hey everyone Sheila here from lifer pets
so today I'm going to show you how we
set up our goal fish tank
as many of you know we've been planning
on doing this for a while we've now
moved belphin into the 20 gallon long
and he is doing amazing we still have no
swimming issues so that is great so I'm
going to show you how we set the tank up
and why we set it up with what we did if
there are any of the items in the tank
that you want to take a look at where
possible I will leave links to it in the
description box below so let me start
with substrate and in this tank we
decided to do sand substrate now in our
previous tanks we usually with goldfish
have done bare bottom tanks and I do
think that that is an excellent option
the next best substrate for goldfish is
sand and so that is what we've done here
so for this particular sand we did use
the National Geographic this is the one
we always use in our aquariums and what
we did this time was we did the white
sand and then we did the black sand so
it's sort of given like a salt and
pepper effect in the tank and I do
really like the way it's actually turned
out I have seen many youtubers do this
one in particular is Deb Tim's a
Canadian girl and if you want to check
her channel out I will leave a little
link to it in the description box below
so that's what we've gone for with
substrate so the reason bear bottom or
some substrate is the best is because
goldfish do like to sort of filter
through it and gravel is not really an a
good substrate for goldfish and that's
simply because the gravel pieces they
actually do pick up the substrate and if
they pick up gravel it can actually get
stuck in their mouths
and with goldfish that can be a huge
problem
so gravel substrate is one that I would
recommend that you stay away from and if
possible bare bottom or the sand
substrate now with us the sand
substrates sometimes the filtration can
be a problem so I will move
onto that in this tank we have this very
large sponge filter and that is also
providing good water movement along the
top as well so sponge filters are my
favorite sponge filters for most of our
tanks actually we do have sponge filters
in them and then we also did add this
aqua clear as well hang on the back now
the only reason that I did do this is
because I do find that with these sponge
filters whilst it does collect the
debris sort of like underneath the
filter I do find that there isn't sort
of much water flow throughout the
aquarium and so it won't pick up sort of
stuff along the rest of the substrate
and so that was why we added this just
to provide somewhat more water movement
but also to pick up some of the finer
particles so what we've done with this
unfortunately as it's running I can't
fully show you and I don't think it's
going to show up on camera but in the
bottom these filters do come with like a
sponge that goes in the bottom they then
come with like a carbon bag and then
like bio media which is like little
ceramic balls but we don't choose to use
it that way we usually do the he's
wanting to be fed we usually do the
sponge in the bottom and then I will
fill this up with filter floss and that
way it this is more about not so much
biological although there will be
bacteria in here this is more about
filtering out the fine particles because
let's face it goldfish are very messy
and they do kick up a lot of stuff off
the bottom of the tank now with some
substrates sometimes if your goldfish is
like picking it up and spitting it out
it can get caught up and go into the
filters and you've got a hang on back
and it can cause issues with the motors
we've not found that to be the case up
to this point and I'm hoping that that
doesn't happen the other thing we've
also done is sort of modify this very
slightly and what we've done is add a
piece of tubing and then we've cut sort
of little holes in as well so that it
the debris can go up and it can also go
up the end of it as well
the reason I've done that is because I
want the particles that are sort of
floating around in the bottom of the
tank to go up into the tubing so we're
just testing that out to see if it will
work or not for those of you that are
wondering the tank makes that we do have
in here currently our narrate snails we
have several of them we've got this one
here you can't actually see the back of
it but it is a zebra narrate and then we
have several Tiger NER rights I'm trying
to find a another zebra I can see
several Tigers there's another Tiger
there and another tiger there there are
I think there's about three or four
zebras in here as well we do plan on
selling there right snails in the very
near future
and these snails are excellent for any
tank and the reason being is whilst they
do breed the babies will not hatch
because they need brackish water so they
make an excellent snail for any tank and
the best part is they are brilliant with
algae so if you do have algae in tanks
then they're great for that especially
goldfish tanks because very often algae
can be a problem simply because of the
