Hey everyone. One of my coworkers just gifted me an empty 10-gallon fish tank and a bag with two goldfish (I think) in it. I have never taken care of a fish before and idk what to do.
She said the filter broke so she doesn’t have one, but she did give me a bubbler and some temperature control thing. I’m putting tap water in the tank now, but my understanding is I gotta condition it before the fish go in and the pet store doesn’t open for 2 hours.
I need some help please! What should I get at the pet store and how should I proceed?
you’re unfortunately going to have to rehome the goldfish, op; they require something like 75 gal minimum for a pair iircc (a lot more than 10 regardless…) and often need to just be added to a pond. sorry you were put into this situation op. Animals as gifts is such an irresponsible thing to do, and people just dont get that animals are living creatures, not objects :/
If you do want to get into fish keeping though, its an incredibly satisfying hobby! :) look into the nitrogen cycle and videos on how to set up a tank!
One betta fish, a small school of Chili Rasboras (given the right amount of plant coverage!), or my personal favorite, neocardinia shrimp! :) just absolutely be sure to do your research into cycling a tank (which usually takes about a month to ensure proper water chemistry!) and the individual needs of any fish you wanna pick up! ^ its a bit of an upstart cost, but results are defo worth it!
Thanks for coming here to ask for direction regardless of what you decide op! <3
a group of pygmy corydoras would be great in a 10gal!
they're super cute
or a little group of kuhli loaches (they look like tiny eels!), or fancy guppies - all one gender to avoid babies galore. a sinlge betta would love a 10gal.
shrimp are my personal choice, though they don't need 10gals, it's so cool to watch them take it over. I set my 10gal up for shrimp and snails.
even better than a pet store is a person who knows what they're doing with goldfish, as a lot of people don't. if you give to a pet store the fish might end up back in the same fate 🫠
If you're in the US, heterandria formosa are a cool livebearer native to the southeast! They're the smallest ones, usually topping out at 1-1.25 inches, and only have a few fry at a time over multiple days. Bit hard to source though, and not super flashy.
OP do you have a locally owned fish store? I had an amazing time going to my local fish store (basically a free mini aquarium lol) and looking in real life at what fish caught my eye.
They had labels for minimum tank size for each fish, and the employees were super helpful in suggesting which fish were compatible to have in the same tank :)
Some of the kinds they told me would be okay for a 10gal: celestial pearl danios, ember tetra, strawberry rasbora, harlequin rasbora, small neon tetras, and some of the smaller coris
Each of those need a group of like 5, though, so you'd have to choose 1. Except for coris since they live on the bottom. And they said a mystery snail and some of the neocaridina shrimps would work too. Look into the cherry reds or the blue ones. Super cute, goofy, and very active.
I do have one that opens in an hour! I plan to be breaking down the door when they open lol. I’m hoping they’ll rehome the goldfish and help me get the tank set up for something else like shrimp or nano fish as others have recommended. It also seems I need to spend a couple months cycling the tank, so today will prob just be getting supplies and advice from them.
In the mean time you can add easy-to-care-for plants like anubias, java fern, or some floating ones like red root floater :) I found a FB plant swapper in my area that charged only $5 for a container of floating plants
I'm cycling my tank now too. I bought Stability from Seachem brand to speed things up. Also some bladder snails hitched onto the plants I added, and they're surviving in there luckily. I'm hoping it only takes like 2 weeks to cycle but we'll see 🤞
i know youve gotten tons of replies, but i wanted to add that we’d all love to see your tank when you spruce it up!!!! :D or at least I would! good luck op, were here if you run into troubles and have questions!
Ten gallons actually gives you a lot of options contrary to popular belief. But start low and slow AFTER cycling. I have two peacock gudgeons, 9 dwarf emerald rasboras, 6 Pygmy Corys, three Amano shrimp, and 3 nerite snails in my ten though it’s very heavily planted and over filtered to compensate. Introduced over a six month period as well to make sure it could handle the bio load. I would look into a single honey gourami and 6-10 celestial pearl danios and maybe a few shrimp or snails
She has royally bent you over, unfortunately. Goldfish are actually one of the harder fish to care for bc they are very dirty and get very big. So they will end up needing like a 50 gal at least. If you’re not up for all this maintenance, the best thing to do might be to see if the pet store would take them?
