Reddit reviews Lee's 6-Inch Slim Jr. Ultra Gravel Vacuum Cleaner, Self-Start

A 40 gallon will be much better than a 5 gallon. Be sure to put a good filter on it. (I would choose an Aquaclear 70 if your mom isn't bringing you a filter). It will give you a lot more wiggle room since they won't get to be 12 inches overnight! People do budget stands made from cinderblocks all the time, if you're not getting a stand. I'd stick to bare bottom if you are on the budget. It's cheaper, safer, and easier to clean than any substrate would be. You can buy some cheap peel-off paint and paint the outside of the tank black and do something like this and it will look pretty luxe for not a whole lot of cash. (I would skip the live plants and do driftwood myself, since my goldfish seriously chow down on any plant life in the tank.).

For now, I would do daily 50% water changes. Drain half the water with a gravel vac like this. Add your dechlorinator (again, SeaChem Prime is the best choice, especially in a too-small tank). Add in water that is the same temperature. If you absolutely can't do a thermometer, feel the water and make sure you cannot feel ANY difference. Not perfect, but it shouldn't kill your fish. I would still strongly encourage you to buy a water test kit, since you will be doing something called fish-in cycling. The toxic ammonia and nitrite are not immediately visible, but can cause serious damage to your fish. You want your parameters to be 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrite, less than 20ppm nitrate. Yours are not going to be that, and testing your water is the only reliable way to know when to do a water change, and how serious things are. The best of the reasonably priced is API Freshwater Master, which is usually around $20 on Amazon.

Unfortunately, I wish that the practice of giving away goldfish (or any live animals) as prizes was illegal, since I agree that it is absolutely not fair to you to ask you to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on a hobby that you didn't intentionally choose and didn't know anything about until someone gave you a life to care for, and it's certainly not fair to the fish to send them home with people who are not prepared for them! I'm glad you are working on providing a better home for your fish.

P.S. I'm always happy to talk about goldfish, so you are welcome to PM me in the future if you have more questions!

Get one of these. It's a mini siphon perfect for small tanks. It doesn't have nearly the amount of suction of a large one, but it pulls up debris in a small tank perfectly.

Thanks! It's the Aqueon Mini Bow 5 Gallon. I think I have the old model, there's a newer one which seems to be more available on Amazon at this point. That comes with a filter. I just got a large silk plant today to put under the flow because it is a little strong for the betta. I have this heater. I had a lot of trouble with the really cheap Aqueon heaters. Didn't seem to work at all. I have the 10watt now because I bought it when I had a smaller tank, it manages to get the 5gal up to 76, I should probably order the 25watt now though. Didn't remember the one I have is too small! I also got this gravel vacc which you definitely want with an upgrade so you can do 25% water changes every week. Its really easy to use! Just need a bucket or container of some sort to put on the ground to collect the water. Good luck!

Advice from a fellow Canadian in a small city;

• Save yourself the trouble and expense of buying tank pieces separately and buy a kit that includes filter, hood, and tank (all major chains have them, Petsmart's own brand Grreat Choice is cheap and awesome and frequently on sale), that being said I also recommend a 10 gallon, it sounds big I know but trust me when I say the extra space is worth the significantly reduced maintenance and happy healthy fish.
  
  
• If you have the budget (aka extra $10), get live plants (not Marimo ball, those do nothing except look pretty), swords are excellent, hardy, and super easy to care for (PJ's Pets has a lot of cheap plants, lucky you! jealous).
  
  
• Use sand instead of gravel, it creates a healthy environment for beneficial bacteria to grow and that keep your water parameters in check.
  
  
• If you do choose to go with gravel, you don't ever need to change or rinse it (other than the first time), just use a gravel vacuum or betta waste remover ^^lol ^^turkey ^^baster to siphon out the detritus during water changes and you'll be set.
  
  As for your fish;
  
  2 potential culprits; fin rot or tail biting.
  
  
• Fin rot results from poor water parameters, fins literally begin to burn from the excess ammonia and rot away. It's easy to fix in most cases but can quickly become advanced fin rot and/or body rot in which case your little buddy is a goner. Providing a clean environment with fixed water parameters will allow the fish to recover on his own (very quickly!) but some people do choose to also try aquarium salt treatment, the latter is not a necessity unless the rot is quite bad.
  
  
• Tail biting results from boredom, poor water parameters, stress, and/or filter being too strong. This can be easily fixed by providing a change in environment or a clean tank with many hiding spots and places to explore, reducing filter current (a ton of ways to do this), keeping the tank dark (no lights in or around it) for a couple of days, reducing reflective surfaces (from the inside sometimes the glass can turn into a mirror for the fish so covering the hidden sides with black paper/background is beneficial).
  
  I hope you enjoyed this novel, best of luck!

I just got a new tiny gravel vacuum for my five gallon and it's perfect. I can't believe all the time I've wasted with full-size vacs because that was all the stores had and I didn't even know small ones existed. It's tiny enough to get into the corners and around my plants, and it takes in water slowly enough to give me time for detailed cleaning. The self-start actually works, too, which I was surprised to see. I'm really pumped about it.