do you think my goldfish is sad? :[?

Question

i feel bad for him/her...it...
it just swims around in the same little bowl all day long. it doesnt even have stones or a castle because my mum doesnt like the bother of cleaning them when she cleans the bowl. i guess the answer here is simple, i should clean the bowl myself. and buy something to make my fish's life more exciting.
but don't they only have a 3 second memory?
should i buy it something to put in the bowl?
do goldfish get bored?

and does anyone know how to tell if it's a boy or girl?

oh wait the bowl does have some nice marble like stones. shows how much attention i give my fish

ok I would buy it a friend (it used to have 2 but they died some time ago) but I dont support the captivity and selling of fish. (anymore)

Answer 1

* Learn to clean the bowl & maybe your mom will let you get a tank for your fish! He will love a bigger place to swim! good Luck!*

Answer 2

I believe goldfish do get bored if they have nothing to explore. In their natural environment they have lot's of places to check out. They also like to have some place to hide when they get scared, like a stone or plant.

I personally think that a bowl is way too small for any fish, but I know it can be quite costly to get a tank and it can take up a little bit more room. So if you can't get a small tank, then 1 small goldfish can survive happily in a bowl providing you keep the water clean and don't over feed the fish. I wouldn't recommend getting any more fish, as a bowl is definitely not big enough for more than 1 fish, it would create all kinds of problems and probably end up killing your fish.

When you clean out the bowl, you do not need to clean the ornaments or stones, it is actually better for the fish if you don't, as all the good bacteria that protect the fish against all the toxins (like poop, uneaten food, etc) build up on these.

The 3 second memory thing has actually been proven to be a myth, take a look at this: http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AtxUEBqhWNxpwa3PxdvsdWVJBgx.;_ylv=3?qid=20070818160846AA2DtK0

So my advice would be if you have to keep the fish in a bowl, at least get some proper gravel in the bottom, those glass marble things are not very good for your fish as they reflect the light and glare, shining a bright light into your fishes eyes. Also get a small bridge or castle like ornament that they can swim through and a small plant they can explore and hide behind if they want.

Then you not only have a bowl that looks pretty, your fish will be much happier too :-)

Answer 3

I would say if it on it's own then yes, it probably is bored. Get some form of ornament, nothing big, just something nice and small that won't take much cleaning. Also get another fish or 2, fish like being with other fish because they can relate to being in a school. And finally, no, fish don't have 3 second memories. It has been proven that a fish can memorise and navigate a simple maze and can remember it for weeks

Answer 4

The intelligence of fish is often under-estimated. How intelligent they really are is not known, but the cuttlefish has been shown to possess intelligence equivalent to a small mammal such as a mouse or vole.

The first thing is to replace the bowl, which is NOT suitable for fish, with a proper fish tank: make sure you introduce it to the new water slowly; a goldfish will adapt quickly but you should place it in a bag of it's old water into the new water and leave for a couple of hours until it adjusts to the temperature.

Put real plants and gravel in the tank and clean it regularly. Also try feeding it cucumber - many fish like nibbling on it.

Answer 5

Bored stiff. I keep goldfish in a pond in my mum's garden. When I put them in they went nuts swimming around and exploring their new home. They had been kept in a small crowded barrel thing at the shop. If a goldfish could be excited, they looked it.

I also keep tropical fish in a big 3 foot tank. They have lots of places to go and lurk. I think they are quite happy. Bowls are sad. Usually they are too small for more than one fish.

Answer 6

Fish do NOT have a 3 second memory... Or how else would they remember that people are good, people are the ones who feed them. Of course it's sad! Fish feel pain and happiness just like any other pet!

Actually, fish can be trained. Whenever I feed them, I turn the light on. Now, whenever I turn on the light, they come up to the surface!

Get him/her a fish buddy so they can swim around together and chase each other around. Also, get a 10 gallon (bowls are like Goldfish Hell). Buy them some decorations.

If it's your fish, you should take care of it. Fish have lives just like cats and dogs! Think about it this way. On land, we humans treat dogs and cats like royalty but leave fish in filthy tanks. Mermaids (if they exist) treat fish like royalty but leave cats and dogs in horrible cramped conditions.

Answer 7

You have a goldfish in a bowl?
Well, the first thing that worries me is that your goldfish doesn't have enough room to swim around. I would suggest that you get a 10 gallon tank or bigger. If you buy a 10 gallon tank, you can probably place only 2-3 goldfish because they grow really big.

Answer 8

You can tell it's a boy if he develops white spots on his gill covers in the mating season.

(NOT to be confused with White Spot, which covers fins and body and is a parasite).

And yes, goldfish need to have an enriched environment.

Basically the closer you can match the natural surrounding he would have in the wild, the happier he will be.

He needs:
1) a bigger tank to swim in with proper filter/aeration pump;
2) fresh water plants such as pondweed;
3) gravel to cover the bottom (that's essential)
4) places in the tank where he can hide
5) a companion.

You should be able to get him No. 2), 3) and 4) straight away and you can look into getting the other things in the near future.

(By the way my goldfish are tame and come up to eat from my hand. How could they do that if they couldn't remember me from one day to the next?)

Best wishes
chirpy

Answer 9

Goldfish do have a three second memory, so each turn he takes around that bowl is like the very first time he's seen it. I have beta fish and I bought them fresh water sea grass and some water snails that help keep the tank clean longer. They each have a castle (I have three in separate bowls) or a sculpture of some kind....

Anyway, the problem with having fish as pets is that they are not very interactive. You can't pet them, teach them tricks, or play with them. My betas are fun because they DO learn tricks.

Enjoy your fish. With a clean tank and regular food, I'm sure he's very happy!

Answer 10

First, you should clean the bowl every 2 1/2 seconds so your fish will always remember how sweet you are
Second, if your fish has a toilet, let the seat up, if the fish bitches like crazy, it's a girl fish.Throw a miniature remote in the bowl, if the fish rushes it, then it's a boy.

Answer 11

With a three second memory it would be hard to get bored. I do think you should learn to clean the bowl yourself. Don't leave everything to mom. If you put it in an aquarium with good filters, you wouldn't have to change the water very often. You could set up the aquarium to look nice and you wouldn't feel guilty.