Budget Buster: Goldfish & Goldfish Bowls, UPDATE

[OceanAnnie]

Why did I get the goldfish? Why, why, why??? I bought 2 for a large glass bowl. Big mistake. I guess I had memories of having them myself. Have they changed?! I was discouraged and told to get a beta fish, but the kids and I talked about getting goldfish and that's what we got. I fully planned to change the bowl often, 5-7 days. One day later, it looks like the bowl needs changing! One day!!!! Oh man.

So I'm feverishly looking into a smallish tank with a filter. I can't keep up with changing a bowl everyday!!

Anyone have suggestions for the best and cheapest tank for these goldfish? I'm going to clean their home tonight and hopefully run out and get them an new one. I didn't know what I signed up for! Ugh.

 

[solfan68]

Ok, Annie... The bad news, goldfish are notoriously dirty critters. A bowl really isn't the best way to care for them. You probably want to look at a small bow aquarium like this one. Filter is good, some kind of bubbling apparatus to add oxygen is also helpful.

When we had one in our workplace with about four neon tetras, we changed about half the water every two weeks. Its important not to swap out all of the water, as good bacteria builds up in the gravel/sand and helps to maintain the fish's health. Fish are fun, to be certain. But not the cheapest of hobbies. Good luck with Nemo and friends.

 

[OceanAnnie]

Thanks, solfan68. It only took one day to find out that goldfish and goldfish bowls are not the way to go. Darn. I think the goldfish bowls are a misnomer.

Thanks for the link. It looks like a good kit.

 

[jessica52877]

I also learned that after going to a county fair and coming how with a won goldfish. I thought the bowl was cute. After thinking it was pretty gross and the fish not looking so happy the next day I read up on them!

 

[pixiewings71]

Ya bowls aren't good for any fish. You should get a small tank with a filter and use that. I've got a 75 gallon planted freshwater and a 75 gallon saltwater reef tank at home. They are at the point where they need very little care and they are gorgeous. I love our fishies and friends. And yes, we have a Nemo and a purple Bubbles in our saltwater tank.

 

[fakereadhed]

DD brought one home from science class last spring. Was not too happy with the science teacher! Dug our old goldfish bowl out of storage and tossed him in. We only clean it once a week. He is still going strong and the bowl is clear. The key is to put some glass pebbles(dollar tree) in the bottom as they are easy to rinse off, and not to overfeed the goldfish.

 

[OceanAnnie]

The goldfish (2) are on the large size. Twice the output. I would have been fine with changing the water once a week. But it's not going to work out that way with the 2. Ugh.

 

[poohs_hunny]

I bought this tank for my classroom http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3635102 . I got 3 goldfish back in the summer of '07. One died the following summer, and another last summer. I still have one left. Even with the filter, I change half the water once a week and all water once a month when changing the filter. Filters aren't particularly cheap either! I am getting tired of the routine. I figured this last goldfish doesn't have long left. Then another teacher asked me to "fish-sit" over Christmas break since she was having a problem with her tank and she had one lone survivor. Now we've officially adopted this fish, so it looks like I won't be done with fish anytime soon. Good luck!

 

[kim929]

For my dd sweet 16 party, we were going to get goldfish and put them in the bowl as the center peice, the guy at the pet place told us they were not to be kept in the bowl goldfish had to have a tank. So we bought the beta fish. They are very easy to care for. We bought the food to so if someone took one home, they were all set. Good luck with the fish, I can honestly say, I've never been able to keep fish for long, they always died within a week. (so far the beta my dd kept is doing well)

 

[Pembo]

We've had a goldfish in a bowl, wo filter, for going on 8 years. The darn thing won't die. We forget to feed it, don't change the water until it's half empty and Flippy keeps on swimming. If the water is getting dirty that fast, you are feeding it too much and too often. They don't need much to eat. I think dh changes the bowl every 2 weeks?!

BTW-We got our fish at Goldfish Day at the Pool. The pool we belonged to lowered the chlorine, dumped goldfish in the pool and the kids jumped in to get them out. DD was 2 days old and DH took our boys, then 6 & 3. One fish died within a week (he came from the kiddie pool), Flippy is still swimming. Grandma insisted on buying gravel and a bowl....7.5 years later we are still using it. I just wanted to keep them in a plastic container, I never thought it would live.

 

[Coll0610]

We had one growing up that wouldn't die either. We didn't feed it for a few days and it got bigger. We didn't clean the bowl until you literally couldn't see through it and it still lived. Grandma was babysitting one time and she changed the water. We noticed the fish was going crazy and when we checked, we realized that the water she had used was too hot. So we swapped it for very cold water. The darn fish survived that too. I don't remember how long it lived, but it was YEARS.

