Mary the goldfish..

[*Fantasia*]

I guess my daughter's goldfish likes her plants set in the aquarium a certain way. Whenever we clean the tank, we pretty much put the plants at the same place. For some reason, everday, the plants keep getting pushed on one side of the tank. and this is not the first time it happened. So right now all the plants are on the right side of the tank. I think maybe next time, I will just plant all of them on that side. Now let's see if this time "Mary" is going to push it to the left side of the tank.

 

[Nomi]

Are these real plants or plastic plants?

Goldfish are notorious uprooters of plants. Often goldfish will eat any plant placed in the tank (there are many aquatic plants that are completly compatable with goldfish and not all goldfish will be plant eaters). Even if they do not eat the plants, they still like to play with them (which it sounds like Mary is doing).

Have fun with your experiment!

 

[*Fantasia*]

Are these real plants or plastic plants?

Goldfish are notorious uprooters of plants. Often goldfish will eat any plant placed in the tank (there are many aquatic plants that are completly compatable with goldfish and not all goldfish will be plant eaters). Even if they do not eat the plants, they still like to play with them (which it sounds like Mary is doing).

Have fun with your experiment!

Ahhh... Thanks Nomi.. The plant is actually plastic. Hmmm.. maybe I should buy real plants. I didn't think fish play. She always seem to be hungry. I heard that if you give too much food, their intestine can blow up, is this true? Hehehe.. It sounds kind of funny.. "blow up."

 

[Nomi]

Ahhh... Thanks Nomi.. The plant is actually plastic. Hmmm.. maybe I should buy real plants. I didn't think fish play. She always seem to be hungry. I heard that if you give too much food, their intestine can blow up, is this true? Hehehe.. It sounds kind of funny.. "blow up."

Real plants are very nice, and can help to keep your tank levels good, but they can be a bit of work. If you really want some, look into it for sure! Just make sure they are real aquatic plants and not terrestial (which are sometimes sold at pet stores as aquatic) as those will decompose in the tank.

Yup, goldfish play (to an extent). They do need some form of stimulation, in the form of other fish (as long as you have a big enough tank), decor, bubbles or a variety in food. They are certanly not geniuses of the animal kingdom, but they are not nearly as dim-wited as peoploe have previously thought.


What happens when you feed a fish too much is it will get constipated and develop swim bladder issues (which can often be fixed by fasting the fish for a few days/feeding them with a pea/half a pea once a day for a while. Goldfish (like my dog) will eat whatever they can get and never stop begging for food, so many well meaning keepers feed them too often (it is hard to resist the weird but cute little faces). In some cases when a goldfish eats to must its intestines can rupture, yes. Unfortunatly, this is fatal to the fish. A good rule of thumb is to feed only the amount your fish can eat in a minute.

 

[*Fantasia*]

Thanks Nomi for the tips. I will look into buying real plants and make sure it's safe for the fish and okay for the tank.

I guess I need to pay close attention to how much he can really eat in a minute. I give him a good pinch of food X3 a day... breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I feel like he is always hungry cause she goes down and start sucking on those gravels and spits them out, and then she would go up and starts bouncing with her mouth open. Honestly, she looks like she is about to jump out of the tank or like she is trying to catch some fresh air or something.. Kind of weird.. but then again, we never had a goldfish before.

 

[flying_babyb]

So how hard is it to keep a goldfish? I hear there dirty fish. I want to get get a fish, was thinking goldfish or beta since we have both at work and I havent managed to kill any of then except accidently (who know they would jump down the drain).

 

[bigmerle1966]

They are certanly not geniuses of the animal kingdom, but they are not nearly as dim-wited as peoploe have previously thought.

Too true. I have two and the minute they see movement in the room they come to the corner of the tank and swim up and down. If I stand in front of it they will swim directly under the door and stay there until I feed them or move away.

Most days I only feed mine once and alternate the food I give them.

 

[bigmerle1966]

So how hard is it to keep a goldfish? I hear there dirty fish. I want to get get a fish, was thinking goldfish or beta since we have both at work and I havent managed to kill any of then except accidently (who know they would jump down the drain).

I think with any fish it is hit or miss. I have two now and have had three others die.

I call Goldy the $60 goldfish, he's the one that started the whole thing. Went to the County Fair on August 8th and paid $5 for my neices to throw ping pong balls at glass goldfish bowls. Then, because my sister didn't want to have to have a 2nd tank I ended up spending another almost $60 to get a tank, gravel, food and two more fish.