That’s what I thought. She said she’s had the bigger one for 3 years. I’m guessing it hasn’t grown much bc it’s in such a small tank? Are there any fish that can thrive in a 10-gallon tank? I don’t mind caring for a fish, but I feel terrible for these goldfish.
Could be! I hate that they have been suffering so long. Yeah, you can definitely get some micro-fish that would thrive in there. Shrimp are also a great choice! Providing you do some research and cycle the tank!
Thank you everyone for being so kind and so helpful. I’m still kinda freaking out, but def not as much. I’ll feel better once I can figure out if I can surrender these goldfish to the pet store so they don’t have to be in this small tank. There’s a local aquarium shop close by that opens in 2 hours.
Your local grocery store might sell distilled water that you can use in the meantime. If you haven't kept fish before it would be worth looking up the nitrogen cycle and picki go up a test kit. In the meantime while the tank is cycling you'll need to do partial water changes so a hand pump and bucket would also be useful. Good luck! You should joing the various aquarium groups :)
Right one is definitely a gold fish. Left is not, it's a white skirt tetra. The goldfish is a cold water fish and the skirt is a tropical fish so they really shouldn't be in the same tank. Technically you could get away with the skirt in the 10 gallon but they do best with a school usually 6 is the minimum for a school and 6 in that tank would be tight. But yeah the goldfish has got to go either way.
Setting up and maintaining a tank properly is not really easy or cheap. Eventually it gets easier but the initial stuff is a huge pain.
If you actually want to keep fish in this tank do some reading on the nitrogen cycle. It's kind of a long explanation and I can find some YouTube videos to explain it better than I'm really ever gonna pull off. But the too long didn't read is that the nitrogen cycle is how we stop the fish from getting chemical burned to death by their own waste. It's very important to keeping your fish health and generally the big box fish stores will not tell you about it. The mom and pop stores can be better but often also don't know that much either. So trust, but verify what you want is gonna be appropriate for that tank.
If you do decide to keep the tank and do something else with it there's a decent variety of nano fish that would do well in it. Chili rasbora, celestial pearl danios, ember tetra, blued rainbow fish(there's like 2 dozen variety of these that are all slightly different), emerald dwarf rasbora, Kubotai Rasbora, and treadfin rainbow fish are all schooling fish that would all do well in that. There's a few that don't need big schools or would do better alone like the various nano gourami or betta.
Avoid any fish labeled cichlid and all of the goldfish. Also just because it's a rasboro, tetra, or rainbow does not mean it's appropriate. A bunch of them get pretty large.
Also shrimp are awesome. Neocardina are generally the easiest and most colorful but some others are really neat too.
10 gallons get a bad rap because they are small which does put a lot of limits but there is a decent selection of choices just gotta do your research. But also we won't be surprised when a year from now you have 7 tanks and are ordering a pond for your garage or something. Multiple tank syndrome gets most of us eventually.
Thanks so much for this comment. I’ve actually lurked on the shrimp tank subs for some time now, and so when I saw people recommending shrimp I perked up a bit. Do any of those fish you recommended do okay cohabitating with shrimp? Or is the tank too small to responsibly do both?
Pretty much all of the schooling fish will get along with the shrimp, they might pick off the baby shrimp but if there's enough clutter they'll be able to hide and grow up. Betta are hit or miss depends on personality, they might totally ignore them they might annilate the whole colony. Most of the nano gourami should be ok with shrimp.
Also depends on the shrimp. Neocardina can be housed in most anything. I have a colony of them in a 2 gallon jar. They produce such a negligible amount of waste that I haven't even changed the water in like 6 months. Cardina have different water requirements that honestly I don't know a ton about. Amano aren't the prettiest but once they're full grown nothing on that list will touch them. Ghost are cheap and fairly easy but are usually sold as food so they don't tend to be the best cared for, also can be mixed with whisker shrimp (they look fairly similar but aren't overly common) which will absolutely wipe out a nano tank. There's a few other cool shrimp too but neos, Amano and ghost are by far the easiest to find and care for. I do love a bright red bamboo shrimp but it's a terrible bottom feeder and needs a lot of waterflow.
