Goldfish hell?

Question

Years ago I had tropical fish, they were a proper ballache - testing water, adding fish one by one, checking the temperature, waking up to 12 dead fish floating at the top etc.

My son has been mithering me for a goldfish for a long time now, he has saved up his pocket money so I think he should have one.

Anyway I went today to buy a £3.99 tank and a couple of goldfish, you wouldn't believe what they wanted me to buy!..This is pets at home by the way .....
Water treatment (£4.99), stress coat (£5.99), water tester (£18.99)
and a load of other gubbins, basically everything you need to own tropical fish. The goldfish themselves cost £1.25 each for god's sake! So I told the guy I'd changed my mind, then sneaked back in and bought the tank and an all-in-one water treatment thing, I thought I'd go to a wee pet shop to buy the pigging fish another day.

Am I evil to not buy all that stuff? What happened to bringing a fish home in a bag and plonking it in a bowl?

It's not that I wish harm to a living creature Nunya Biznis, that is a tad dramatic, I adore all animals, I just didn't feel it was necessary to buy all that when we managed perfectly well without it as children and the other answers seem to back me up.
Good tips from the rest of you, thanks = D

Answer 1

Dear Fairy Nuff
I have been in the pet buisness for over 11 years and fish are my specialty. Are you evil to not buy all that stuff??? No! It sounds like you felt someone was trying to take you for a lot of money.
It appers that you do not live in the usa if that is so i don't know how the water is where you are. The fish will do better in an aquarium then a bowl. I would reccomend a Filter ( this will help keep the tank clean and make less work) Water Conditioner ( if you have chlorine and heavy metals this will help) Test kit ( to keep ontop of nitrite and nitrate but also see where the Ph is.) I reccomend testing before buying chemicals. Why buy stuff you don't need. If you need to adjust then go for it. Then of course any decorations, gravel etc that you would like. Doing a water change every 2 weeks 25% will help keep your work down and keep the tank healthy. Most of the time keeping maintenance down to 15 min every two weeks instead of a whole afternoon.
Yes the goldfish may cost 1.25 but when you end up losing the fish and you keep buying them, or it deters you and your son for enjoying what can be a great hobbie, then you have wasted more money then if you baught some of the items.
I'm not saying buy everything they recommend, but some of the items can save your son from seeing the 12 belly up fish.
I mean no disrespect in what i say. I admire you asking. If you would like to ask me some questions i would be willing to help you figure out what is REALLY needed and what isn't. my email is [e-mail]

Answer 2

No you don't need to buy all that stuff, but if your all in one water treatment didn't de-chlorinate your water then you must wait at least 24 hours so the chlorine that water companies use to sterilise our tap water has a chance to evaporate out.

I keep tropical fish and I just have a test kit (you don't really need this for a goldfish bowl) and a tap-safe water treatment. You don't really need stress coat unless you keep marine fish.

Goldfish are a carp, they grow very large and will outgrow a £3.99 tank in a year so don't get more than 2. When you get them home float the bag in the top of the tank for 15 mins to even out the temperature between the water, then open the bag and let in some of the tank water, do this again after 15 mins and again after another 15 mins. This is important as it helps to get the fish used to your tank water which will be a bit different from the pet shop water - otherwise they often die within 48 hours from the stress of being "plonked in a bowl".

Luckily as goldfish are carp they are tolerant of still water with low oxygen, but as they get bigger you may need to buy an air pump.

You probably know most of this already but I hope this answers your question, good luck.

Answer 3

So much crap, this is the reason i was taking a break from this blasted site.

First, YOU CANNOT PLONK A GOLDFISH IN A BOWL. All goldfish grow to be 12-14 inches and and to keep a goldfish you need a BIG tank, alot of filtration, water conditioner to remove chlorine and chloramines, a gravel vacume to clean the fish crap and food from the gravel, and water test kits for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and ph. A tank that only costs 3.99 euros is TOO SMALL for even a single goldfish. A baby-juvenile fancy goldfish needs 38 litres per goldfish(ryukins, fantails, orandas, black moors, lionheads, ect), baby-juvenil long bodied goldfish needs 76 litres per goldfish (comets, commons, shubunkins). Adults need atleast 208 litres per fish. Goldfish NEED a high amount of dissolved oxygen because they have primitive gills. Wich is why they do better in colder water. Cold water holds more dissolved oxygen then warm water. Filters not only help clean water, they also aerate the water. Plus goldfish are extremely dirty fish.

By not keeping the fish properly, you are teaching your kid that fish are disposible commodities. Its animal cruelty plain and simple. Just because an animal is cheap, does not mean you can give it the most crappiest care ever.

Answer 4

It's not the fish that need looking after, it's the water. You can't just plonk a goldfish in a cramped little bowl, it's cruel. Fish breathe through absorbing oxygen through the water they suck through their gills. If the water isn't filtered and aerated, the oxygen will dissipate and carbon dioxide will take over, effectively suffocating the fish and making them gulp at the surface.
Fish get stressed by being moved, transported, put in different water, changes in temperature etc, so you do need all the treatments for the water.
Good fishkeepers take care of the water, the fish then look after themselves, except for a bit of food of course.

Answer 5

Pigging fish, remind me, what do they look like! lol

I wouldn't bother with the water tester but I would with the water treatment and the stress coat, and also aquarium salt and you should also consider getting some sort of filter, which helps keep the water fresh so you don't have to change it every other day without it stinking the house out, but also helps oxygenate the water.

Starting up a fish tank isn't cheap, have you tried looking in your local paper for anyone selling the stuff. It's one of those hobbies that people tend to bore of quite quickly after their first attempt at keeping fish fails and they all die.

