My DD is crushed!

[always quiet]

We had to go to the pet store yesterday to replace our fish tank. She had some money and begged me to let her get her own fish and goldfish bowl with her own money. I told her she could buy the fish and keep it in our tank but she wanted to get everything herself. She bought the kit with the 1 1/2 gal bowl, food, plant, water conditioner.....and a bubble eye goldfish she named first Mr. Bubble, then Fluffy and finally "Airbag". This morning, when I went in to wake her for school, he was floating on the top of the tank!! She cried and cried (any parent of a 12 yr old KNOWS what I am talking about!!! ). I know Petsmart has a 14 day guarantee on their fish but she threw the receipt out!!! I am hoping that if I show them the receipt for the tank that we bought, along with the fish, it will be enough to prove to them that we were in the store yesterday. The sales girl told Jeana that she should leave the tank set up for a couple days before putting the fish in so I told Jeana she could leave her fish in our tank during that time. The sales girl said not to worry about doing that and gave us enough water from their tanks to fill her bowl. I have no clue what would of caused Airbag to die so quickly. Hershey and Nemo, the other goldfish we got from their last year have more than doubled in size!

Here's hoping they don't give me a hard time exchanging the fish. If they do, I think I'll tell them I'll just bring back the $30.00 tank I bought and get it elsewhere!

 

[Cruisin]

I have no idea why the fish died so quickly either. Fish are strange creatures. They can look really healthy and then die the next day.

We have goldfish in our pond that are starting on their 5th summer there, so they can live a long time.

Poor girl, I hope you can get her a new fish.

Good luck with your fishies.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

I'm sorry about Airbag

Fish are very delicate and sometimes, they can be sick and you have no idea. They also can react strangely to any slight change in their water temp, etc.

Goldfish are actually sometimes very hard to keep in a fish bowl. They tend to do better in larger tanks and ponds.

Might I suggest instead of a goldfish, if possible a Beta? You can only keep one in the bowl at a time but they are usually very hardy and quite pretty.

Petsmart is usually pretty good. Petco on the other hand... I doubt Petsmart will give you any trouble.


Keep us posted.

 

[Robmom]

That is too bad. The same thing happened to my DD. She wanted to have some goldfish and DH went to the store with her and got 2 or 3, I can't remember. Well, the next day one died, then the next day another gone, etc. She was so upset. My DH had one for years just living in a bucket. Maybe one day we will try it again.

 

[JoNo]

I'm sorry to hear about your loss! Goldfish are really notorious about dying fast in tanks with little/no water filtration. They put out so much ammonia that when I used to work at Petsmart they were nicknamed "the pine-sol tanks"!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Awww, Collen, please give Jeana a from Uncle Dan here. Sorry to hear about her little Airbag. Sad. Always tough, no matter.

 

[Sleepy]

When a fish dies, most places requires you bring in a water sample for testing.......along with receipt. Sorry the fish died. Maybe it was a difference in chemicals from one tank to the next. If you placed the water from the pet store in HER tank, but did not float the new fish (in its own bag in your tank) before releasing it in your tank, that could be the reason her fish died.....difference in temp. I worked for a fish wholesaler so I know there could be a variety of reasons the fish died, but those 2 are the main reasons.....temp and chemicals.

 

[LScot]

So sorry! You know we just had to give up on fish. No luck with them whatsoever. Now we have Stitch the rat and week before last Hunter did have a snake who got loose in the house that I haven't found yet. She didn't cry over that one because I think she thinks he is still "around" . Anyway, I know what kind of heartache you are speaking of!

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Originally posted by LScot
So sorry! You know we just had to give up on fish. No luck with them whatsoever. Now we have Stitch the rat and week before last Hunter did have a snake who got loose in the house that I haven't found yet. She didn't cry over that one because I think she thinks he is still "around" . Anyway, I know what kind of heartache you are speaking of!

\

I had a ferret once who escaped from his cage the night I brought him home. He went missing for 3 days and I finally decided he had died, maybe gotten into the walls or something.

2 days later he shows up - turned out he'd been living inside one of my stereo speakers! How he even got in there is beyond me!

 

[Toby'sFriend]

oh Poor Airbag. But if your house is anything like ours, he'll soon be replaced with an Airbag II.


Goldfish are pretty cheap, I doubt Petsmart will give you much trouble.

 

[peg2001]

Very few fish are suitable to live in a bowl. Goldfish are NOT one of them. They are extremely dirty fish, producing massive amounts of waste. They poison themselves very quickly in small amounts of water.

Please get a betta!!

