How to take care of a Goldfish?

[CindyBeth]

My dd won a goldfish at a fair at school. She loves it but this free fish cost us $22 in supplies! I really wish they didn't do that! But that has nothing to do with my question, so how often do you clean the bowl? And how do you clean the bowl? I really am not sure how to take care of the goldfish and really would like any help or tips.

Thanks!

 

[Briar Rose 7457]

my d dwon a goldfish on monday, and the darn thing is still alive. don't ask me how I kept it alive, I couldn't tell you.

 

[one_cat]

A good goldfish will survive almost anything. Make sure you don't get chlorine in the water. change the water weekly or more if you don't have a filter. Clean the fish bowl at the same time. I would just scrub the bowl or maybe use a little bleach.

 

[browneyes]

The best way to make sure a goldfish survives is to keep it far, far away from me. They like to go belly up on me.

 

[Pin Wizard]

I've tried twice without luck. One thing I did find out is DON'T wash the bowl with soap! They may have done it the first time. The pet store sells some kind of salt stuff that you can use with plain water. I think we had to keep them in bottled water. Couldn't use tap.

 

[dandave]

My DS won one. I had to pretend that the darned thing was sleeping, and buy a replacement several times. Then, we got a bottle of Stress Coat. The final fish lived a long time and traveled with us in a plastic container .
DH washed the bowl out once a week. He did use soap, but rinsed it really well. Then we squirted in some stress coat, and we fed it just once a day. I think he lived about a year.

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

I kept one alive for six years, and I've had my current goldfish for about two, so hopefully I can give some advice!

The easiest way to keep the tank clean is to be sure you aren't over-feeding him! They eat very, very little. If there is food left in the bowl 5 minutes after you feed him, take it out.

You can buy a solution to put in the water when you change it that will neutralize any clorine or chemicals in your water. Its about $3 at wal-mart, and lasts forever! I think mine is called AquaSafe- its in a little yellow container.

How big is your bowl/tank? How you will clean it differs depeding on the size. Just be sure that your new water is the same temperature as the old! Goldfish like their water about 70 degrees. If they go from one water temp. to one that's drastically different, they can die, or get a nasty fish disease called ick.

Hope that helps! LMK if you have any questions!

 

[peg2001]

Ummm. . . .do you REALLY want to know? Goldfish can grow to over a foot in length and are very dirty fish. To properly care for a single goldfish long-term, they need at LEAST a 10 gallon tank with a power filter. We started out where you are, with 2 tiny fish won at a fair. We killed off the first batch before we learned what we are doing. We've had our current goldfish for 2 years and they are doing well; one is 6" long already. We also now have 2 other tanks containing tropical fish. It's addictive!

They can live for a short time in a bowl if you keep the water cleaned very regularly, do NOT wash the bowl or the gravel, if you have any (and NEVER use soap). When you do this, you are washing away the good bacteria that helps break down the ammonia in the fish waste. Simply replace the water with treated water. Treat the tap water with a chorine and chloramine remover before use.

Feed once or twice a day, but a very tiny amount and watch to make sure the fish eats it all right away. Feed a variety of foods to make sure the fish gets the proper nutrition.

Check out www.kokosgoldfish.com for basic care requirements. Also, pick up "What a Fish Needs" or something like that at Walmart.

Good luck.
Peggy

 

[patsal]

DD won one at the fair last year. I change the goldfish bowl weekly. I put "flippy" in his "mobile home" filled with water that has set out for at least 48 hours (it removes the chlorine and maintains the same temp. as the fishbowl). I dump the bowl into the "potty" and then rinse it with warm water, I also wipe down the sides with paper towel to pick up any algea that may be present. Refil lthe bowl, dump "flippy" back in, and the fish is good to go for a whole week unless DD decides to feed it with no help!
Feed the fish small amounts a few times per day. If you are going away for an extended period of days purchase some feeder tablets the back of the container will tell you how many to use depending on the number of days you will be away.

 

[mhopset]

Flush it!

 

[helenabear]

Our goldfish lived for 2 years before it died. He would have lived longer but something happened to the a/c while we were moving and the warmer water killed him Most goldfish do better in cooler water (68 or so from what I have read, above 72 can hurt/kill as in my case... but searched based on breed as different ones like the water slightly different... ours really did better in cooler water) and so you won't need a heater (we never used one for ours).

Truthfully I never took him out of the tank (except to move him to bigger tanks) and you can get these pumps that you "suck" on one end and it will suck up the water and the icky waste and you can direct the water into another bucket (a good hint is to use a baster on the one end so you don't have to suck with your mouth). We would do that about every 2 weeks or so and then replace the lost dirty water with fresh water (bought from the store). Honestly our guy also got so HUGE that he was eventually upgraded to a 10 gallon tank with a filtration system. We didn't have to "clean" quite as often with that tank. I did have a scrubber that I used to clean the inside of the tank but I never washed them with soap.

I am sure if it weren't for the stupid A/C deal when we moved, he probably would be with us still and as big as could be!!!

 

[jlaspoq]

How funny to read this post! I JUST finished cleaning Goldie's water!!!!

I think all goldfish are won at a fair - my DD brought hers home from a trip to a fair with a friend! The first week she hugged the bowl because she was so excited to have a pet. (No dogs or cats for us because of allergies!) The fish is a year old now and almost two inches long. (I've heard they grow to fit the tank.)

Anyway, we use a one gallon bowl, not filtered, so I change the water once a week. I never use soap - Once I move the fish to her temporary digs (which I do not set out in advance), then I dump the gross water, use the sprayer in our sink to clean it out, dumping several more times. If it's bad, I've used a turkey baster to suck out the gunk from the gravel - I don't change the gravel. (That would be a fish dedicated turkey baster, not the thanksgiving turkey baster!) I do wipe the inside of the bowl with a paper towel.

I use Start Right to treat the water (from Walmart or Pet Smart), and it works instantly, no waiting. Scoop Goldie back in and clean up!

While I called her Stupid Fish for quite awhile, she is actually the most social fish I've ever seen, and gets quite animated when we're around. Good Luck!

 

[CindyBeth]

Thanks for all the replies! You all have given me quite alot of good info!!! That's so funny about the stupid fish, cuz I've been saying all week, about how our fish is not the smartest fish out there!