Can I get a small Koi fish for my tank?

I love the Koi fish and I want one,but I can't get something small enough.So I am trying to find a fish with a long flowy tail.Do you think you could help me.I want a small koi that I could fit in
a good size tank,is there one for that.Is there other fish that is like a koi?

 

..well what size of tank..really the closest thing to koi is goldfish

 

haven't got one yet

I haven't gotton a tank yet .. I was thinking I didn't want to big of a tank...so I don't know how many fish or kinds I can put in a kinda small tank...

 

There are NO koi that need to go in a tank under a 55 gallon for their first year, and will VERY quickly need upwards of a 200 gallon tank for just one of them. They are temperate water fish, and should not be kept with any tropical fish, just incase that wasn't known.

I strongly suggest unless you can devote a 200 gallon tank to one koi then it should only be kept in a good sized pond.

 

what a fancy goldfish

are there any fancy goldfish I could keep in a 2 gallon tank????

 

No. There are no goldfish that need less than a 20 gallon tank of water per fish at bare minimum. I wouldn't keep a goldfish in less than a 55 gallon by adult size.

A 2 gallon tank could perhaps house some of the small shrimps: Cherry, Cardinia, etc. There aren't really any freshwater fish that need to be kept in a 2 gallon tank.

 

what size tank

what size tank would a betta need????

 

2.5 is the minimum I would suggest. We have a betta in a 2.5 that does alright, but the ones we have in 10 gallon tanks do a tad better.

 

how big do they get??

 

Betta splendens? About 2-3 inches I think is about the biggest. However, 2 gallons of water just is not enough for the fish to swim around in sufficiently.

Actually our smallest betta housing tank is 5 gallons, not 2.5g.

 

If you're looking for a tank that a Betta would love but takes up less space - petco has a 6.6g bookshelf tank. It's acrylic with a slight bowfront to it, it's longer than a 10g, but not as tall or deep.

 

If you're looking for a tank that a Betta would love but takes up less space - petco has a 6.6g bookshelf tank. It's acrylic with a slight bowfront to it, it's longer than a 10g, but not as tall or deep.

and you could stil use your 2 gallon..for spare tank or keep a couple shrimp..you wil find that if you can afford it..its always good to go as big as you make room for/take care of
.

 

Just in case you're one of those people (like me) who likes to know reasons for things, the reasons it's best not to keep Bettas in anything less than 5 gallons:
-it's risky to heat a smaller tank (and anything under 2.5gal can't be heated...a 2.5 gal could but it's really easy for the temp to fluctuate)
-it's hard to maintain good water quality in a tiny tank, which can lead to stress and disease.
-Bettas can actually be pretty active and need room to swim around.
...among other disadvantages to very small tanks. A Betta would be a great fish for you if you can get at least a 5 gal.

 

I'm Kepping a betta in a 2 gallon tank that is filtered and heated he is doing extremley well. I don't see why you couldn't keep goldfish in a properly filtered and has good areation 10 gallon tank knowing they only grow as big as there enviorment will let them.

 

I'm Kepping a betta in a 2 gallon tank that is filtered and heated he is doing extremley well. I don't see why you couldn't keep goldfish in a properly filtered and has good areation 10 gallon tank knowing they only grow as big as there enviorment will let them.

That's a common myth spread by store employees who are just out to make money. Fish don't "grow to the size of their tank". If their growth is stunted it's because of very poor water quality, which often results from trying to keep too big of a fish in too small of a tank. So I guess it can be kind of true but it's certainly not good for the fish at all.

Bettas can survive in very small containers buy they are happier in larger tanks.

 

That's true. When their growth is forcible stunted like that, it causes stress and damage to internal organs, shortening their life span.. and then you get to buy another one.. which is what the stores want.

 

hmmm well I knew that was true with other fishes. But not goldfish so now I know it has been popularized with keeping such fish in small bowls how sad

 

The info is out there, but the pet stores don't want your fish to live or be healthy. They need to sell more fish and meds.

 

Yeah I hate how pet stores completely disregard the well being of their fish just to make money. If any other type of store did that (gave you blatantly false information about a product which caused the product to malfunction or stop working)..can you imagine how mad people would be?! But unfortunately most people seem to think fish are disposable or aren't supposed to last long and they believe everything store employees tell them.....

 

yea.. when they ask if they can help me (if anyone is ever in the fish dept), I just say "no thanks".

 

I was reading this thread, and thought of an interesting point that maybe people havn't thought of.

In one post someone commented, "But unfortunately most people seem to think fish are disposable or aren't supposed to last long and they believe everything store employees tell them....." and there were a few other comments that bothered me a little.

I do work for a corprate chain pet store and have educated myself on many of the animals we sell. (And you can test me on this if you want.) But on more then one occasion after warning customers about the difficulties or problems of owning certain fish or even informing them on the basic requierments of keeping fish that are usually easy to keep. I have been met with disbelief, and even more often simple nonchalance about the subject. Often the comment about it being somewhere along the lines of "Well if they die, I'll just come back and get something else." Even after repeatedly telling them that the fish will not live long or happily in the setup they have in mind. I have even been called a lier once or twice. (And yes, I did go and look it up afterwards to find out if I was right or wrong.)

Unfortunatly, the point of a buisness is to make money and the rules, that I have no control over, say that I have to give them what they want even if it is ill advised. So out the door they go, hopefully with some of the information given to there new owners implanted in there minds, and enough compassion in them to come back later and get what they need to keep them healthy.

I'm not saying that there aren't employies out there in pet stores that don't know what there doing. I have met my fair share and have had to retrain a good numder of them. But most often it's because of no or even only incorrect information being provided to them, not neccessarily because they don't care or are only trying to make a quick sale.

The fact is upper management (usually people who are hired from other retail stores, have no experience working with living animals, don't ever spend any time in the store they now have to manage, and who's focus is mostly on the bottem line) puts a lot of pressure on store management and it's employies to make what they call "Fish sales." which is how much money they are expected to make off selling fish. And an employies job is on they line if they can't give them the results they want. It is unfortunate, but true none-the-less.

Fact is, I think stores would actually make more money by providing long term service to people who really care about the animals in their care, rather then those who will try a few times and then give up. But those decisions are rarely given to those who are in the best informed position to make them.

That's all, I think.

I welcome any discusion or questions as long as they are in good taste and with polite retoric, as I believe I have been. I had no intention of insulting anyone and if I have I am sorry, but I will not responed to any verdal attacks on my person, as I have been in the past on other forums.

Thank you.

 

I think you present your case in an intelligent manner, Jessie.

Any person with half a brain knows ultimately a base level employee not knowing their product is the fault of management not properly training said base level employee, so we should only partially blame employees who are ignorant of the facts of their product, whether it be live or not. Most are not paid enough to consider doing off the job research into the product they are pushing.

I definitely agree that management is a huge part of the problem. I think the majority of the public are too stupid to handle fish, much less children... too bad those that are not fit to raise fish would not quit procreating.. that would solve all of our problems in a generation or two.

WELCOME TO FISHLORE, JESSIE!