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Post by Tweetiepy on Jul 5, 2005 9:37:35 GMT -5
We bought our kids a small 2 gallon aquarium for Easter 2004 - we purchased 2 goldfish (Nemo & Marlen) - I was told that they would maybe live 6 months - well it's been over a year and they still seem alive - I say seem as one of them has, for the past few months, been swimming crazily every time someone passes by his home - dive bombing for the floor & spraying aquarium rock all over the place, hitting the side of the aquarium and bumping into the glass. I figured that he didn't like the new home with a light (we had to change the aquarium as the old one's filter quit). Well my daughter had a look at him and noticed that all his fins are gone - back, bottom, swimming fins on either side of his face - he still has a tail but it's rather frazzled & ragged.
Now one of these goldfish has always been chasing around the other - could he have been "chewing" off his roomate's fins? He's got a little stump of sidefins but he's rather pathetic, which may explain why he's been smashing into walls & stuff (no control). Anyone know if they regrow their fins, molt or if I have a killer goldfish on my hands? Poor thing looks so naked!
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stefan
Cave Dweller 
Member since January 2005
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Post by stefan on Jul 5, 2005 9:45:09 GMT -5
Ok I have worked in the pet industry for 12 yrs now- Gold fish can live for 20 + years and will reach a lenght of 10 to 12 inches!!!!! They have outgrown there home that is why one is attacking the other one! They need room- Mine live in a 250 gallon pond in the summer and winter in a 45 gal tank for the winter (which is getting too small for them) for t goldfish you want at least a 4 ft long tank!
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Rose
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Post by Rose on Jul 5, 2005 10:00:18 GMT -5
There is a good chance that the other has eaten them. We used to have tropical fish and were told not to have a particular type of fish (tiger barbs I think) in with other types as the tiger barbs ate the fins off the fish.
I know its sick but I have the vision of a gold fish swimming in circles - sorry
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Post by Tweetiepy on Jul 5, 2005 12:11:47 GMT -5
Stefan, they're only about 1 1/2" long - and haven't really grown since we got them. I had purchased 3 other fish all bought separately (white with a puffy red head) but they all died of some kind of problem. These two have survived.
Rose, they're both the same type of just plain ole goldfish - he's actually pretty mobile, maybe just a little less control than normal - but I feel sorry for him - the other one seems in top shape - all intact but this one looks pretty miserable - I'm just hoping he'll grow them back
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Duckbean
fully equipped rock polisher
Looking for rocks in all the wrong places
Member since February 2005
Posts: 1,072
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Post by Duckbean on Jul 5, 2005 21:20:08 GMT -5
It's possible that it has ick, it's a disease that fish get sometimes. or it may be the other is just a bully. Get another goldfish and maybe the two can gang up on the bully or at least give the poor little guy a break while the bully is eating the fins off the other. Can't help but feel sorry for the little guy!
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Post by Tweetiepy on Jul 5, 2005 21:41:28 GMT -5
It really is like Nemo - little stump of a fin just like in the movies - I feel sorry for him too! seeing the other one with everything intact & perfect!
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Post by docone31 on Jul 5, 2005 21:53:44 GMT -5
My son had a goldfish. He had it for years. He fed it, and it grew, and grew, and grew. We had a pond, and he let it go in the pond. A few months later, we had a dam break upstream. No more pond, no more goldfish. Down stream was a larger pond. There it was, larger still.
We never found out what happened to it after that. It has been years so maybe it just kept on growing. Glad the dang thing is gone.
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Post by Alice on Jul 6, 2005 19:46:16 GMT -5
tweetie, 2 gallons is not big enough for 2 gold fish, let alone 1 gold fish. the absolute minimum is 5 gallons per goldfish (but preferably 10-15), because they get BIG! and the bigger they get (with less water) the more problems you will face, like ammonia (Most common), and ick, fungus, and fin rot, etc...
I have never heard of one goldfish eating another. they are usually quite sociable and enjoy company. I've seen goldfish pick on one another (pushing and chasing them... but never eating them) only when one fish isn't doing so well (as if to say "get up on your feet, you can lick this")
as for the fins... I'm thinking Fin Rot (something I have struggled with myself). Try doing a search on fin rot and compare the pictures to your fish's symptoms (I know female fish are more susceptible). Pet stores have some medicine that will help the fins grow back...if it's not too late
Hope this helps
Alice
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Post by Tweetiepy on Jul 6, 2005 20:07:54 GMT -5
Thanks Alice for the info, I'm not really attached to the fish much (sorry all you pet lovers) Maybe I'm doing something wrong when I crouch down to the fish tank & yell "DIE fish, DIE!" - I don,t really do this but this was for the kids & they don't take care of them
Why would they sell these small tanks if they're not even big enough for goldfish?
