Hi - Mini Deb has asked for a golfish tank for her birthday, which she's hoping to keep in her room. I've been googling a little and as far as I can see a 20l tank should be about the right size for 2 goldfish, which will apparently need weekly partial water change & monthly filter change. Does this sound about right?

A couple of concerns - are they noisy? I can imagine her getting fed up with it within a month if the filter/air pump makes a noise all the time!

Does the light need to be kept on all the time, or can you dim them/switch off overnight?

While on holiday, how do you organise feeding? We have an automated feeder for our pond fish, but I've never had goldfish before - presumably you can get automated feeders for them too.

Any other ideas/advice please? Thanks in advance!

I'm afraid 20 litres is pretty inadequate for fish in general, let alone goldfish! Your 'standard' goldfish (the ones given away completely wrongly as fairground prizes*) should really be in a pond, and for the fancy types you're really looking at 150-odd litres for two, with a lot of filtration because they're messy buggers. You should do a water change every week, but you shouldn't really change your filter media, just rinse it out in old tank water as this is where the bacteria live which make the water 'safe' for the fish between water changes. You can switch the lights off overnight.

If I were you I'd get a 60 litre tank (minimum for keeping fish in my eyes) and get a shoal of 6 or so White Cloud Mountain Minnows - a lot easier to keep, and they don't grow as big as goldies. If you're serious about getting the tank I'd ask for some advice on one of the fishkeeping forums out there, at practical fishkeeping for instance. There's a lot more to it than meets the eye, and I found out the hard way!

(*didn't mean to get on a mini-soapbox there, just couldn't think how to describe the fish! Comet?)

20 litres is far too small for goldfish - they may 'stay alive' for months even years but will suffer health problems. Remember goldfish should live 20ish years. I'd say more like 180 litres - see Gold fish size and tanks

They aren't terribly noisy, but if its in a room where you're trying to sleep then it may be too much for many people

Its best to be as natural as possible so a 'nighttime' would be kindest for the fish. Timer switches are quite cheap - plug the light seperately into the timer switch.

You can get blocks of food that disolve over a week or fortnight slowly releasing food.

Sorry to be rather negative but gold fish are not as 'easy' as people think. You'd actually find hardy tropicals like black neons, zebra danios and siamese fighters easier.
Also a common misconception is that a smaller tank is easier - its not as when something starts to go wrong with water quality there is no leeway in a small tank .

Thanks you two! I had a feeling I was missing a lot of info, there's so much on the net it's difficult to pick the bones out of it. I didn't want to end up with a fish in unsuitable conditions, I'll take your advice and look into a bigger tank and easier fish.

I think you may be better off reading a book from the library first - the net's a wonderful thing, but sometimes just following 1 view can be simpler!

Don't rush it - it can take months to get a tank up and running but thats the only way to do it without stressing the fish.

Just think with tanks, the bigger the easier. Might take a little longer to do a waterchange, but the more water you have to dilute the fish' waste between the changes the less likely you are to have problems along the way Also look into fishless cycling.

Thanks again! I'll do that (to both suggestions).

You.ve already had good advice, so I won't add to that, but I had to smile at you saying you want 2 goldfish.

That's how it starts We did the same when my youngest was about 9ish. Promised him a couple of goldfish. By the time we had done our research it was decided a freshwater tank with heater, and more variety of fish to choose from, was the best bet.

To cut a long story short we ended up with a 3' and a 4' tank, both heated and kept them going for 15 years. Lots of work, but lots of entertainment too. Just a bit overboard from promising a couple of goldfish.

Yes - I can see us doing much the same thing!