goldfish

[toecrusher]

my daughter has come home with a goldfish from the local carnival. have bought a tank and stones and a few toys and another fish to keep it company. any tips on how to look after goldfishes and keep them healthy and happy! thanks in advance.

[rampart]

Check at your pet store, but here's what I think would work:

Buy some distilled water, some fish food, and a small fish net. Ask your daughter to give just a pinch of food in the morning and a pinch in the afternoon. (Again, check the label or ask at the store to make sure that amount is right.)

When the water gets blurry, goldie needs fresh water. Then toecrusher, not daughter if she's too little, needs to take a nice clean bowl and get some of the water out of the tank. Take your net, catch goldie, and pop her into the bowl of water you just collected. She'll wait there while you clean the tank.

Rinse out the tank, but be careful what you use. Only use cleaners from the pet shop or just lots of fresh water. Wash the gravel, toys, etc. Just plain tap water. Then rinse these things with a bit of your distilled to get the regular tap water out. Now add your distilled water and fill up the tank. Some stores sell pills or drops that you can drop into the tank so that you can use plain tap water.

Be careful to keep water temperatures constant. Goldie's tank is room temperature, so if you use the tap water and it's icy cold or too hot, you'll want ot let the tank sit for a while so that the water gets closer to room temperature.

Then you can catch Goldie again and pop her back home!

You'll develop a routine, and if she survives, then you know what works and don't vary it too much.

You might want the tank in a place where there's a bit of activity but no cats and the like. Perhaps the kitchen counter where folks walk by from time to time. Gives Goldie something to watch!

Have fun!

[morg_monster]

if your tank is square or rectangular (not a bowl) then it will be a lot less hassle in the long run to buy a small filter for it.  Means that the water stays clean (and fish stays happier) for longer, and you rarely have to do a full water change (this really stresses the fish), rather you just change a third of the tank water maybe once a fortnight (depends on the size of the tank), just use a jug or something similar.  These small filters will cost about �15, probably more than you have spent so far on the other stuff, but they will last a long time and cleaning the tank out every week or fortnight is a major hassle.  Also filter moves the water around, meaning more oxygen enters the water, less chance of fish 'gasping' at the surface.  Ask at your pet shop for advice on which brand, Fluval is a good one.

A few extra things, using bottled water to clean things is expensive and not necessarily any better than using tap water - it still may contain some minerals which are harmful to the fish.  Also proper 'distilled' water has all the oxygen removed - technically, if you filled a tank with this the fish would die although I'm sure rinsing things isn't a problem.  What would be easier is you can buy water conditioners in pet shops, add these to the water either before you pour it in the tank, or straight into the tank, these remove chlorine and other nasties from tap water.  small bottle costs about �3 but only need drops at a time so will last ages.

(continued!)!

[morg_monster]

Though these things do cost a bit, trust me, it wil make things much easier in the long run, and the fish are much more likely to survive long term.  There are more fancy things you can buy but a decent filter is the most important.

Finally, I would only feed the fish once a day, only a small pinch at a time.  Basically goldfish do not need much food at all to survive, the more you feed them it will just sink to the bottom and dirty the water faster hence more cleaning for you.  Plus, don't know how big your tank is but if you feed them tons and they get too big, there will not be enough room or oxygen to keep them both happy and one will likely die (for the same reason, don't be tempted to get any more fish for the tank if it is small, they wil just die). 

A bonus to this is as long as the tank has been up and running for a few weeks, if you go on holiday for a few days you can leave the fish without food, they will be fine.  I only feed my adult goldfish every other day now, they are both fine (3 yrs old now) and with my filter I only have to do a partial water change about once every 2 months.  brilliant

[rampart]

morg - you are right - I had temporary insanity. Not distilled water - bottled water is what I meant. I use spring water, though I couldn't swear it comes from a spring. Our tank is very small, so the cost is minimal in our case.

I am so glad you caught that error about distilled! My apologies!

[newtron]

sounds like good advice.  Just one thing, I don't think distilled water has all the oxygen removed, and even if it did, once you expose it to the atmosphere, oxygen will find its way into the water.  If you leave water in contact with air, it eventually becomes saturated with oxygen.  Of course you can speed up the process by bubbling air through the water.

[toecrusher]

thanks to you all, my daughter wants to clean the tank and feed every day!!! have passed on all your advice, so hopefully will keep some happy healthy fish for some time.