Answer 6

Yes you are. If you don't want to properly take care of a living creature then you shouldn't buy it. They need a tank of at least 10 gallons for each fish, a good filter, food, water conditioner and yes even that test kit so you can test your water while you are going through the cycle that kills many fish.

How long did your fish live when you were a kid? Goldfish should live for 20+ years, I highly doubt yours were even close to that. I'm also sure they weren't even close to the 8-12 inches that they become.

Answer 7

As an atheist, since I do not believe in any God, I do not believe in a heaven or a hell beyond what we make of our life here on earth. So as far as I am concerned your child is in no danger of being tortured for eternity for killing a fish. In your faith as a Christian the teachings about how forgiveness for sin even extends to crimes like adultery or rape or murder, are pretty basic and should be known by most of the people of your religion. I have to wonder if you are maybe just a troll and making this story up since you claim that you do not know this. I mean why did you not just ask your pastor or priest? It seems a little unlikely to me because even I know this stuff and I am an atheist. That having been said, I think that you need to determine at this point if your daughter is seriously below average intelligence. If she is then she may not understand the consequences of her actions and in that case you need to determine if she has a learning disability. At 10 years of age a normal child should be able to exhibit normal empathy and compassion and should understand that living creatures have the ability to feel pain. If your daughter is smart enough to understand what she did -and- knew it was wrong but she is still cruel enough to cook an animal while it is alive, then she should be punished. Obviously you have not raised her to be as "good" or as "Christian" as you believe in that case, and you need to reinforce her understanding of the standards of behavior which are currently acceptable in our society. Her action is very similar to that of a 16 year old who was sent to jail for 8 months for microwaving a kitten. A few years ago there was also a case involving a 15 year old who was convicted of murdering an infant sibling which resulted in the teen being sentenced as an adult. Since in a few years your daughter could face very serious consequences for similar actions you should not just dismiss this matter as just "playing and things got out of hand"... It is your responsibility as a parent to teach her that this is not just a joke. You may also be wise to establish whether or not your child has other psychiatric issues, her lack of empathy has disturbing implications and may be an early indication of a deeper clinical mental illness.

Answer 8

You aren't evil, just uneducated about proper care of any fish. Goldfish basically need everything tropical freshwater fish do, with the exception of a heater. The following things are NECESSARY for the long-term care of a goldfish:

- Large tank, at least 60 gallons. Why so large? Well, because goldfish are large fish. They will easily reach one foot in length if cared for properly. The reason why all these people are on here saying "mine lived in a bowl for two years lol" is because they do not realize that the normal lifespan for a goldfish is 20-30 years. Thus, when people brag about their goldfish that lived for a few years in a bowl, they are basically bragging about how they slowly killed a baby (yes, baby) fish by taking improper care of it.

- A powerful filter. Let's face it, goldfish are not the cleanest fish in the hobby. I like to think of them as aquatic pigs in a way... They eat all the time and root around in the substrate, much like their terrestrial "counterparts". Because of this, more time needs to be spent keeping their environment clean than when keeping tropical fish. Sure, they can survive for short periods of time (i.e. a few years) in small, filthy environments, so can pigs. But does that mean that the animals like this abuse and they should be kept that way? Certainly not. Goldfish (and pigs) like clean environments and room to roam just as much as any other animal.

- Dechlorinator. Nearly all tapwater today contains chlorine, chloramine, and heavy metal ions that are added to kill bacteria. They are also harmful to fish, and can cause the fish not only discomfort, but actual physical harm (such as damaged gills) if they are exposed to these chemicals over a long period of time. Some species will keel over immediately when exposed to even small amounts of these toxins.

- Regular tank maintenance. This is arguably the most important thing you can do for a fish tank. Goldfish tanks will need to have 30% of their water changed out and replaced on a WEEKLY basis, even moreso if the nitrates are above 30 parts per million. Additionally, the filter will need to be cleaned out once a month or whenever the flow slows down, because if it is not cleaned often enough, it can begin to leach toxins back into the water. Regular, weekly tank maintenance is absolutely necessary. There is no way to get around it, no machine or fish that will clean the tank for you. In fact, many so-called "cleaner fish" actually produce an exceptionally large amount of waste for their body size, causing the tank to get even dirtier.

Even though goldfish are quite possibly the least expensive fish (because they are bred in bulk for the sole purpose of being fed to other fish), they are not easy fish to care for. And by "care for", I am referring to proper care of the species, not the blatant abuse they are commonly exposed to by being put in bowls or small tanks. These are certainly not beginners' fish, and one should not attempt to keep goldfish until they are certain they will be able to provide a spacious, clean environment for the entirety of the species' decades-long lifespan.

Please return your goldfish to the store and visit some websites/read some books about the proper care of aquarium fish, for the sake of the fish themselves. Before purchasing any pet, you need to have done the proper research and made sure you can take good care of the animal. The only commonly available fish that can just be "plunked" in a bowl is the Betta, and even this isn't an ideal habitat for them. Still, it is much less cruel than keeping a goldfish in a small container.

Answer 9

all you need for goldfish is a tank cold water some gravel in the bottom and a cheap filter if you dont want to change the water to often. my kids have had 4 fish for years. sometimes the water gets that dirty you can only see the fish if they come within an inch of the glass. all that flashy stuff isnt needed these little suckers are bullet proof. hope this helps

Answer 10

You should see my cabinet... it has more medicine on it than the local walgreens..... but you only need all that if your keeping a big tank....

goldfish are very hardy fish... the only thing you need to do is to declorinate the water,,, one bottle of water conditioner is good enough, its like $4.00 and it will last you for every time you change the water.....

best wishes to your kid... hope he enjoys the fish