My friend put 4 goldfish in a 1-gallon bowl!?

Question

Help! I know it is completely TERRIBLE! That is so mean for the poor fish! Her dad said "Get atleast 3 fish" but he know nothing about fish!!!! Help!!!! What should I tell her? She won't listen to me!?

Answer 1

the first thing you need to tell her is that the fish are going to die if you keep them in the bowl. they need water that is filtered and has air moving around.

the second thing you need to tell her is that you need one gallon of water for every one inch of fish. so, if all of her fish are one inches, then she would need four gallons. also, she needs to take into consideration that these fish will grow (although if they remain in a bowl, they won't have time to grow since they will most likely die). so, if they are goldfish and each fish is supposed to grow to be three inches, then she should accomodate for four 3-inch fish, or 12 inches of fish -- so she would need 12 gallons of water.

if she were to buy a 10 gallon tank and put a filter and heater in there (kept around 75 degrees Farenheit) she should also get an air stone which will keep the water filled with oxygen. her 4 fish should be fine in a 10 gallon, as long as she doesn't have too many decorations in it.

Answer 2

Ok i agree with everyone let her learn her lesson, because if she won't listen she won't listen!

now BEFORE anyone else tries to give the 1 inch per gallon rule, i would like to say that this is wrong!!!!!!
The 1 inch per gallon rule is based on the Adult size of the fish and cannot be applied to goldfish or all fish for that matter! Goldfish produce too much waste and are more robust than your typical neon tetra or cardinal. one inch of goldfish is bigger than one inch of neon tetra. Please stop using the one inch per gallon method. It doesn't help. You have to look at the fish's adult size, their body shape/size, bioload and temperment to figure out how many fish you can fit in your tank. (by the way 10 one inch dwarf puffers cannot be put in a 10 gallon tank, they'll all simply rip each other to shreds). Do your research and give your friend a link to all these forums and sites so that she can at least be exposed to some kind of truth.

Good Luck!!

Answer 3

The rule of thumb for beginning aquarists IS 1" of fish per gallon of water, but you first have to calculate what the fish's ADULT SIZE will be. That's because long before the fish gets to that size, they will put out nearly as much waste as they would as an adult.

No goldfish should EVER be kept in a one gallon bowl. With goldfish, because they grow to be at least a foot, sometimes even two feet in length, the MINIMUM tank size for ONE is ten gallons, and twenty is better! Show your friend the site I'm posting below. Maybe that will help. Otherwise, prepare her to watch her fish die.

Answer 4

Tell him the gourami needs heated water and will grow to 6 inches. Then tell him the goldfish will grow to two feet long. Will need a 90 gallon tank. Will need double filtering with bi-weekly 15% water changes. Triple aeration. Water can't go over 74F. Summer just shut up. Please. Thanks. Bettas need at LEAST a 5 gallon tank. Heated and filtered. Guppies need a ten gallon tank and a group of 3 minimum. Heated and filtered. Gourami and Goldfish can't even go together because they're two different fish completely. One will eat the other. One needs WAY different water conditions. Just NO.

Answer 5

Get 3 more 1 gallon bowls. Or at least a 10 gallon tank. Or prepare to flush. 4 fish will never survive in that bowl. The ammonia build up will kill them within 72 hours. Sorry.

Answer 6

Rule of thumb for aquarium size and fish.

1 inch of fish per 1 gallon of water.

Now the thing with the gold fish, they'll grow so you've got to take into account there going to grow too.

Your friend for the amount of fish she has right now 4 you said, she's needs to have them in a 10 gallon tank!

Tell your friend this....take the goldfish back if she doesn't want to get anything bigger than a 1 gallon bowl and to get herself 1 male betta by itself. She will need to change the water in the tank about once or twice a week..........they are very clean fish.

Also tell her from someone who knows this first hand.........no matter what size aquarium you get gold fish are very dirty fish and theres alot of maintance with gold fish because of it.

Tell her 1 male betta is her best bet in a gallon aquarium or get a much bigger one for the goldfish. Good Luck and I hope she listens to reason.

By the way, your a good friend and she should listen to you..........thats what friends are suppose to do.........isn't it!

Answer 7

I used to have three goldfish in a 1-gallon bowl. They did survive for about six months. I bought them in January and two of them died in July, while I was just about to buy them a new tank. Now I have a ten gallon with two fish in it (I bought a new one because my remaining one looked lonely)

So don't give up hope. as long as your friend keeps their water clean, they can survive for quite a long time. You do have time to convince her that she is wrong, they won't die tomorrow, like some people are saying.

Answer 8

Buy her a ten gallon tank as a surprise. then take a net and transform the fish into the bigger tank and adjust the filtration and tell her that if she wouldn't have listened to you they would be dead by now. or if she is that stubborn, let her learn it the hard way.

Answer 9

I agree with MM, but a few things you can:

ask he how she would feel if someone insisted keeping her in a closet with four other people and no toilet. YUCK!

inform her of how big they'll get, and how long they're supposed to live (yeah, so if they live a year or even a couple years in her bowl and she's proud, inform her they're supposed to live around 20yrs):
if they're common/slim bodied goldfish (kind given away at fairs) they're get around 12" to 24" they should be in a pond really, but shouldn't be in anything less than 100gallons for 4 of them.

if they're fancy/round bodied goldfish (orandas and such) they get around 8" to 12" and need at least 10gallons each.

goldfish are high ammonia producers, so they'll probably die fairly quickly, but if they do manage to survive long enough they will get stunted. think of the girls who had their feet bound in China, its like that except with their whole bodies. the outside stops growing but all the organs continue to grow until the fish dies a painful; slow death.

last but no least show her some pages:
http://www.animalfreedom.org/english/information/goldfishbowl.html
http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/care.html

Answer 10

Yeah, they need at least a gallon a piece and need moving water with a good filtration system. She'll realize soon that's she's made a mistake when they die if she won't listen to you.

In the mean time, the water will need to be changed about twice a day or they'll die of suffocation or poisoning from their own waste.