Poor Goldfish

Dk

My pal was given a 1 ft gold fish recently. It killed all but one of his others so he had to put it in his mother inlaws pond. Mind you this was in his 55 gallon. SO yeah they do get big and do need space to themselves.

musho3210

I have to strongly disagree with this, Goldfish need at least 30 gallons with DOUBLE filtration, which means a filter that can work on a 60 gallon aquarium, and with all that you can only fit at maxiumum two Goldfish in there. A 3-4 gallon aquarium is just as bad as a bowl and will stunt the fish while raising ammonia levels. Also you said a cheapo filter will reduce the maintanence?? Your kidding when you said that right, the better the filter, the less maintance, the better for the fish!

Picklee

Again, I'm trying to refer to the common Goldfish or feeders really. I do agree that fancy gold fish and any larger species would need a great deal more space with double filtration.

ClarkyJ

I agree with what you are saying I only started about 4 months ago I started with 2 fan tails. I was sensible enof to go onto the net for a few hours and read up finding out loads of info and how to properly care for them. The only reason people dont treat them well is because They are mainly purchased by begginers most of which havnt Thought twice let alone read a book on them. I think All thats needed is For the retailers to make people aware the fact that they are not easy to look after. I think once this is relized by beginners this will stop. Sorry to bore you guys buts that my opinion

scottysgirl

"so i have been informed recently......... a fish excretes a chemical around it,which itself is like a growth hormone, the more room it has the more it will excrete. wen it starts to run out of space, the chemicals will b reduced and the fish will grow slower, eventually, once the fish really has no space to grow at all, the release of chemical becomes so small that the fish is therefore stunted, and will grow no larger, but this in itself is not healthy for the fish. all fish should have enuff space to max out in size, for health and happiness!!! correct me if am totally wrong on this, but i was informed by a pet store guy who has had fish for 20+ years"

I have a pretty hard time believing this. The growth hormone is the same in fish as it is in mammals (I think) released from the pituitary gland, controlled by the hypothalamus and secreted into the blood. I can't see any reason why a fish would secret a chemical around itself--that just does not make any evolutionary sense. I'd ask that guy to check his science. But it is certainly true that fish become stunted if kept in too small of a space.

scottysgirl

PS, Musho, I think Picklee is trying to make the best of a bad situation--a 3-4 gallon tank w/cheap filter is better than a 1/2-1 gallon bowl with no filter. I agree with you that they need more space, but unfortunately that is not how it works ou 99% of the time.

musho3210

I understand that but why would you get a 3-4 gallon tank when you are just going to get a 30 gallon tank not long afterwards, saves you money if you immediatly just get the 30 gallon rather than do stepping stones

Picklee

Well I'm sort of speaking in terms of beginners which mostly consist of little children because some how, gold fish are number one on the "Easiest Pet to Care For" list. Although I'm trying to make the best of a typically bad situation, I don't think beginner pet owners (i.e. children) are going to go out and buy a 30 gallon tank for themselves. Their parents probably wouldn't even do that.

musho3210

then maybe we should try changing the begginer pet fish to a better species like danios or something.

Picklee

Heh, no kidding.