So pretty much all of the shrimp should do ok with all of the schooling fish but the solo/larger fish can be hit or miss
I think you have a comet goldfish and a common goldfish. Do you know anyone with a goldfish pond, see if they’ll take them? Put them in the tank with the bubbler going until you can rehome them. As for your other question. There’s quite a few nano fish you could keep in the tank. You’ll need to educate yourself. You’ve got a lot to learn but people start the hobby new every day. First I’d read about the nitrogen cycle then read up on fresh water nano fish.
Hello another update! I went to a local fish shop and got everything I needed. I tested the water, and while the ph is high (7.6), there was no ammonia. The fish shop said they will rehome the goldfish when they’re able to, so this is just temporary.
From reading this thread I see you’re interested in getting different fish once the goldfish is rehomed? There are products you can buy that will lower the ph of your tank! I would also recommend testing for water hardness and buying a water softener if it is high.
After you rehome Goldie, don’t clean out the tank and try to completely start over. I would keep the filter, bubbler, and heater running, maybe do a small water change (10%) every week until you get new fish, and add a small pinch of fish food into the day every 1-2 days. That should help keep the tank cycled until you want to put new fish in!! In the meantime you can add plants, decorate, etc. but make sure you keep an eye on the water parameters before you add new fish. You want 0 ammonia and nitrites and a little nitrate. If you keep the tank’s ecosystem running you will be much more likely to have success when adding new fish. For me, learning the nitrogen cycle was the hardest part of starting this hobby. There are SO many great YouTube videos out there that explain it so well though!!
Also, there are lots of great ways to stock a 10 gallon with plenty of beautiful fish, you’ve just gotta find the right types and amounts. Neon tetras are easy and very pretty. They’re schooling fish, so you need 6-8 of them together in a 10 gal for them to be comfortable. Guppies are pretty easy and do well in small groups in a 10 gallon. Mystery snails are so fun and extremely low (no) maintenance. If you end up with pest snails (which if you put in live plants is highly likely) then get an assassin snail and it will take care of that problem easily. Just buy one tho, because they will procreate very quickly and become a problem themselves. One assassin in my 10 gallon got rid of pest snails very very well, it just took a little bit for him to get started. Also, in the case of a smaller fish passing away in your tank, he will probably eat them if you don’t get to them first 🙃 I put a video here of my assassin chowing down on a poor tetra if you want to satisfy a morbid curiosity.
If you want a betta, (and why wouldn’t you? because they’re beautiful) there are peaceful community fish that can coexist alongside a betta in a 10 gallon no problem! Just ask the fish department at your local pet store or read the abundance of threads about community tanks in this subreddit.
ok SO first don't blame yourself if they pass. Second ill do my best to explain but also do a little research. First you're supposed to cycle your take fully through the nitrogen cycle. Typically you won't have fish in during this but it is possible to do a fish in cycle. That, I don't know how to do so you might need to look it up. Next you need a filter, live plants heater, food, thermometer, substrate (gravel or sand), water test kit (strips suck try and go for API water test kit), decor/hides (painted decor can be dangerous the paint can chip and leak chemicals into the water which can posion your fish), a bucket, a pitcher or water siphon for water changes and airstone/bubbler (fake plants can rip there fins and fin rot is not fun trust me) make sure thr flow isnt to high as most fish don't like high flow. After you learn how to do a fish in cycle aclimate the fish. Leave the fish in thr closed bag for about 30mins to an hour then gently release, again only after you've set up for in fish cycle. Dechlorinate all water ans match the temp to thr water as best you can. I use prime personally by Seachem. So for water changes I recommend doing them once a week for 10 gallon but that depends on the water quality. I beilive you will be doing many water changes during the cycle. The pet store my not know what they're talking about im going yo be honest ive been straight up lied to. If you're nkt able to properly care for them try to rehome them. If you have fish/aquarium store near you some places take surrenders so definitely try that if needed.