We have a 75-gallon tank with double filtration and plants for our goldfish. It is STILL a struggle to keep the water clean.

Please get a betta!!

It is so sad that most people think "goldfish" and "fishbowl" go together. I'm so sorry your child was upset over the loss.

Please get a betta!!

Peggy

 

[always quiet]

I just called and spoke to a manager. I explained exactly what happened yesterday and how the sales girl gave us enough water to fill the tank so their would be no difference in temps or 'make up' of the water. She said that they are not supposed to do that and the fish would of done better with conditioned tap water straight from our faucet. Odd....but what do I know!! She said they would replace the fish without the receipt. Doesn't make sense though IF goldfish don't do well in goldfish bowls, why the heck sell them???!!!! I thought the rule of thumb was 1 gal of water for each fish. If Airbag was 1 fish and his tank was 1 1/2 gal., wouldn't he of been fine?? I know without a filter, the water would need to be cleaned frequently, but I didn't think he would of run out of air. They were trying to get me to buy a bigger tank with filter. I would rather put the fish in the new larger filtered tank that we bought than buy another big fish tank. Jeana's whole point in getting this was that she wanted it in her room....not with "our" fish!

Looks like I have a tank to clean out before heading back up there today...............

Uncle Dan, if this one doesn't make it, I'll be sure to have her call YOU first thing tomorrow morning!!!

 

[KNGMADDI98]

My husband is a manager with PetSmart -- they will replace it without the receipt --- don't worry = take whatever receipt you have -- but there should not be any problems -- they want to keep their customers happy -- "customer recovery".... they will take care of you -- if not let me know.... but Mike said they should without much trouble at all....

 

[KNGMADDI98]

sorry -- didn't read all of your other posts.... I replied to quickly....

 

[EsmeraldaX]

I really think when you "exchange" the fish, you should get a Betta instead. Goldfish really should not be kept in bowls. At least not "fancy" goldfish. The kind I had growing up were feeder goldfish, the sort bred primarily to be fed to other fish. They did okay in bowls but never as good as a Betta.

The person who said they are very dirty and poison themselves in small bowls has it right on.

Here is a good site with lot's of goldfish info.
http://www.petlibrary.com/goldfish/fishcare.htm

Here is a good site with info on Betta's.
http://betta-barracks.50megs.com/

 

[Melora]

Just to give a big old nod to the people who say goldfish shouldnt be kept in a bowl.

With fancy goldfish the rule of thumb that works best is about 10 gallons of water for every small goldfish. We have 2 fancy ones right now in a 25 gallon tank and Jeff says NO MORE in that tank. They need lots and lots of (not too deep) water including frequent partial water changes or their growth gets stunted from all the chemicals they release.

Feeder goldfish are the only ones that ever seem to someimtes do well in a bowl and even then it is not a great enviroment for them either. I agree about getting a betta. A 1.5 gallon bowl would be seem like a palace to how those poor things are usually kept!

 

[always quiet]

I have a question for you fish experts out there. When figuring out the size of a fancy goldfish, do you measure just the body size or do you include the tail as well?? I just measured Hershey and Nemo and, tail included, they are each over 4" in length!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hershey is a Black Moor...or should I say a "copper" moor....he is so big around that his scales have stretched and his beautiful black coat is now copper in color!!

Do they make an Atkins diet for fish????

 

[EsmeraldaX]

I would include the tail as well.

 

[Melora]

We are currently looking at purchasing some expensive fancy goldfish to put into a very large tank Jeff is buying.

What he told me is: fish inches to do not apply to fancy goldfish. They come with huge long tails or sometimes very stumpy tails so its hard to measure as each different breed has a different standard as to whether or not they include the tail.

a 5 inch fancy goldfish really needs at least 20-25 gallons of water by itself. Even though of course some fish do manage to live in other conditions, these fish are generally extremely long lived (20+ years) and they will never fulfill their ultimate life expectancy unless they are kept in enough water with the conditions being monitered.

Black Moors generally turn gold.... the ones that do not are extremely sought after and right now on one of the fish sites Jeff visits, a pure black moor that is 8 inches (w/o tail!) is selling at auction for over $300.

If your goldfish are growing well with beautiful tails then you are doing something right in the tank. If your fish stays about hte same size for a long time, it is because the water changes are not frequent enough and the chemicals they give off are stunting their growth.

This guy has a body that by itself measures 4 inches w/o the tail:

How big is the tank you have your 2 fish in?

 

[jacksonsmom]

I am sorry to hear about your DD's heart break

I don't know much about goldfish myself, but I hope you get it all straightened out with the shop!