Tropical Fish Forums

[tetrabarb]

Which is the best gravel to use for goldfish? Because I know that goldfish can choke on the gravel, I was wondering - is it best to get tiny gravel (sand) or big stones for gravel. Some places say sand, but what do you think?
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[Angry Andy]

While it is possible, it is rare that a goldfish gets a piece of gravel stuck in their mouth.

I'd stay away from sand, as that can get trapped in their gills, and would be very messy to deal with when vacuuming. A fine-sized, smooth substrate (no epoxy coating) up to 1/4" in thickness should suffice.

[tetrabarb]

OK, I'll try to find something like that.

thank you!!
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[Quitty_Quat]

Necroposting;
I'm wondering if there's a risk of gill irritation even with something like the very fine silica or the super naturals carib sea sand?
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[sepgundamrg]

I'm using sand with my goldfish (1 pearl scale 1 oranda 2 fantail in a 55) and the fish seem to love it, the pearl scale digs in it a lot and the oranda looks like he plays in it also. I did spend several hours rinsing it though, and this is my first goldfish tank so I may be observing irregular behavior that just looks like play. Has anyone else kept them on sand before?

Edit: All the fish are realy small right now also, largest is the oranda at maybe 3in including tail.
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My tanks
http://www.aquahobby.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=55885

[Quitty_Quat]

I've heard from other older fairly established keepers who rave about goldfish tanks with sand substrate, and if you think about it, back in the day, goldfish/carp pretty much lived in sandy/muddy rice paddies... so you'd think a fine sand would be okay. Or even larger smooth particles...

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