Carnival fish: how to care for?

Question

my son brought home a goldfish he won at a fair. How long do they live in a little container? and how often do you change the water? tap or bottled (someone said bottled water)

Answer 1

Goldfish can grow quite large, but if you put them in a small container, the growth rate will slow down a lot. The problem with using a small container is that the pollutants are much more concentrated so you will have to change the water more often (50% a week). Use tap water that has been aged 24 hours, pour the goldfish and half of the water in another container, swirl his bowl around to suspend most of the waste and pour it out, put the fish and his water back in the bowl and top it off with the new aged water. Don't worry about the leftover bits of waste. It will feed the beneficial bacteria growing in the bowl (it converts excess fish waste (ammonia) and food into nitrites and then into less harmful nitrates. Your water changes keep the nitrates from reaching toxic levels, but if you clean the bowl too much the bacteria die and the fish will die even faster from ammonia build up.
For the first two weeks while the bacteria develop in the bowl, you will have to change the water every two to four days.
A

Answer 2

Goldfish will not live very long in a very small container, they will use up the oxygen very quickly and produce waste that will poison the water.Imagine living in a single room where you had to cook, eat and potty in. I prefer a larger container.

You dont need bottled water, some of it contains stuff you would not want to give a fish and it WILL get expensive changing it every couple days if you keep it in a very small container.
Tap water should be set out for a couple of days before use because of the clorine in it. or you could get chemicals that will remove the clorine. still, i would let it set to be safe.

A single goldfish will do quite well in a small 2 or 5 gallon tank.
but would you want to live alone?

Yes some people attach an air pump to their tank to generate oxygen.
This is a very good idea if you don't want to put in alot of plants
and become a water farmer.
.
I personnally have a 5 gallon tank with a soil substrate covered with gravel and sand with 40 percent of the tank floor planted in aquatic plants. these plants generate oxygen for the goldfish, so i dont need an air pump and the fish love it. The fish generate some fertilizer for the plants and they flourish. I do have to very lightly fertilize to keep the plants growing and then cutting them back so they do not take over the tank.

I dont always get to see the fish as they like to move in and out of the plants but when they do decide to grace me with their presence i am filled with wonder at their ability to adapt to a manufactured environment.

Answer 3

minimum of a 10 gallon aquarium if you dont want to change the water in a bowl every other day.
Conditioned tap water is better than bottled. Conditioner is sold in pet shops and removes chlorine and other metals/minerals from the water and adds a protective slime coating to the fish.
there are whole kits on sale (tank, filter, hood, etc.) at petco or wal mart sometimes for an average of $25.

Answer 4

Carnival fish could be unlawful. The fish you gained are uncomplicated goldfish, and require a minimum of a thirty gallon aquarium, finished with an extremely useful clear out. setting up an aquarium could continually be executed only before figuring out to purchase a fish. A tank has to cycle earlier ay fish are further to make certain that the water is waiting for them. do not use a bowl! Goldfish produce a great number of waste which turns into ammonia. Ammonia is deadly to fish. In a bowl this ammonia builds up and poisons them. they like larger tanks so as that their waste has room to dilute. Goldfish prefer a clear out to maintain their water sparkling. additionally, goldfish get huge. they are in a position to develop as much as a foot in length. opposite to familiar thought, they don't develop to the dimensions of their ecosystem. Goldfish have a generic lifespan of 20 years. residing in a bowl cuts them right down to months, or at maximum a twelve months. Take the easy way out- locate somebody with a goldfish pond. A pond is nice for those fish.

Answer 5

Our carnival fish always die. Be prepared to do the dead fish-live fish switcheroo at some point. If you have chlorinated tap water you need de-chlorinating drops which you can get at the pet store. Regular goldfish flakes is all he needs to eat. My understanding is that you're not supposed to completely change their water ever because they need the beneficial bacteria. I believe you're only supposed to change half the water whenever it gets cloudy.

Answer 6

I would change the water every day. It would be easier to buy a little aquarium from pet stuff with a filter. You can get one for 20 bucks :)

Answer 7

ours just had babies! we won two, (4 years ago!) if you really want it to live it will require a small tank and air bubbles and a filter. no tap water unless you have a well. if its city water it has chlorine. good luck :)