a lot and has had different parameters multiple times. Once move is already stressful enough. As long as the water is looking good, let him get used to it. And agree with Demeter, they get BIG! That small tank is not going to be good for him. If they don't have space to grow, they stunt in growth. Problem with that, their insides still continue to grow as normal and sooner or later the fish will pass away from that issue.

If you don't have the money or space for the goldy, I would look into rehoming him. I know the kids will be sad, but it's best for the fish. If they still want a fish, set up maybe a 5 or 10 gallon tank and cycle it, then let your kids pick out a betta. They're beautiful fish to have and fairly easy to care for.

 

Goldfish are pond fish. You can not keep them in a fishbowl, no matter how cool it is.

That old water was likely full of nasty ammonia and you did the right thing by throwing it out. Nitrates are not super great for fish....but their presence is good because it means you are converting ammonia to nitrite to nitrate. Ammonia and nitrate are fish killers. Keeping old water is useless. I don't know why petstores continue to tell people that they can cycle a tank with just old water.

My husband got 3 goldfish while I was away for a few days. They all died or where rehomed. I replaced them with fish more appropriate for the size of tank I could realistically provide and the kids are so happy with all the new fish that they don't miss the goldfish at all. My 3 year old son still has a soft spot for goldfish and spends time at the goldfish tanks at the petstore….so I am considering an outdoor pond next spring. We shall see if it actually happens.

I think your goldfish is stressed. Too much constant change, too small of a space, likely still trying to heal from ammonia burns from living in an unfiltered milk jug.

 

Thank you all. I will talk with my family about getting a 20 Gallon Tank. My wife doesn't want a big tank and really just wanted the fish bowl. Most likely we will have to give him away.

 

Thank you all. I will talk with my family about getting a 20 Gallon Tank. My wife doesn't want a big tank and really just wanted the fish bowl. Most likely we will have to give him away.

Just look into 10 gallon tanks and what you can put in them. Most fish require 15 gallons minimum, but there are some that can work in a 10 gallon. Plus, that size tank is not too big. I have mine on a shelf in my dining room.

 

Just look into 10 gallon tanks and what you can put in them. Most fish require 15 gallons minimum, but there are some that can work in a 10 gallon. Plus, that size tank is not too big. I have mine on a shelf in my dining room.

That, unfortunately, wouldn't work. In a few years, a common goldfish wouldn't physically fit in a 10 gallon.