How to Keep Goldfish

Keeping a goldfish as a pet is actually good for your mental health. Watching fish swimming around helps to ease stress and has a calming effect. Contrary to popular belief, goldfish do not have short lives and are capable of living up to 30 years with good care. A goldfish can be kept in an aquarium or outdoors in a pond and will grow if left in a large environment. The container you choose needs to have at least eight gallons of water per fish to provide ample room and oxygen.

Things You'll Need

• Aquarium
• Flake food
• Net
• Aquarium vacuum
• Thermometer

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Instructions

1. • 1

     Keep your goldfish in a tank that is well filtered to deal with the large amount of debris they create. Keep the water temperature between 65 and 68 degrees.

   • 2

     Provide plenty of plants and decorations that will allow the fish to hide out when they feel the need to.

   • 3

     Feed once daily with a flake food that is labeled for goldfish. Feed only the amount that the fish will consume in three to four minutes. You can supplement periodically with insect larvae or freeze-dried worms, but a diet of flakes only is sufficient.

   • 4

     Remove 10 percent of the water in the aquarium each week and replace with fresh, chlorine-free water. Use an aquarium vacuum or net to remove debris from the bottom of the tank at this time.