Help with Goldfish in new tank.?

I would just move the fish into the larger tank with the large filter and monitor the water there. It will take a lot longer for them to foul the bigger tank and it will be much easier to keep the ammonia under control. In the 2.5 gallon tank even if you changed all the water everyday it would still build up toxic ammonia levels in hours. A 2.5 gallon really won't ever hold a cycle so it isn't even worth trying.

Just take your fish from the old tank into a clean plastic bag, float it in the new tank for 20 minutes to let them get used to the water temperature then dump them into the new tank. You don't need to worry about the water going in because it isn't pet store water that could contain disease or parasites.

You'll need to monitor the new tank closely for ammonia build up and do partial water changes if it gets dangerous. Most bacteria if you have accumulated any is in the gravel and filter media so dumping your old tank water in will just transfer ammonia but I would empty the old tank and dump the gravel over.

EDIT: Your fish with the afro is an Oranda.

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Move the fish into the big tank right away.

The bigger volume of water will dilute the ammonia and it will take 10 times longer to build up.

Then just do some extra partial water changes in the 20gal to keep the ammonia level below 1ppm. The cycle will build up in the new tank/filter in a week or 2. Seeding it with gravel from the old tank will help.

Cycling a tank with fish in it isn't ideal but if the tank is large, the fish are small and you do extra water changes it will work. Better than trying to keep the fish alive in a 2gal tank anyway.

Ian

I like goldfish since they do become quite large and somehow "smarter" than most fish. They interact more readily with people than small tropical fish usually do and fit more readily into the category of "pet". Two small goldfish would work in that tank quite well for a good while. If you want something more interesting, though, I would suggest getting a few livebearers. A trio or two each of platies and guppies. They will quickly populate the tank if you have some plants to give the fry cover and it is always interesting to see the characteristics of the various parents being passed along. The livebearers would get along well with a shoal of cory cats as well. It might not sound like a particularly dramatic set-up, but it is an inexpensive set of fish that will be able to handle most typical aquarium problems (ich, questionable water quality, etc) with few casualties.

You should move the fish to the big tank now. Generally it's best to do a fishless cycle, but your goldfish are already suffering in their tiny tanks and will actually fare better in the bigger one as it cycles as long as you do small water changes every time the ammonia goes over .50/1 ppm.

50% changes in the tiny tanks actually aren't helping, because you're still leaving some dirty water behind every time you clean. That's why your ammonia isn't dropping. For small tanks like those you'd have to do 100% changes--they're not cycled and therefore you don't have any good bacteria to worry about.

It is good of you to try and provide these fish with better conditions. It sounds like you have other fish tanks. Can you take some of the filter media out of the others and seed it into your new tank and jumpstart the cycle? Sounds like too much filtration for a 2.5, even temporarily. You're on the right track tho.

This forum had very informed members and tutorials on alot of things. Plus they have lots of pictures of setups and such. Start reading. (:

www.kokosgoldfish.com

Good luck!

Dont worry ammonia leves will not make a differance. If you want to stay oon the safe side just do 50% water changes every other day or so. I had 2 fish in one 2 gal tank and they lived for a couple years with changing the water once a week. good luck

never go over 50% water change. clean the tank every day and you fish will be fine