Keeping Fish

[LeafBlade12345]

Shelly, it can hurt when you are bitten. Crazy little buggers. If they break the skin, wash your hands and disinfect the wound. I would be very careful scooping them up, you can break their ribs easily. If a gecko nips you, hold her firmly. Applying gentle pressure to her upper snout until she stops squirming and squeaking. Just be careful not to hurt her, be very gentle. A lot of handling is the best fix though.

 

[LeafBlade12345]

I was just perusing some old threads and was a little irritated to see people laughing about flushing live fish. To me, my fish are just as important as any other animal. People can say they are just fish, but I could say that they are just chickens...thoughts?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I only flush them when they are dead, and I always leave an apparently dead fish for a day before flushing just to make sure. I can't comment on other people, that is for each individual to be responsible for.

 

[LeafBlade12345]

Oldhen,
I do the same in the ways of flushing only when dead. Yet I'd be cautious leaving a dead fish in the water for so long, it would be spreading disease, assuming there are other fish, and letting dangerous bacteria grow on the deteriorating fish. Perhaps it may be safer to put the possibly dead fish into another tank, even a fish bowl with a filter if possible? Usually if they are dead, they go belly up and begin to turn white. Most live fish showing these symptoms should be put down anyway. Of course it would be horrible to flush a live fish, so I see your logic.

 

[Bunnylady]

We recently became the owners of half a dozen small goldfish. When the fair closed for the season, the game booth that had live goldfish as the prize was just going to dump the leftover fish. Fortunately for the fish, one of the kids that volunteer in the livestock tent was on hand; several of us wound up with free fish.

I have never approved of having live animals as "prizes;" often, the winners are clueless or at least unprepared. Still, I guess the fish are better than the iguanas

 

[LeafBlade12345]

Hello bunny lady,
Unfortunately, many fair goldfish do not live past a few days of age. They cannot survive very long in a fish bowl, so it would be best to move them to a small tank. Goldfish produce a ton of waste and therefore ammonia, so they need a relatively big area. If you are anywhere near me, I'd be happy to add them to my pond if you don't want to keep all of them. Remember, these goldfish get huge, up to two ft +, so they will need some space with an appropriate filter and easy to clean substrate. If you need any further help or info, feel free to PM me, and I'm sure Oldhen would be very helpful as well. I have many goldfish in my outdoor pond and she keeps hers indoors, so hopefully we can both help you out! Good luck keeping your fish!

 

[Bunnylady]

I put them in an unused 20 long that I had most recently been using as a chick brooder; figured that would do for now. I thought about putting them out in the plastic pond in the front yard, but there are two 6" goldfish in there already; I'm not sure that it can reasonably support more without a lot more effort on my part. When my family lost interest in the inflatable pool in the backyard a while back, I put some hardy water lilies and water hyacinths in it. An amazing number of little tree frogs were raised in the 'redneck pond' this past summer. To make sure that I wouldn't be raising mosquitoes, I had put some Gambusias in the pool - so I knew I couldn't put the goldfish in there, either, though it was a useful source of fish-ready water for the "emergency" set-up.

I have a couple of bigger tanks (a 33 long and a 50) but they would need a lot of work before they would be ready for goldfish. Hopefully, it will be a while before these guys need to get moved up, or maybe I will build them a little pond of their own in the yard - haven't quite decided yet.

 

[LeafBlade12345]

Bunnylady,
Congratulations on your fish, if you have already raised Goldies than you should be fine! Just as long as they have a filter in the tank, a twenty gallon is fine for a few small fish. I'd move them outside when they are older as tanks require a lot of cleaning because goldfish produce so much waste. Some say that the gambusia nip other fish's tails, but I keep them with goldfish and never had a problem. I'm sure they'd do fine in your "redneck pond", that made me laugh, I have to admit.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Oldhen,
I do the same in the ways of flushing only when dead. Yet I'd be cautious leaving a dead fish in the water for so long, it would be spreading disease, assuming there are other fish, and letting dangerous bacteria grow on the deteriorating fish. Perhaps it may be safer to put the possibly dead fish into another tank, even a fish bowl with a filter if possible? Usually if they are dead, they go belly up and begin to turn white. Most live fish showing these symptoms should be put down anyway. Of course it would be horrible to flush a live fish, so I see your logic.

sorry I didn't clarify, that's what I do, put them in another bowl or just leave them in the net sitting over a bowl.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Bunnylady,
Congratulations on your fish, if you have already raised Goldies than you should be fine! Just as long as they have a filter in the tank, a twenty gallon is fine for a few small fish. I'd move them outside when they are older as tanks require a lot of cleaning because goldfish produce so much waste. Some say that the gambusia nip other fish's tails, but I keep them with goldfish and never had a problem. I'm sure they'd do fine in your "redneck pond", that made me laugh, I have to admit.

your goldfish will take a couple of years to reach some size indoors, moving them outside is a sure way to speed up growth. Once you get an established tank I find goldfish easy, I do my weekly water changes, changing between 50-90% of their water, they don't mind the way the tropical fish do, it's the best way to keep nitrate levels down.