# Black Moor goldfish blowing bubbles



## smp (Jan 6, 2005)

Hello. My girlfriend has had "Mr. Teentsy" for about 4 years now. He's been in a 2.5 gallon tank with no filtration all that time. Literally a 2.5 gallon glass aquarium with nothing in it but water and Mr Teentsy. He's always done fine with weekly 100% water changes. I know that's not ideal and I'm not interested in having a conversation about the proper size tank etc. What I need help with is that we UPGRADED his living quarters to a 16 gallon (tall) with an aquaclear filter, gravel, fake plant .. you know, the "works" (I'm coming from a cichlid and reef tank background, goldfish seem pretty simple in comparison).

Anyway, he's ben in the tank a couple of days and today all day he's up at the surface blowing bubbles. Mind you, he's not suffocating. I've seen when fish do that and this doesn't appear to be stress related behaviour. He's still eating for example and he has to go to the bottom to get the pellets. 
What gives?!

Thanks!


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## Bamboo (Jan 12, 2011)

Actually because of all the modifications done on a fancy goldfish over thousands of years of selective breeding, goldfish are one of the more challenging fish to keep thriving . You need to learn how to deal with bloat as your fish will experience it sooner or later. Certain external and internal parasites on freshly imported fish. You need to learn which type of fancy goldfish can be kept with which types and which types will not work . These are just a few of many obsticles to hurl and issues to research. 
A 16 gallon tall will not work for any goldfish muchless 2.5 gallon. You will need a 29 gallon for one goldfish and a strong filter. If you come from a " reef tank " background , you will have no problem doing your goldfish a favor and purchasing these things.


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

Have you tested the water? Just a good first step whenever there's 'something' going on in the tank. Next I would do a partial water change of 30% using a good quality dechlorinator and then see if the goldfish's behavior changes any.

I have a goldfish myself--(a black moor that turned orange some years ago, the moor is at least 8 years old), but I don't know a whole lot about them. I did a quick google on goldfish and blowing bubbles and there were a fair amount of hits--in the little I read I didn't find an answer as to why they do it but there also didn't seem to be any harmful outcome from it.

So I'd just keep testing the water for the next few weeks since it's a newly set up tank, do weekly water changes, and make sure the goldfish doesn't get over-fed which is the biggest threat to their good health.

Hope he enjoys his new home. :fish:

Robin


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## smp (Jan 6, 2005)

Thank you Robin, you're clearly trying to help.

Bamboo, posts like yours are the reason I don't hang out on message boards anymore. People like you don't even seem to read the original post, they just jump in and say "your tank is too small!!!" because that's what they've read a million times, not because of their own experience. Most information on the internet is just repeated because someone read it on a forum so it becomes gospel. This is true of any hobby forum. How long have you been keeping fancy goldfish? A 29 gallon tank wouldn't do for an 8" goldfish, so where did you get 29 gallons from? There are a lot of variables. And BTW, my "reef tank" is a 90 gallon that I've spent close to $10000 on over the years. "Mr. Teentsy" is in a 16 gallon because that happens to look the nicest in our kitchen and because having done the complicated reef tank thing for years now, I really like the simplicity. He's not in a 16 gallon for lack of funds or effort researching. 16 gallons just fits perfectly on the counter and thats' where we want him.

Not sure if you read my post but the fish has been in a 2.5 gallon for 4 YEARS. I think he'll be ok in a 16 gallon for the next couple of years at least. I know what the forums say, I can use google and found similar information elsewhere but it flies in the face of my own experience with this fish. The fish has not had bloat in 4 years either. The only problem he's had in 4 years is some kind of bacterial infection on the fins that clears up with water changes. He never even had a filter until last week! The infection hasn't happened for a long time, since I started dating my girlfriend actually and since I taught her a few things about fish keeping.

Anyway, he's fine. He's active, he eats, he swims all day. Because the tank is young I'm doing water changes every two days. He is still blowing bubbles but I think it's just because he's learned that when he does that sometimes food ends up in his mouth. Black moors have poor eyesight and he's always been fed floating food. He can't really see it, but I think he can smell it and so he nips at the surface of his formerly tiny tank and finds the food quickly .. he's in a bigger tank so it takes him longer and I think he's just developed the habit of checking the surface all the time. Eventually food ends up in his mouth.

My background with fish is pretty well every kind except goldfish. Most of my experience though is with African cichlids (Malawi primarily) and reef tanks. My cichlids never had bloat either and it wasn't luck that they didn't, it was proper husbandry. I'm not an irresponsible fish keeper because I have a goldfish in a 16 gallon tank.
Thanks, and I hope someone searching in the future finds something useful in this thread.


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