need goldfish help

amother

Black

Wed, Aug 05 2015, 7:23 pm

My daughter came home from her camp with some goldfish. After afew minutes of googling I see that to properly care for it we need a big tank, filter, light etc.
I do not have the money for this and ask furious at the camp for sending this home. It's not a cheap toy. It's a living being that needs to have it's needs met. And I resent the responsibility which I did not choose.

However, now that they're here. What should I do? They are in a salad bowl covered with silver foil and being fed fish food from the dollar store. How to I euthanize it? Or look after it without buying gadgets?
I really don't want them to suffer.

gp2.0

Wed, Aug 05 2015, 8:28 pm

OK, these are feeder goldfish. Half the time they die anyway because they're sick when you buy them. They're bred as food, not as pets.

Even if you got a filter, light etc. the fish would probably die because there aren't any nitrates in your bowl/new tank. (Or nitrites? I forget which is which.) Either way, a new tank quickly fills with lethal toxins and the fish die because normally you're supposed to "cycle" the tank through the lethal cycle until there's a good enough buildup of good bacteria to counter the bad bacteria. Something like that. Without a filter and without a buildup of good bacteria, you have to change the water frequently to avoid a buildup of bad bacteria, but never change the entire water. Always leave half of the water because that's the same water that is building good bacteria.

The fish store probably doesn't want it and even if they did take it, the feeder goldfish tank is overpopulated and therefore high in toxins as well. There is usually a pile of dead goldfish at the bottom of the feeder goldfish tank at the pet store.

Your fish can live happily in a bowl for awhile if you are careful to change half of the water every day and don't overfeed. Fish only need to be fed once every 1-2 days.

vet techy

Wed, Aug 05 2015, 8:40 pm

A goldfish doesn't need a lot of tlc.
I have had two goldfish in a fish bowl that a bought in Walmart for very little and gravel and a plant for over a year.
No need for a filter.
What you have to remember is not to over feed. Better to under feed. Goldfish could go for a few days with no food. Also keeping the water clean is important. I clean out the bowl once a week by just pouring out the water and refilling with warm not cold water.
It's really cute because I am the one to feed them and they know me by now. If they are hungry and want food and I walk by they will go nuts and swim to the top they don't do that when other people go close to the tank.
These two fish were suppose to be lunch for our bigger and more expensive fish but they were saved by my kids.

amother

Chartreuse

Wed, Aug 05 2015, 10:00 pm

gp2.0 wrote:

Even if you got a filter, light etc. the fish would probably die because there aren't any nitrates in your bowl/new tank. (Or nitrites? I forget which is which.) Either way, a new tank quickly fills with lethal toxins and the fish die because normally you're supposed to "cycle" the tank through the lethal cycle until there's a good enough buildup of good bacteria to counter the bad bacteria. Something like that. Without a filter and without a buildup of good bacteria, you have to change the water frequently to avoid a buildup of bad bacteria, but never change the entire water. Always leave half of the water because that's the same water that is building good bacteria.

Close.

Nitrites and nitrates will kill your fish eventually, but what will kill them quickly (and almost always does in the case of goldfish) is the ammonia in their own waste. They literally will drown in their own feces/urine. The ammonia-eating bacteria will build up over time to eat the ammonia, which will prevent the nitites and nitrates from forming, but you can't do anything realistic about those except change the water. You'll still need to do partial water changes periodically even once the bacteria build up.

OP, I think you're awesome for having compassion for these fish as living beings. A lot of people wouldn't, apparently including the people that run this camp. What an awful thing to do. Sad

First thing: put each one in its own bowl using the largest bowls you can find. You want as much liquid around them to dilute their waste as possible. Change about 1/4 of the water daily. It's OK to cover them with foil to keep them from jumping out, but remember they need oxygen so keep it loose and poke lots of holes in it. It's better to use something mesh if you can, or even something light like paper towels.

Feed them as little as possible, no more than they'll eat in a minute and every other day. They don't really need a lot of food, and food will decompose in the water and poison them. I know this sounds terrible, but it's fine.

They don't actually need heat. Goldfish aren't warm-water fish and can do fine at room temperature.

Maya's totally right that they're probably feeder goldfish, bred to be eaten. Sad

You ask a pet store if you can drop them off and they may be OK with it, but they may also not want to bring in outside fish that can bring disease into their tank.

On the bright side, people are forever selling/giving away fish tanks so keep an eye on classifieds and Craigslist. Sometimes pet stores sell old used tanks for cheap. You can really go cheap and they'll be OK. They'll do OK without gravel at first although they should have some decorations or plants for hiding so they aren't all exposed. Don't put in just anything that can leech into the water and poison them! If you want to go cheap, go with old used plates, glasses or bowls that you can find at thrift stores. The fish won't care what it looks like. Smile

Skip the lights, but do try to buy a filter. Once you get them into a bigger tank, you can change part of the water weekly. Get a cheap ammonia test kit at a pet store, and test daily. You want to make sure there's no ammonia in the water. If there is, change out 1/4 of it.

Good luck. And give that camp a piece of your mind. They should never do this again!

amother

Pearl

Thu, Aug 06 2015, 12:42 am

I was in a similar position recently--anon b/c this is well known IRL, I won goldfish at an event and I didn't want the fish to die, but I didn't really have money or space for a large tank--and I got 2 fish. At first I was nervous about "feeder fish just dying" but upon reading up most websites said that if you take care of feeder fish properly they can live several years. My local Petland discount pet store had an all-inclusive 10 gal tank for about $35 so we now have fish. A friend of mine had 2 fish in a small tank and they just couldn't both stay there, so we adopted one. We have a filter and change the water.

Then today I saw this in a local drugstore:
http://www.asseenontv.com/my-f.....05300
For $15 it might be a fun "toy" for a while.

MagentaYenta

Thu, Aug 06 2015, 1:00 am

amother wrote:

BTW, goldfish grow to be 12" normally. Keeping them in a small bowl will stunt them. They won't be healthy and remain small. So keep them as large containers as you can.

Heck, if you don't have pets or small kids that will go swimming, you could even keep them in a kiddie pool! Wink

We had a feeder goldfish that my DDs father won for her at a carnival. I called it the worlds oldest living goldfish, he was 15 before I re-homed him. I can't say he had top notch care but he was happy and trained to be hand fed, and even rescued from the cat a couple of times.

Gold fish do need oxygen so make sure that the container has a wide mouth so the surface area of the water is maximized, a live plant in the container helps provide food and oxygen and also helps to filter the water. A common goldfish such as the Comet can live a great many years in a container and be quite happy. Gold fish grow into their container size but don't outgrow their containers. So your fish will reach the max size based on his breed and size of the container. They are not 'stunted' and their general health isn't impacted based on the size of the container.