It was why the early Japanese first chose to keep goldfish in garden ponds at the front entrance to their house and why they still do today. It was a way of relieving the stress of the days work, coming home and noticing the first thing being a beautiful school of goldfish swimming elegantly on either side of the front steps, helped to relieve the magnitude of stress and anxiety.
The Modern Pond
Today we still see the benefits of this wonderful stress relieving technique, yet we choose not to keep out goldfish in outside ponds, but instead inside our home in tanks, bowls and aquariums.
There are a few things you need to know about keeping your goldfish indoors. Now goldfish were never bred to be indoor creatures and the majority of tank environments out there are lackluster to say the least. This is one of the main reasons why goldfish tend not to live as long in a tank as opposed to being in an outside environment.
Cleaning Your Tank
One of the things that tend to be underestimated is the amount of times you should clean your tank. Unless you are equipped with a state of the art aquarium, which usually cost thousands of dollars, your tank will need cleaning every week. If you are not doing this then you are allowing your goldfish to be at serious risk from such fungi and diseases as Ick, fin rot, dropsy and many others.
Most of these diseases stem from simple bacteria being given a chance to multiply and mutate, all because the owner was too lazy to clean the tank. I know it can be a boring and time consuming job, however it must be done! I hate hearing people ask me how to combat this disease and that fungus, when really it all could have been prevented if the bacteria in question wasn't given a chance to mutate in the first place!
Remember also, when changing the water in your tank, it's best not to come into direct contact with your goldfish. Human hands breed bacteria that can be deadly to most goldfish. On that same note, remember to always sanitize your hands before cleaning the tank. That way, the majority of harmful bacteria will not be passed into the new water in the tank or bowl.