 

[Samar]

LOL We won a free goldfish, bought an small bowl and food, and it died the next morning. The pet store lady gave us a betta for free and swapped the food for free. I guess she didn't want us coming in day after day to replace the fish with DD running the waterworks. lol I think we've had the betta for like 2 months, he eats little, takes up very little space and he's a feisty thing. He's like a dog. He sees me walk into the room in the afternoon and goes crazy for food time

 

[PHXscuba]

We too are the proud owners of the llittle carnival goldfish (50-cent ticket). DD7 was so excited. I told her if it lived through the weekend we'd buy a tank. That was three months and $40 ago! We have a 1.5-gallon tank (bought a pal DD10 for it too) and change the water every two weeks.

I didn't know that about not changing all the water -- it always looks so gross by then I figured it would be better to get rid of the muck on the bottom.

DS13 has a turtle and a 20 gallon aquarium, but he cleans it himself.

PHXscuba

 

[torinsmom]

The pet store guy told me goldfish need a tank with a filter and that even 2 would be pushing it in a 10 gallon tank. They grow fast and are nasty, I guess. He suggested a beta, and even though the kids had voted on a goldfish this time, I followed his advice. We have our beta in a 10 gallon tank with no filter and he is good for 2 months most of the time. Betas are very hard to kill too. I did kill one when I didn't treat the water, but that is b/c someone told me leaving the water to sit overnight gets rid of the bad chemicals.

 

[2Eskiedogs]

We bought our 10 gal. aquarium at a garage sale for just a couple of dollars. That being said, we've never had any luck keeping fish alive. We could buy the same fish that were in the tank together at the pet store, only to have one kill the other by next morning. The first couple of fish, they replaced for free, after that I think I spent a small fortune on them.

My sister in law has a goldfish in a bowl and a betta in a bowl, both are over several years old.

When the kids want fish again, I'm sure will try again.

I would try a Goodwill store too, they might have some that were turned in. Otherwise I thought Petsmart had an inexpensive 10 gal tank.

 

[dawson5]

Our last finish died about two weeks ago. We're done with fish for now. If you are nearby, you are more than welcome to a 10 gal tank & stand. Need a new filter.

We had a goldfish live probably close to 10 yrs. He was a good sized fish. I was in the same position as you, kept cleaning the tank, changing water, etc. It never seemed to stay clean. I thought it was my water, my filter, anything/everything. Tested the water with a ph kit, nothing helped. I went into the pet shop and spoke with the guy there. He told me that goldfish are "pigs." He said feed him once a week. When I started doing that, the tank finally looked clean for a long time with the use of a filter.

From what we were told, the goldfish will only grow to the size of his tank. If you get a large tank, be prepared for them to grow. When Fishy died, he was probably as long as my hand, we had two other fish in there with him (a beta and a silver thing that just finally died).

With the filter, just a word of caution. I never had a problem with them not working, didn't seem like one brand was any better than another. What killed ours was when the power went out. If I didn't remember to unplug the filter, when the power started up, the filter was dry, and if you didn't catch it right away (or weren't home) they ran dry and burned up the motor. Actually if you are nearby, I have packages of filters for various brands, more than welcome to them.

As one of the pp's mentioned, those glass rocks are great. Don't get the little stones. We had that, never thought of cleaning it out and what to do with it. Biggest pain in the behind. I think you can get those glass pieces at the dollar store.

 

[elcodfish]

a snail or bottom feeder can really help with upkeep and you can even get a small vaccuum to help. My sister got a fish at the local fair, and it is almost 2 years old.

 

[OceanAnnie]

Thank you all for your input! I really appreciate it. I changed the water. I used the tablets, (which I need to buy more of) and let the water sit overnight so it would be room temperature when I transferred the fish. They seem okay.

I'm going to look for a medium sized tank (one I can lift) with a filter at a thrift store. I have priced the tanks and they run around $40 ish. That's more than I want to spend. I hate the thoughts of sinking a ton of money on the fish. We already spent quite a bit. The fish only cost a grand total of .54! We spent over $25 for all of the stuff for them. Inside I was laughing through the tears. I mean, how crazy is that?! I did end up taking some of the stuff (unopened) back. That stuff really adds up.

I guess the water chemistry has changed over the years. I'm almost certain we just let the water sit overnight and deposited the fish. I don't remember buying any special tablets.

Anyway, I do plan to get the glass pebble things at the Dollar store. I had bought the gravel, but returned that unopened. I thought I'd see how hard cleaning the bowl would be. I'm bleaching out the sinks I used during cleaning/transfer now. What a mess!

Okay. No more complaining. I'm going to solve this problem in a budget minded way! Any more suggestions? I'm all ears!

Thanks again, everyone!

ETA- I did ask for a snail. The pet store was all out!

 

[dawson5]

what does the tablet do? I never used one. I thought as long as you used some of the water that they were in when you transferred, all would be okay. I thought that was the only thing we did.

A 10gal tank at walmart should be under $20. (I think more like $10) The filter should run around $20.

 

[4Seasons]

Nothing to add about care that hasn't already been said, but this reminded me of our purchase last summer of a cute $5 baby turtle (red eared slider) at a flea market in South Carolina. He's cute as can be but he has turned into a money pit!