Those two fish died pretty quickly. A month or so later I got two more, one died within a week and Lunch is still alive. He and Goldy are still going strong. Someone said that Goldy was strong cause he's a Carny fish.

 

[Cindy B]

I had a goldfish that got renamed to Rasputin. If you know Russian history, this was a man that despite many attempts, he would never die.

Rasputin (the fish) never DIED despite some accidents. First this fish survived a MOVE from one state to another, then a new tank, and then one time the water froze up, and another time the automatic feeder broke and all the food came out at once.

Rasputin never died with all these mishaps. Rasputin finally died one day about 4 years later -- I guess from old age.

 

[Keira1387]

Be careful with those carny goldfish! I had one that lasted a year!

 

[flying_babyb]

Longest lasting fish I had was bosco the bottom feeder. He lived 5 years, survived two moves and finally just bit the big one. God did I cry.

 

[allison443]

My dd has a goldfish that is six years old! She got it in first grade when her brownie troop went on a tour of the Petsmart pet store. They learned about the different animals, feeding habits, pet care, and at the end the manager gave each girl a "free" goldfish in a plastic bag! Of course all the parents had to buy a bowl, food, etc.

Anyway we never thought that fish would last! I didn't even know they could live that long! It now has a nice big tank with a filter. Does anyone know the lifespan?

 

[JR6ooo4]

We had a turtle that moved all the shiny glass rocks to a pile. Every time we cleaned the tank. SOmetimes they would be sorted into piles by individual color.

and it was always at night. never when we were watching. Hehehehhee

Mikeeee

 

[Nomi]

Thanks Nomi for the tips. I will look into buying real plants and make sure it's safe for the fish and okay for the tank.

I guess I need to pay close attention to how much he can really eat in a minute. I give him a good pinch of food X3 a day... breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I feel like he is always hungry cause she goes down and start sucking on those gravels and spits them out, and then she would go up and starts bouncing with her mouth open. Honestly, she looks like she is about to jump out of the tank or like she is trying to catch some fresh air or something.. Kind of weird.. but then again, we never had a goldfish before.

Generally goldfish should really only be fed once a day, depending on how much you feed them at once. Sounds like you have a beggar on your hands!

Ok, I'm going to try to answer all the goldfish related questions I see here. (I don't know how to get multiple quotes into one post so please excuse me).

 

[Nomi]

So how hard is it to keep a goldfish? I hear there dirty fish. I want to get get a fish, was thinking goldfish or beta since we have both at work and I havent managed to kill any of then except accidently (who know they would jump down the drain).

Goldfish are, I would say, an intermediate-beginner fish. They are no more dirty than any other fish their size (as the adult size of goldfish is generally 5-10 inches for fancy goldfish, 10+inches for single tailed goldfish). They are, however, often kept in bowls or way too small tanks and fed too much, which leads to stunting and the myth that they are dirty/only live for a short while. They are not especially hard to take care of, but for someone who has never had fish before suddenly learning about all the types of filters and food, the nitrogen cycle, diseases, parasites, medication, ect... it can be a little overwhelming. However, that month while waiting for the tank to cycle is a good time to research.

What I will say is that goldfish can be a little more expensive to properly care for than people anticipate. Goldfish need 10-20 gallons per fish at minimum, as well as very good filtration, and this can add up. (though there are good ways to get around this. Often one can find great second hand tanks on craigslist and similar sites, often fully equipped and at a much reduced price. Rubbermaid tubs make great deck/indoor ponds when equipped with a HOB filter.)

 

[Nomi]

Longest lasting fish I had was bosco the bottom feeder. He lived 5 years, survived two moves and finally just bit the big one. God did I cry.

It is sad when they die, one of mine died recently. It is often surprising how attached one can get to a fish, but there you go.

About the life span of goldfish, most pet quality goldfish will live around 5-10 years in my experience. This may be because pet goldfish are often stunted in their early years before being bought, or even simply being poorly bred/the culls. I do not know. I do know goldfish can get up to 20 years old, the oldest goldfish being over 40. 43, the last I heard! Now thats an old goldfish!

 

[bigmerle1966]

Be careful with those carny goldfish! I had one that lasted a year!

He better last longer than that with what I spent to house and feed him!

It's time to see if I can add another fish to the family but I have to clean the tank first.