pet fish........

No. There are far worse threads, I think.

But as for two fish, I say go for it. I had two goldfish, cost 20 cents total, living in a big old bowl for two years. They would chase each other once in a while, but it wasn't a problem. I put a couple of little sticks of live bamboo in there, and they seemed to like that.

 

Back when i was a child, I had two goldfish living in a small bowl for over a year. Everyone's got one hand in your pocketbook, even Pets-Mart!

 

I have one little fish in a 50 gallon tank currently! That little fish is loving it in there. He owns the place.

So, what do I know? But, sometimes I tend to buy too many fish. It gets a little crowded in there, they end up fighting, and the weak end up dying. Plus, if one gets sick, then the others may get sick. The tank may also get dirtier faster. I can't see the size of the bowl. Post a pic and we will tell you if it's too small .

Nobody can tell you how many fish you can have. To spite him, you should just buy them all and put them all in the bowl. That will show him that you can have as many fish as you want and that he is crazy for pretending to know whether a single fish wants company or not.

 

Well, there is the possibility of in-fighting and you have to allow room for goldfish growth. I know some of those goldfish can get big and fat. Then, it may not be so cozy in a few years. But, you can worry about that later. You should not overfeed and, if you do, then you will just have to clean the tank more often.

I had to get rid of a fish due to fighting. He was an older fish who had it good for so long that when I added more fish he went ballistic and started a terrorism campaign. So, I ended up taking him to a pet store and he was the little fish in a tank with a lot of bigger fish. Poor guy...had him for several years<sniffle>. He was like 8 inches long and probably on his last leg anyway. Hey...at least I didn't flush his sorry butt for terrorizing his neighbors.

Good luck with your goldfish endeavour. Let us know how it goes.

Surf

 

Goldfish secrete a slime from their scales that can get pretty messy after a time. Do a partial water change (about 25%) once a week (make sure you use chlorine remover on the water you put into the tank) and you should have no problems.

As Surfguy said, don't overfeed. Feeding a little several times a day is ideal, if you have the time. Goldfish can live for several years. They generally grow to fit the size of the tank (Maybe a little larger than they should be) and then their growth slows considerably.

The guy at Petsmart may or may not know fish from cats but it IS better to have as large a tank as possible. They stay cleaner much longer and require less maintenance. A little undergravel filter at the bottom with a layer of gravel over it wouldn't hurt. The bubbles from the air pump helps increase the oxygen in the water, which is good. Get some magnet glass cleaners, if you can. They make cleaning the glass a lot easier.

Sorry, I worked at a fish shop for a while in a previous life.

 

It's amazing what you can find by simply typing "drunk" and "stoned" into the search engine.

http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32973

http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20842

http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25067

http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21229

Heck, this doesn't even count the Manny Ramirez collection!

 

I had about 4 in a bowl.... true they died but i over feed them ... but I do think a tank is better...

 

rocketsfan83,

The reason you don't want more than 1 fish in a bowl that size is due to a few simple reasons which almost always point to the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate cycle in aquariums. When decomposing matter such as fish poop and decaying foods get broken down by bacteria, ammonia is a byproduct. Ammonia is lethal to fish in higher concentrations. Ammonia is processed by bacteria and converted in to nitrites. Nitrites are just as, if not more deadly than ammonia to fish. Nitrites in turn are processed by other bacteria and converted into nitrates. Nitrates aren't so bad except when you have a ton of it in your tank. No bacteria to my knowledge processes nitrates and the only way to remove them is by doing frequent water changes. Ideally, you should have 0 ppm (parts per million) ammonia, 0 ppm nitrites, and very little nitrates in your water for healthy fish. In the aquarium hobby, this is what's referred to as a "cycled tank". Fish can survive in poor conditions, but why subject them to it? They may not die, but they may not be liking it much either.

The more fish you put into a tank, the more crud they produce and the more ammonia is produced from that crud, which means the more nitrites are produced, meaning more nitrates are produced. This means the more fish you have in a small tank, the greater the risk of having large amounts of those 3 substances in your water - their concentrations are higher. And when you're talking about healthy fish, the lower those concentrations, the better.

Any error or mistake in water balance in a small aquarium is also magnified. This is why it's always said "the bigger the tank the better". The concentration of the mistake is thinned out over the larger volume of water.

There's no way I'd recommend a bowl to anyone trying to raise even one fish. Get at least a 5 gallon tank.

 

As an aside to DoD's post (which covers everything real good) The other reason why the guy says 1 fish per bowl is that pet store ppl are told the guideline of 1 fish per gallon of water..

It is really supposed to be 1 inch of fish per gallon...so keep that in mind when deciding how many fish to get.

Also used to be the fish expert in a pet store in another life..

 

Good point, DoD. A little technical for someone just wanting a tank with two goldfish...but good points nonetheless. Nothing frequent water changes, not overfeeding, and proper water treatment can't take care of.

You should make sure you change the water more frequently. On that same line of thinking, the longer you go without changing the water, the higher build-up of these toxic substances to fish and the higher the fish stress. pH levels can also have an impact on fish stress. Ideally, you want to normalize the pH levels. I have to treat my tap water to normalize pH levels, remove chlorine, etc. .

Owning and maintaining a fish tank takes some responsibility. You just don't put water in it and then put the fish in it. You could go out and buy kits to measure pH, nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia. But, for two fish in a goldfish bowl, it would be cheaper to just buy 2 new goldfish if you mess up and start over. I don't like to measure any of that crap. I know the routine and what is required. It becomes second nature after you've been doing it a while.

 

apologies to the fish but that line had me cracking up for some reason.

 

Did you change all the water at once? You can't do that....that will kill the fish for sure. Ideally, you want to treat the water before you add it and only do partial water changes. Taking fish from one established tank of water to a new tank of water more than likely will kill the fish and, if not, then cause serious fish stress like your seeing(depending on whether that water was treated ahead of time and had time to establish...maybe with the use of a biological filter). There are many things to consider including temperature, pH(tap water usually is not pH 7.0 or normal level), chlorine(did you treat the water?), ammonia levels, etc. as discussed before.

The new water has not had a chance to establish. That is why they do partial water changes...because 3/4 of your water is established and the 1/4 your adding(usually treated but maybe treated after adding to the tank(depending on tank size; in your case, I recommend pre-treatment)) is not established. Remove a quarter of the bad water by siphoning out fish crap and siphoning/cleaning the gravel(if there is any). Then, add the 1/4 treated water. Usually, do this once every week or two weeks. You will have to do more often because you have a really small tank.

I also tend to treat the water in a large tub(for my 50 gallon tank) several hours in advance and let the water sit so the water temperature will level out. Depending on summer or winter, the water coming from the tap can be hot or cold and by letting it sit for a while...it will then come closer to the temperature of the water in the tank.

I think you messed up. If your totally having no luck, then maybe you do need the kits to measure the water toxicity. Stress becomes to great, fish are unhappy, and fish die. On a very small tank, it is recommended that you change water often and in very small quantities.

Hope that helps.

Surf