JANUARY 2023

To all our members and their Goldfish

A USA Goldfish Aquarium

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The Goldfish Council of the USA continues to attract new members. Each one
usually sends a photo (but mainly videos) of their Goldfish. Some are amazing
– here are just a few...

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Here is what they call a Philly Vieltail .....

But their comment on the photo was that it looked like a ‘long English’.
(They need our Nationwide Standards!).
Perhaps they mean this one – called an ‘English Metallic Vieltail’....

More Goldfish News

Latest news from The Royal Society Publications by Oxford University (October
2022) into Goldfish behaviour reported that they use the same spatial
orientation, whilst swimming up and down that front glass, as we use to
orientate ourselves.
To quote how they did it:
Nine native goldfish (Carassius auratus), sourced from a local supplier (The
Goldfish Bowl, 118–122 Magdalen Road, Cowley, Oxford OX4 1RQ, UK), were
used in experiments. Individuals were reared in wide indoor ponds enriched
with natural plants by the supplier. In the laboratory, individuals were housed
in 0.35 m × 0.32 m × 0.60 m (width × height × length) tanks enriched with
0.5 cm of gravel, a terracotta pot and plastic plants. Because C. auratus is a

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social species, individuals were kept in groups of two to three fish. The
illumination by fluorescent light followed a 12 h light/12 h dark cycle.
Individuals were fed twice a day; once in the morning with pellets (Fancy
Goldfish Sinking Pellets, FishScience) and once in the afternoon with spinach
or bloodworms to add supplementary nutrients. Tanks were cleaned weekly
and water quality was maintained at healthy levels for this species (pH: 8.2;
KH: 7dKH; GH: 8.2; Nitrite: 0 ppm; Ammonia, Nitrate: less than 10 ppm).
If you want to read the full story, see https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.1220

Aquarium News
The international competition for the best aquarium aquascaping in 2022
brought over 2,000 entries from more than 80 countries! You can see many of
the winners in Practical Fishkeeping, in their December 2022 issue, pages 63
to 69. The Grand Prize winner was this one....

(not my choice! Is it yours?)

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Pond News

If you use Facebook, there are lots of pictures about ponds, especially ex the
USA. There are also many USA Pond Experts offering advice, one of which is
‘The Pond Professor’ (Ed Beaulieu) who seems to travel the World looking at
ponds. His latest is from Japan (Nagaoka, Niigata) with a remarkable photo of
their Koi....

See him on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/EdThePondProfessor

Top Tip

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If you want to save on electricity bills, how about replacing that airpump with
this device? Use a car wheel (or wheelbarrow – usually cheaper) innertube
that you can manually pump up and silicone seal a nipple into the device, to
which you add the airline to your aquarium. Use a clamp to regulate the air
volume. Will last for hours and it will use up a few of your Xmas calories too.
A Quiet Filter!
My Goldfish display tank has had various internal filters, most of which emit a
hum, some even a rattle. What effect this has on the Goldfish for 24/7 hours I
do not know. Hence, on a visit to Maidenhead Aquatics I found the Aquatropic
Cartridge Filter which claimed high flow with silent operation. Worth a try at
(almost) £19 for the CF1 size (up to 15 gallons, 70 litres). The range goes
from Mini (3 gallons, 14 litres) to CF3 (35 gallons, 160 litres).

Installed in my aquarium it had a gentle flow and the impeller was – silent !

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Internally it has the usual cartridges: prefilter, biofilter and polisher, with easy
access for replacement (which you are supposed to do monthly). That is
expensive but I will use the usual ingenuity to replace.

Later News
Because of the separate mounting system the above filter uses, there is a gap
between the main body and the glass of the aquarium. Because Goldfish are
as curious as cats, my Ryukin decided to explore that gap. Goldfish cannot
swim backwards and became trapped – only discovered at feeding time. A day
later the Veiltail in my second aquarium did exactly the same, and also
became trapped.
Then it dawned! Do not put this type of filter in the corner of the tank – it
creates a gap that traps Goldfish. The units were moved along the sides, so
that the Goldfish could safely explore.

But not get trapped

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At Page 1 are the USA Goldfish – the Canadian equivalent is ‘The
Goldfish Gazette’
See www.about-goldfish.com/ (Thanks to member Tom Bell for this information.)

The website is written by Grant Lord, who also wrote this book .....

Their current topic is all about ‘cycling myths’.....

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I (says Grant Lord) suppose I have to qualify the comment above because I
am sure aquarists have crashed their aquarium’s nitrogen cycle…if they forgot
to use a water conditioner during the water change. Or, it could simply be
they are cleaning their filter bio-media excessively.

Below are common myths about the nitrogen cycle.

Nitrogen Cycling Myths

Myth one: Too many water changes will crash the nitrogen cycle.

Water changes don’t crash an aquarium’s nitrogen cycle because it is in the

filter where the cycling takes place, not in the aquarium where there are few
beneficial bacteria residing.

Myth two: Once a filter is cycled, the aquarium can be fully stocked.

This depends on the amount of ammonia-producing material that was added

during the early stages of the cycle.

If you used one small fish in the aquarium as the ammonia source, the filter
bacteria level will only support that one fish. The fish population should only
be increased slowly, with constant testing for ammonia after more fish are
added.

Myth three: Filter foam must be thoroughly cleaned regularly.

Yes, the filter foam must be cleaned if the water flow has dropped below the
required rate, but the brown gunk in the foam is the bacteria colony, not dirt
and feces (faeces) from the aquarium.

Myth four: The nitrogen cycle is completed in two-three weeks.

New tank syndrome usually occurs 2-3 weeks after an aquarium has been set
up. It is caused by an ammonia spike. The filter still has to go through the
nitrite and nitrate stages before fish can be safely introduced.

