Neptun
Goldfish is probably the most famous aquarium fish in the whole world. And keeping goldfish in an aquarium has a long and long history.
Latin: Carassius auratus
The aquarium goldfish and its origin
The first mentions of keeping this goldfish in artificial reservoirs in China date back to the end of the first millennium AD. Goldfish came to Russia at the end of the seventeenth century.
The ancestor of the goldfish is the silver carp. The inhabitants of our aquariums have become less mobile than their wild ancestor. Through long-term selection work of many fish breeders appeared brightly colored forms and forms with different characteristic features – voile tails at voilehtails, disproportionately large eyes at telescopes, bags behind the eyes filled with liquid at the celestial eye. These are all varieties of goldfish common ancestor, which is the common wild silver carp. Goldfish is the easiest to keep. The main difficulty is that the goldfish in the aquarium requires a large volume of water.
Water volume per fish
Thus the most common recommendations in the literature state that for every centimeter of body there should be 60 cm2 of water surface. Thus in an aquarium with dimensions 70x40x40 bottom area is equal to 2800 cm2. Consequently, the sum of the lengths of the bodies of fish in such an aquarium should be 2800/60 = 46 cm. What it will be for centimeters – or 15 fish on three centimeters or four fish on 10 centimeters – you decide. It is only necessary to remember that the fish with a body length of 3 centimeters will grow and to avoid overpopulation of the aquarium should be or initially keep a small number of fish in the aquarium or as they grow to plant them in additional containers.
Goldfish maintenance in the aquarium
Otherwise, the goldfish is extremely unpretentious. It is no coincidence that this is the first fish that man learned to keep in an aquarium. It is so unpretentious that it is often kept in artificial ponds and pools. Here it should be noted that for ponds and pools, it is still better to buy specially bred for this cold-resistant lines. Goldfish in the aquarium will not withstand a prolonged drop in temperature below 7 ° C. As for other varieties, such as vualekhvosti, telescopes, fan-tails, it is desirable to create special conditions for them, which will prevent damage or loss of their species features. Therefore, the beginner is better still to start acquaintance with this group of wonderful fish with the closest to the natural ancestor – goldfish.
The recommended temperature is 15 – 20°C. Variations from 8°C to 30°C are possible.
The hardness and reaction of the water does not matter.
Food preferences
Also not fastidious goldfish and in the choice of food. The best food for it can be moths. It can eat and earthworms. You can also give chopped meat, rolled into balls half with bread the size of a small pea. Also goldfish in the aquarium can eat oatmeal, buckwheat and millet porridge and even just bread. Goldfish creature is quite voracious and will try to eat everything you give it, but overfeeding, of course, it is not worth it. In this case, the food should be given so much that it was all eaten in no more than five minutes. Remains of uneaten food should be immediately removed from the aquarium.
Of additional equipment is desirable to purchase a compressor for additional air blowing water and a filter for filtering muti, as these fish like to stir up the ground in search of additional food.
Goldfish are gregarious. It is better to keep groups of 4-6 individuals. In aquarium conditions under good maintenance live up to 30 – 35 years.
Goldfish aquarium reproduction
For breeding goldfish need an aquarium of 60 – 100 liters. In the spawning tank poured fresh water with a layer of twenty – twenty-five centimeters. Clean river sand poured in such a way that it formed a slide with a descent from the rear window to the front. In a shallower place, the bottom is covered with elodea, peristolistnik. In the corners of the rear window plant bushes of small-leaved plants. Thickets should be as dense as possible. Water temperature should be 20 -25 ° C.
Goldfish become sexually mature and capable of reproduction in the second year of life. It is quite difficult to distinguish the female from the male. Only with some experience can be distinguished on the pectoral fins of males small serrations. Also by the beginning of the spawning period (April – May) on the gill covers of males appear small whitish tubercles. To avoid premature spawning females should be kept separately from males.
The actual spawning
After all preparatory work is completed and the food base is created, you can put the fish to spawn. As a rule, one female and two males are planted in the spawning ground. At dawn with the first rays of sunlight begins spawning. The males vigorously pursue the female, which is hatching eggs in small portions, and the males immediately fertilize it. Eggs stick to plants and fall to the bottom. Immediately after the end of spawning producers should be removed from the aquarium. Larvae hatch from the eggs on the fourth to fifth day. After a couple more days, they begin to swim and from this point they need to be fed. First, the fry are fed “live dust” and soon transferred to larger feeds – small cyclops, daphnia. As the growth of fry need to be seeded in additional vessels. It is also desirable to sort them by size.
