Need Urgent Guidance

Hey guys,

I have recently acquired a fish tank, which is fairly small in size. It measures out to be about 32" * 20" * 25" or in centimetres 32cm * 20cm * 25cm. As you can tell, it is a very small aquarium, therefore I am wondering whether or not I require a pump or a filter. Won't the surface area be enough to supply oxygen to 4 goldfish? If I do need a pump may I switch it off at night when I go to sleep as it is very noisy in my bedroom.I just set the tank up two days ago, without any fish and the pump running, but since yesterday the water has turned slightly greenish. This maybe due to an algae build up however there is very little sunlight where it is situated and there aren't any living plants in it. Do you know what the problem might be?

 

Do you have ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate readings? That tank is way too small for goldfish, I'd switch to a species that doesn't get a foot long. Any others you have in mind?

 

Unfortunately I do not. I'm getting the goldfish when they're little and when they get bigger I'll transfer them to my moms bigger tank. Maybe guppys?

 

ChillWill you should do a lot more research

 

ChillWill you should do a lot more research

I know that. Unfortunately when I went to my pet shop to buy everything they just told me to put water in the aquarium and let it sit with the pump on for a minimum of 24 hours. When doing some further research online I had realised that there is a lot more to it. That is exactly why I am here, to get an expert opinion.

 

I know that. Unfortunately when I went to my pet shop to buy everything they just told me to put water in the aquarium and let it sit with the pump on for a minimum of 24 hours. When doing some further research online I had realised that there is a lot more to it. That is exactly why I am here, to get an expert opinion.

Even though there are some good stores that take good care of their fish, I'm gonna go ahead and say this: never listen to what they tell you at the pet store. Most of the time they give you very wrong information and it leads to disaster. You can ask them anything of course, but go home and research it yourself before buying anything.

You need to understand the nitrogen cycle so you can prepare the tank for the fish you wanna add. This means preparing your filter for the bio load of your fish, so they don't end up living in toxic water that easily could harm or kill them. There are a ton of articles about it if you just google "how to cycle a tank" or something similar. When you've read those articles you'll also know why you definitely should not turn off your filter at night - this will make your beneficial bacteria die off and the cycle will be destroyed. If your filter is noisy, buy another one or put your tank in another room than your bedroom. However, you can get filters that make next to no noise that you could easily sleep next to, especially considering the tank is so small and don't need a large filter.

As far as I can tell your tank is 16 liters or 4.2 gallons. That is not a lot of space or a lot of water. Under no circumstances should you put four or even one goldfish in there. No matter what there should never be a goldfish in that tank, not even when it's small. If you go ahead and research the type of goldfish you'd want, you'll see the huge tanks (ponds) that those goldfish need to live in. This also means that unless your mother has a enormous tank, they should not be living in her tank when they get larger either.

Some might say you could keep guppys in that tank, I'm not one of those people. If you check out the most reliable sources online like seriously fish you'll see that they list these measurements as the minimum for guppys: 18″ x 12″ x 12″ (45x30x30cm)

What you could do in that tank is a betta. That is the only actual fish I'd put in that tank - and only one. Not two, not a male and a female, only one. If it isn't too aggressive you could try keeping it with a snail or a small shrimp like a red cherry shrimp. Instead of the betta you could also do a small colony of red cherry shrimp in the tank. They're easy to breed and with a lot of plants in the tank they'll do well.

 

Even though there are some good stores that take good care of their fish, I'm gonna go ahead and say this: never listen to what they tell you at the pet store. Most of the time they give you very wrong information and it leads to disaster. You can ask them anything of course, but go home and research it yourself before buying anything.

You need to understand the nitrogen cycle so you can prepare the tank for the fish you wanna add. This means preparing your filter for the bio load of your fish, so they don't end up living in toxic water that easily could harm or kill them. There are a ton of articles about it if you just google "how to cycle a tank" or something similar. When you've read those articles you'll also know why you definitely should not turn off your filter at night - this will make your beneficial bacteria die off and the cycle will be destroyed. If your filter is noisy, buy another one or put your tank in another room than your bedroom. However, you can get filters that make next to no noise that you could easily sleep next to, especially considering the tank is so small and don't need a large filter.

As far as I can tell your tank is 16 liters or 4.2 gallons. That is not a lot of space or a lot of water. Under no circumstances should you put four or even one goldfish in there. No matter what there should never be a goldfish in that tank, not even when it's small. If you go ahead and research the type of goldfish you'd want, you'll see the huge tanks (ponds) that those goldfish need to live in. This also means that unless your mother has a enormous tank, they should not be living in her tank when they get larger either.

Some might say you could keep guppys in that tank, I'm not one of those people. If you check out the most reliable sources online like seriously fish you'll see that they list these measurements as the minimum for guppys: 18″ x 12″ x 12″ (45x30x30cm)

What you could do in that tank is a betta. That is the only actual fish I'd put in that tank - and only one. Not two, not a male and a female, only one. If it isn't too aggressive you could try keeping it with a snail or a small shrimp like a red cherry shrimp. Instead of the betta you could also do a small colony of red cherry shrimp in the tank. They're easy to breed and with a
lot of plants in the tank they'll do well.

Kiks, I agree with you

 

There are more options then just a betta. But yea no goldfish.
https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfi...or-5-gallon-freshwater-nano-aquariums.272334/

 

Thank you very much Kiks. You have seriously helped me. I'll get on it right away.

There are more options then just a betta. But yea no goldfish.

Thanks mate, greatly appreciated.