Anyone kept/keep goldfish?

[geocycle]

I had two as a 5 year old won by an uncle at a fair. One lasted 10 years, the other 15! They were in a large simple bowl with weed. one went through a phase of jumping out and survived several falls from window ledge to floor before we fitted a hairnet!

 

[Beebo]

Main thing with goldfish is to not over feed them.
young children often get excited and feed them too much.
If they have long strings of poo following them around you are over feeding.

 

[Dave7]

Probably shouldn't have fed them Pedigree Chum as well.

Now you tell me!!

 

[dicko]

At least you won't have to take them for a walk twice a day.. 👍

My tropical fish used to rush to the front of the tank when I got home from work

 

[stephec]

My tropical fish used to rush to the front of the tank when I got home from work

Mine shoot straight to the top of the tank at the slightest movement of the lid. 😂

My Discus were best, I'd hand feed them chunks of beef heart and I'd had to drop the last little bit to avoid having my fingers nipped.

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

I remember my father got volunteered to run the “win a goldfish“ stand one school fair. At the end of the day two were left so he took them home.

Wasn’t the most careful of owners but those two were resilient! when he was moved to a home, over 30 years later, the two goldfish were passed into the care of a neighbour. Don’t know how long they lasted after that.

 

[swee'pea99]

I had two as a 5 year old won by an uncle at a fair. One lasted 10 years, the other 15! They were in a large simple bowl with weed. one went through a phase of jumping out and survived several falls from window ledge to floor before we fitted a hairnet!

Brings to mind the twisted genius that is Leo Baxendale

 

[Windle]

Brings to mind the twisted genius that is Leo Baxendale

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A psychologist would have a field day trying to unpick that cartoon.

 

[Windle]

I can't add much to what others have said above, apart from one thing ~ always clean the filter sponge out in old tank water, never in tap water, the filter sponge gets full of bacteria which breaks down the ammonia in the fish waste, fresh, clean tap water doesn't do the bacteria any good and it's the bacteria which keeps the tank water healthy.

 

[Electric_Andy]

I think whatever you get, just be aware that you'll need to clean them out regularly. Any tank with fish in looks really great when clean, but let it get too bad and it looks awful. A colleague of mine has some and the tank is filthy, it looks horrible and I feel sorry for the fish

 

[Accy cyclist]

I think whatever you get, just be aware that you'll need to clean them out regularly. Any tank with fish in looks really great when clean, but let it get too bad and it looks awful. A colleague of mine has some and the tank is filthy, it looks horrible and I feel sorry for the fish

I'd have to tell him or her to clean it, for the sake of the fish. If they weren't too pleased and fell out with me, so be it, but I'd put animal (fish in this case) welfare before friendship with such folk!

 

[Accy cyclist]

I think whatever you get, just be aware that you'll need to clean them out regularly. Any tank with fish in looks really great when clean, but let it get too bad and it looks awful. A colleague of mine has some and the tank is filthy, it looks horrible and I feel sorry for the fish

I'd have to tell him or her to clean it, for the sake of the fish. If they weren't too pleased and fell out with me, so be it, but I'd put animal (fish in this case) welfare before friendship with such folk!

 

[T4tomo]

Main thing with goldfish is to not over feed them.
young children often get excited and feed them too much.
If they have long strings of poo following them around you are over feeding.

this applies to both goldfish and young children

 

[Stevo 666]

I can't add much to what others have said above, apart from one thing ~ always clean the filter sponge out in old tank water, never in tap water, the filter sponge gets full of bacteria which breaks down the ammonia in the fish waste, fresh, clean tap water doesn't do the bacteria any good and it's the bacteria which keeps the tank water healthy.

Not disputing what you say, but for over 20 years I just used to hose down the sponge filters from our pump (quite a large outdoor one) on the patio and it never seemed to have any adverse effect on the fish. Maybe because there was still a fair bit of gunk left in them and/or the pond itself even after a hosing down?

 

[Jameshow]

Bloody hell, that's where I went wrong.

I'm taking my dog 🐶 to the kebab shop for lunch and getting fish 🐟 and chips for tea! 🤣