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Water temperature also plays a large part in how long a filter takes to go
through the cycle.

Myth five: By using a shop-bought product that introduces large

quantities of beneficial bacteria into the aquarium, the aquarium can
be stocked immediately.

Not so. If you read the instructions on the products, they state it speeds up
the cycling process, they don’t claim it provides the required numbers of
bacteria needed immediately.

Myth six: A good pH reading will indicate that the cycle is completed.

Again, not so. In fact, a good pH level is necessary as low pH inhibits cycling.
The pH should be above 7.0 and must be above 6.5, with the ideal pH being
between 7.4 to 7.8.

Myth seven: Green or cloudy water needs to be changed.

A water change at this time removes the beneficial bacteria food source and
stops the cycle.

Myth eight: Nitrates are safe.

Nitrates are much safer than ammonia and nitrites, to a point. It was once
believed that nitrate levels of 200 ppm (parts per million) and above were
safe. This is now known not to be the case, and anything above 30 ppm is
considered unsafe for Goldfish, particularly for fancy varieties.

Water Test kits

I was communicating on Facebook recently with an aquarist who felt his fish
were stressed. He included a video of his aquarium.

The 20 gallon aquarium contained 17 2-3 inch (50-75mm) fish, with several
showing clamped fins. It had been set up for one week.

After stating the obvious about fish numbers, I asked what were the water
parameters.

He showed me a pH test indicating a reading of 7.6. He didn’t have a nitrate

or ammonia test kit.

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I asked if the filter was cycled, and he answered yes.

I found it hard to believe an aquarium that had been set up for a week, had a
filter that could support 17 fish in 20 gallons. I suspect the aquarium was
experiencing an ammonia spike.

If you don’t have a water test kit that can measure pH, ammonia and nitrate
levels you really are flying blind.

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A Calendar for 2023

... to download and print, if you have the facilities to do so .....

The Vermillion Goldfish is the first Goldfish Club in Singapore and was founded
in 10 June, 2003.
When the club was formed, many of the members were already experienced
outdoor Goldfish keepers who appreciate that the sunlight and natural
environment are the key elements contributing to the success for optimum
Goldfish development.

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In fact, long before the founding of the club, the group of avid hobbyists were
already engaged in the pond-renting programme as an alternative to
grooming their Goldfish indoors in their home apartment. At the farm pond
renting facility, members gather every weekend to enjoy Goldfish keeping, a
sharing of experience and most important of all, foster friendships.

The missions of the club are:

- to promote the interest of Goldfish keeping
- to promote research and study of treatment and materials pertaining to
Goldfish keeping
- to foster goodwill and friendship amongst local hobbyists and abroad
If you have Facebook go to:

https://www.facebook.com/VermillionGoldfishClubSG/

Via their ‘photos’ you can print all 12 months with a different Goldfish per
month.

Chairman’s Notes
We have all become very aware of the massive rise in the cost of electricity
recently.
We have also become aware of the very cold December day time and, even
more extreme, night time temperatures.
It is certainly true that in prolonged sub zero temperatures our Goldfish,
especially twin-tails, in our fish houses will really suffer and if no action is
taken probably die. Fish in ponds will generally be more able to survive a cold
winter as the physics in a pond, if it is deep enough - two feet in part - will
prevent the water itself from getting fatally cold. Water is unusual in that as it
cools it becomes more and more dense (as does everything) but at 4 degrees
Centigrade or 39.2 degrees Fahrenheit water reaches its maximum density
and starts to become less dense, this is why ice floats on the surface of the
water, the important consequence of this for our pondfish is that as the air
temperature lowers the water temperature beneath the ice stays a constant
4/39.2. As it gets colder all that happens is the ice gets thicker, until such a
point as the water has all been converted to ice when the temperature of the
pond will indeed fall. This will be of little interest to the fish as they will be

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long frozen to death. In this country a partial pond depth of 2 feet should
prevent this happening.
A glass fish house will of course benefit from the 'greenhouse effect', heat
from the sun will be trapped and concentrated in the glass enclosed space so
inside the fish house will be warmer than outside but not that much, a far
higher relative difference can be measured in the summertime when
overheating can become a problem. As the temperature falls the greenhouse
effect weakens and the fish will become dangerously cold so some additional
heat must be supplied. Our increased electricity costs are presently running
around 35 pence a kilowatt hour, this means it costs 35p to 'burn' 1,000
watts of electricity. To run a 1,000 watt heater will cost 35p an hour; a 50
watt heater will cost 1/20 of this or 1.75p an hour. Per hour this may seem
insignificant but, of course, the heaters must be left on for much longer than
this, there are 168 hours in a week so our 1,000 watt heater will cost £58.80
and our 50 watt heater £2.94 to run constantly for a week.
In my experience a 50 watt heater is fine for the larger tanks in my glass fish
house and will keep the water from becoming dangerously cold, they do not
need to be on all the time, indeed if they are they could easily raise the
temperature higher than the level where the fish are happiest at this time of
the year. An eye needs to be kept on the weather and the forecasts and the
heaters turned on when necessary, particular attention needs to be paid to
the level of cloud cover, thick cloud will insulate the atmosphere and keep
tanks a little warmer, cloudless days will allow the sun to heat the tanks a little
but overnight will reduce temperatures.
There are domestic solar and wind generators available, at some initial cost,
which could be useful and the water feed exposed to the sun will heat up the
water (when the sun shines) but this is probably more useful in the spring for
raising the temperature for growing fry
I am considering installing more tanks in my house and bringing most of my
fish in for the winter where temperature control will be easier but also I will be
able to see the fish for much longer throughout the year.
Keep warm, safe and happy and have a wonderful 2023.

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