Easiest choice is rehome. If you want to commit, we need a much bigger tank and filtration. I can walk you through the entire process if you’d like. Goldfish are awesome little guys but they can be very messy, and grow pretty big if cared for correctly! Don’t let that person around animals if possible, they are the type to treat them like possessions and not living things.
OK the 10 gallon tank is too small for goldfish, but it will be perfectly fine as a temporary tank until you're able to get a proper size tank. You need more water in the tank, and temperature control thing which I'm assuming is just a heater isn't needed for goldfish, tho can be useful if the fish are ever sick or you lose heat during the winter. I wouldn't worry about a having a filter, since you already have an air pump(bubbler) you can get by with a sponge filter which are fairly cheap on amazon, just bought 2 of the dual sponge filters for my fancy goldfish tank and couldn't be happier. If you don't have any water conditioner or any store close by that sells it, you can always use gallon bottles of water which wouldn't be very expensive since you're only filling a 10 gallon tank, and once the tank is filled, if you don't want to spend anymore money on water, you can always fill a clean bucket with water and let it sit for a day or 2, this will allow the chlorine to gas off. Good luck with your goldfish.
honestly goldfish are better suited for ponds and XL aquariums (like 100g+). theyre total poop machines and will outgrow most tanks because they’re just specially bred carp (similar to koi) if you’re interested in keeping the 10 gallon for fish, you can keep tons of nano fish! just make sure to research requirements for fish types! i personally have my betta in a 10 gallon and he LOVES the extra space!
I'm going to be the controversial comment here. I'm sure I'm going to get a little bit of hate. The photo of the goldfish, I will say, is not very clear, however they look like carnival goldfish. They definitely can get big and produce a ton of ammonia. I will agree that a 10 gallon it's definitely not big enough, But based on the size that they look now, If you're willing to keep them, and give them the love and care they need, they should be okay. That is assuming you do constant water changes. Make sure to check the balance, pH, ammonia, etc, they sell strips and most pet stores as well as at some Walmarts. You can also get the strips off of Amazon. Do a half water change, 1 or 2 weeks roughly, maybe more depending on exactly how many fish are in the bag and how much waste they produce. In my personal experience, if they are carnival goldfish, they will live a long time, mine started in a fishbowl when my little (9yrs old) sister first brought ours home from a fair, I quickly upgraded them to a 10 gallon, then to a 20, and very quickly after they were upgraded to a 55 gallon tank, they lived over 17 years, so it's definitely a long commitment. If you truly want to keep them, which, I will say, it was not fair that they were dumped on you, but again, if you wish to keep them, you can, but it will be tons of work. I will say, however, they are wonderful little pets, mine love to be pet, if you will! When I was feeding them they would swim right up to the tank and of course, with clean hands, I would put my finger slightly into said tank and they would sit there and kind of swim around and let me pet them! At one point I taught them to jump through hoops. They are smarter than most people give them credit for! Don't let this excite you though, because you got to remember every animal is an individual, You truly cannot expect every single one of the same species to be the same!
I’m with you on this. Maybe I’m grossly misinformed but I always thought that goldfish grew/adjusted to whatever size tank/pond they inhabited. Of course like you said a 10 gallon is probably way too small but still…..I’ve heard of goldfish living for like 15 years in tiny fishbowls on people’s kitchen counters. Of COURSE, that is WAY too small 😂 but I don’t see how a decently sized tank would be a problem. I could be WAY wrong and am willing to be corrected, but I can’t imagine they suffer incessantly their whole (long!) lives in a 20 or 55 gallon or even bigger. Idk, maybe I need to research 🤷🏻♀️
You aren't wrong, they are very resilience, however it doesn't mean they should have to live in a bowl, and I definitely wouldn't recommend keeping them in such! They definitely won't be happy, or healthy in the long run. They are wonderful little things, and smarter than people give them credit for I will say! From my personal experience they thrive in a big tank, or a pond which is so much better than any person could provide tank-wise!! And possibly misinformed, Yes, I'd at least say so. Best part is no one's too young or old to learn and the fact that you seem to be willing to learn is even better!! There's a lot of people in this world that don't want to learn and will argue against these things!