amount of waste produced and therefore
net nitrate levels in goldfish tanks can
often be very very high if you're not
doing your water changes so in the tank
we have anubius in the plants on this
side and then I have a creek plant on
this side now I'm hoping that these will
survive because goldfish are well known
for basically eating just about anything
but the anubius plant do seem to be the
one that they do best with this this
piece of driftwood here was absolutely
covered in hair algae and the goldfish
basically ate it and now the narrate
snails are also cleaning it off if I can
find a clip of this piece of wood I will
insert it so you can see just how bad it
was and within just a few days the
difference in it now on this side we've
just added a little piece of decor here
I don't know whether you can see it but
it's just
like a little tree with a face and then
we've put the cap on the top this really
is somewhere that the snails can then so
to go in and up into this is not
particularly for the goldfish this is
more about just decoration in the tank
goldfish don't really need a great deal
of decorations they're not a fish that
like to hide they do like to swim a
great deal so really for them decoration
in the tank less is more and so we
haven't sort of overloaded the tank
we've just put a few in so it gives in
places to go and explore and just to
enjoy picking on he enjoys sort of
picking at the coconut hook because it
will start growing the hair algae and
then like say he does also enjoy picking
at the wood as well because that does
get the hair algae too so he has a lot
to keep him occupied right now he's
begging for food but on the whole he
does love to swim up and down and pick
at those so this is the overview of the
whole tank and I apologize for the glare
this tank is a 20 gallon long and it is
only good for one goldfish and I would
probably say it is actually for the size
that he is it's probably on the small
side however as many of you know this
guy had very severe swimming issues and
we have found that the shallow tanks
like a 10 gallon and a 20 gallon is just
what he needs and he's not had any
swimming issues since so this is why he
has gone into this size of tank but I do
think that ideally he could do with a
bigger tank but this is what he's going
to be in just because I don't want any
issues to reoccur with the swimming
issues as you could see then he was
picking up the sand and sort of
filtering it and that's what I'm talking
about with substrate substrate is very
important when you're picking it for
goldfish simply because you don't want
gravel and stuff like that to get stuck
in their mouths and that is a very
common issue whereas with the sand they
just sort of pick it up filter it
through spit it straight back out so
some substrate is okay for goldfish bare
bottom tank is great for goldfish as
well the only thing people have an issue
the bare bottom tank is that you can see
all the mess on the bottom and unless
you've got very strong filtration to
sort of kick it all up and take it all
up then you're forever siphoning the
bottom of the tank with goldfish tank
size is very important that the general
recommended guidelines are 20 gallons
for the first fish and then 10 gallons
thereafter I personally think that two
goldfish it may be a forty gallon
breeder is great and three absolute
maximum as they do get large if they're
given the correct hair with lots of
water changes good filtration and a
varied diet so they do get large and
this guy is actually about seven inches
from nose to tail so he is quite a large
goldfish he did come to us in very poor
condition but he has still grown out
pretty well he is he's not exactly the
best of specimens but we absolutely
adore him and he's just such a character
the lighting on this tank is a night
crew life and again I will leave links
to it in the description box below if
you want to take a look at it
the roots in the tank is actually a
pathos plant to the plant that you can
sort of see at the back of the tank
there it's not in the tank it's outside
the tank and the reason we do this is
you can see all those roots up there in
the corner as well the reason we do this
is it does help to draw out the nitrates
in the tank so using Puff us in a tank
is a great way to do that because it
that will also take out the toxins in
the water as well so we use these in
several of our tanks I've got them in
one of the snail tanks as well I do
think it's also another option for
filtration and he will actually nibble
at the roots but he doesn't tend to
really bother with them
when they get too long I just cut them
back and the plant continues to grow so
like I say from from the if that plant
probably looks like it in the tank but
it isn't it's actually on the outside of
the tank as well alright guys that's
going to be it for this video like I say
if you do have any other questions or
you want to see any other
fish videos then let me know in the
comments box below thanks for watching
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