# Marchello and betty minnow



## xchairity_casex (Oct 8, 2011)

before i head off to bed iwanted to show you all my 2 common goldfish marchello and betty minnow
they both live in an 80 gallon tank with a few pest snails.
i bought them both as feeder fish back in november 2011 about the same time i started feeding raw
here are their before photos of when i brought them home
Marchello








and Betty Minnow









and today while doing my weekly water change i took a picture of them both again
heres Marchello now just 6 months later (yes i swear it IS the same fish!)








And Betty Minnow also 6 months later









Marchelo is growing quicker as you can see he lost all his black and betty went from being bronze to orange except she still has one spot of bronze color on the tip of her nose.

i cannot wait to see them in a years time! i will be very excited to see how bigger they will become!

care for these little fishies
homemade gel food
80 gallons for only 2 fishies
90 percent weekly water changes
filters with 10 times the filtration ( i have 2 filters doing 800GPH)


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## FurMom1089 (Apr 22, 2012)

aww, I miss having fish :/ but u prolly don't want to do 80% weekly changes, goldfish are hardy and can take it, but just giving the filter pads a quick rinse in a 5gal bucket of their old water, and vacuuming the gravel well, probably 40% is good while they are so small... when they get to be about 16in 80% might be more appropriate lol

not too many people pamper their goldies like you


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## Celt (Dec 27, 2010)

They do have an interesting color change as they grow. Here's a pic of a feeder fish that survived a school year about 3 years ago.








He started out as a grey, then slowly turn orange. He's starting to "fade out" now. Maybe he'll end up white?
Hope you have fun watching your guys grow.


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## xchairity_casex (Oct 8, 2011)

Celt said:


> They do have an interesting color change as they grow. Here's a pic of a feeder fish that survived a school year about 3 years ago.
> View attachment 7432
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> 
> ...


i am on a goldfish forum and nearly all goldfish change color as they age. everyone there is always warned when buying black fish that it will not stay black not even black moors they turn orange or white and calicos almost always loose there black patches, and panda goldfish are not always worth the price tag.

i jsut adore goldies i know they are so common but they have alot of persnallity and are super cute!


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## Janet At Nutro (Mar 11, 2011)

It's amazing how much they have grown. 
That's cool that you took the pictures!


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## wolfsnaps88 (Jan 2, 2012)

Gold fish are sadly, pretty abused. People do not know how to care for them properly or maybe they just don't care because they are easily replaceable and many are cheap. They can live for YEARS and many people do not know it because most people efficiently kill them within months. 

They can't live in a bowl. (I hate people)

You can't feed them a pound of food every time (I hate people)

Bread is not an adequate form of fish food (I hate people)

You can't mix them with tropical fish (I hate people). 

Sigh

Anyways, nice to see you love yours. As a fish lover, shouldn't you...not be touching them? Even briefly it damages their slime coat and can leave them open to infection. I know you know what your doing and I have seen vets touch expensive koi and whatnot. Just throwing that out there. 

If you let goldfish free into natural waterways, even after just one breeding they often revert to their natural greyish coloration...just a fun fact


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## xchairity_casex (Oct 8, 2011)

yeh it is sad that people dont know how to care for goldfish or most fish properly, and you cannot really blame people as many fish stores and pet stores will tell people you can have 10 goldies in a 10 gallon,or a bowl is fine for a betta,or no ,those two types of fish get along great!

i must admit i started out as one of those people i had 2 pictus cat fish,10 guppies and 4 goldfish in a 20 gallon tank YIKES! i feel bad about it now it wasnt untill my beloved oranda got sick i found a goldy forum and changed my wicked ways. moved guppies into a new tank, took the cat fish out andkept only 4 fancies for the 80 gallon but sadley they all got dropsy and died and i had to go thru and sterilize the tank completly before adding new fish.

handling of a healthy fish is ok for a short period when i take pics of them i net them,keep them in the net int he tank,get the camera set up,scopp them out click toss em back in done all takes place in about 5 seconds.

and becuase i do the larger water changes weekly theres little bad bacteria building up. i am understocked by about 20 gallons.


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## Celt (Dec 27, 2010)

Ach, I'm a bad fish parent :0( The "survivor feederfish", I've ended up with have always just been tossed into the 75 gal I have. The tank has (what I think is) a pangor (?) shark, 2 clown loaches, a spotted catfish (dan't remeber its name), 2 mollies, a black skirt, a neon (don't know what kind), and about 5 female guppies. The ones on the list from the mollies down were "inheritated" from school tanks. All of lived for quite a few years though so I guess it's not too horrible. <sigh>


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

I WANT A FISH TANK AGAIN and koi pond like I use to have!


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## xchairity_casex (Oct 8, 2011)

i would LOOOOVE to have a pond though with Cesar i doubt i could keep anything living in it im sure hewould be in it everyday having a swim


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## smaughunter (Apr 27, 2012)

> You can't mix them with tropical fish


You can mix some goldfish with certain types of tropical and subtropical fish. Commons can be mixed with Dojo Loaches, Hillstream Loaches, Rosy Barbs and White Cloud Minnows.

Fancies can be kept with the above fish plus: Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish, Kuhli loaches, Cories, Rubbernosed Plecos, Bristlenosed Plecos and Clown Plecos.

I keep my two fancies in a forty gallon aquarium with Bristlenosed Plecos, a clown pleco, kuhli loaches, and one old Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish who's school has passed away. I have a baby lionhead and a seven year old ranchu. 

Here are some things I have found to help me in time keeping goldies (or any fish for that matter):

1. Feed really sparingly 
2. Lots of room
3. You can never do too many water changes. I do about 75% a week.
4. Leave the filter alone! I gently rinse out my media in dechlorinated water about 3 or 4 times a year, other than cleaning the engine that's about it.
5. Season is important. This is one I think most people don't think about. Seasonal changes are important to fish. Food availability, light cycles, and temperature should be altered according to the season IMO.


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