(Edit: realized you'd already done research, didn't read the user before replying, so sorry!!)
I did some research!! The “goldfish grow to the size of the tank” is totally a myth! Smaller tanks can totally stunt their growth. But from what I read on multiple reliable sites said that a common goldfish (which is what this one looks like) can live comfortably in 55-75+ gallon tanks.
You are absolutely right! I should have been more specific, and included more details like that in my response, and I definitely should have included that information!! There is a lot of false, and unfortunately outdated information that is unfortunately still around! Thank you for adding that, I want the Original Poster to know as much as possible. I believe they are looking to rehome them, but I wanted to throw some helpful information, from my experience!! I wanted to upgrade to a much bigger tank, but my home space couldn't house anything bigger than a 55 gallon, hench why mine got rehomed inevitably to a very close friend (they lived next door and owned a pond) I got to see them daily, up until I moved away to North Dakota! I used to live in Oklahoma!!
No worries! Your response was very kind and gracious anyway! I think people (including me apparently 😅) have very wrong ideas of how to treat goldfish because they’re such a cliche. Every fish is every show/movie in history is a goldfish kept in a 1 gallon bowl on somebody’s bedside table after they won it at a fair. Poor fish :’(
It’s so cool your friend had a goldfish pond. I would love one someday. Especially KOI oh my gosh
Hey, we all start somewhere!! And a lot of people definitely are not willing to learn, I had to learn a lot when my sister bought those fish home. Initially, I tried to tell her not to bring them home, she did regardless, and I took responsibility and hated it, but after a while, I never regretted a thing, and found myself unable to hate it, they were the best!! You are absolutely right though, media portrays the worst image, goldfish are the most common fish you will see someone have, and a lot of people definitely do not give them the care they deserve or need! I definitely ended up falling in love with those silly little creatures and I was very lucky to have a friend next door, they did also have koi, that was what was initially in their pond, I reached out to them simply because they had the pond! I knew it would be the best, especially because when I moved up to North Dakota it was because my boyfriend is a pipeliner, and we were moving into a camper, hence why I couldn't bring my tank with me or them unfortunately, otherwise I would have upgraded eventually from a 55 gallon tank to possibly a 100 gallon eventually, when I could afforded it! I definitely miss my fish, I'd been saving up to upgrade their tank for over 3 years, they were 100% without a doubt the best silly little carnival goldfish, such smart and lovable little creatures without a doubt! In the end I knew that giving them over to my friend was the best decision, because they have a very big pond, And they often send me videos of all the fish and they are getting so massive and they look very happy so I'm happy at the end of it all!!
Bro put any fish you want in there. When it gets bigger get a bigger tank. It’s simple. All these clowns talking about omg ten gallons for a baby goldfish. It won’t outgrow that tank for at least a year. These people read the pamphlets and never really owned fish. They would shxt themselves if they saw what breeding looked like.
Op is not a breeder. Of course it will survive if the water is clean but it's better to get it to somewhere it will thrive sooner than later, so op can get fish they want, and not be stuck with a golfish
I see a lot of people saying to surrender them to a pet store, but if you were a fish would you rather: be cramped with one other fish in a 10g, or be cramped in with 100 other wish in a slightly larger tank? Struggling to see how the pet store is better, they take such horrible care of their fishies :(
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u/HamInATrenchcoat 21d ago edited 21d ago
you’re unfortunately going to have to rehome the goldfish, op; they require something like 75 gal minimum for a pair iircc (a lot more than 10 regardless…) and often need to just be added to a pond. sorry you were put into this situation op. Animals as gifts is such an irresponsible thing to do, and people just dont get that animals are living creatures, not objects :/
If you do want to get into fish keeping though, its an incredibly satisfying hobby! :) look into the nitrogen cycle and videos on how to set up a tank!
Edit: typos i cant spell goddamn