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Post by Alice on Jul 6, 2005 22:17:50 GMT -5
Tweetie, those 2 gallon tanks are usually used for small turtle habitats, hermit crabs, breeding (Larger fish are put in until they mate and lay eggs, and then are taken out), and for smaller aquatic life.... but certainly not for goldfish which can grow 12+" long (I know, the picture on the box shows a gold fish... but you really shouldn't put them in there).
Pet stores tend to over stock their tanks, making people think that it's OK to stick 30 fish into a 5 gallon tank. But what people don't see is that the fish are not in the over stocked tanks for too long (people buy them).
if you want to get rid of your fish, why not give them to someone who might enjoy them and tell your kids that they went to fish heaven? (if they ask).
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Post by Tweetiepy on Jul 7, 2005 5:42:08 GMT -5
I already had to flush one of the "white capped something" and it got the proper eulogy. I don,t really hate them, I'm just glad they didn't get a dog or cat!
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
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Post by stefan on Jul 7, 2005 9:29:43 GMT -5
General rule for gold fish is 10 gallons of water for every inch of fish- so 2 fish at 1.5 inches need 30 gallons of water- And stores sell those water coffins (thats what I call em) cause people buy them then procede to kill the fish and have to buy more! Even 10 gallon tanks are too small for goldfish! Oh and your white cap something is prabably a White Capped Oranda- A very ancient strain of the common goldfish- bred by the chinese something like 200 years ago- they are now MASS produced in Florida and are almost as common as feeder goldfish- Because of their modified body structure they are less effecient swimmers and need even more room than the common goldfish! (sorry I am a fish nut- having at one time had 7 tanks running- Now I'm down to just the pond and the winter quarters)
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Post by Tweetiepy on Jul 7, 2005 9:41:29 GMT -5
Yes Stefan that's what they were ORANDA, the first two seemed a bit lethargic when we put them in the tank and slowly died over the next day or two (I kept thinking that the goldfish were bashing them). Then got a refund for the dead one and got a healthy one in return, did all the correct things to Temper it and then went to put him in the tank but his fins got caught in the little fishnet and he proceeded to die over the next few days - flushed that one - and something happened with the other one -
I NEVER have luck with pets: bear with me:
dog "blacky" mongrel mix, was wintering on a farm & I was told he ran away (he may have died in machinery accident)
Rabbit - "Jeanot" - went camping, left in the care of neighbors, they neglected to check on it - returned to find it wrapped around it's peg and being eaten by bugs - died in full sun
Cat - "Noirette" brought over to neighbors while I was at school to play with their cat (same rabbit care neighbors) - returned from school and cat had jumped in hockey net in shed and strangled itself.
Cat: "Bouboule" - was very timid, liked to curl up in the fan compartment of car - car started, cat a big red blur runs around house - had to be put down.
Cat: "Prince" - Cat given to me by same neighbor (their grandparents owned a farm where cats were all over) - was back on the farm with his family one weekend and a tornado picked it up and tossed it around for a while, it miraculously survived but became anemic & died a while later.
NEED I go on. These fish are miracles. The fact that they're dying does not surprise me at all... I can't keep pets - Yet I do nothing to actually harm them, or put them in danger they just don't seem to survive with me...
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stubby
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since April 2004
Posts: 150
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Post by stubby on Jul 7, 2005 10:02:40 GMT -5
Hope a couple of "light" comments are acceptable, here.
Tweetie, I will never be a "PETA" member, so if a group of them starts to picket your place, call me and I'll drive my "Weinermobile" (oscar-meyer) over and help protect you.
Alice, I see you are a "god", but are you also a Mermaid? You mentioned struggling with "Fin Rot".
Apologies, if necessary!
stub
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stefan
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Post by stefan on Jul 7, 2005 11:23:53 GMT -5
Hmmm PETA- Well I hope I don't come off sounding like one of them - Don't get me wrong- I love animals- But them PETA types would rather see thousands of people die than to see one Lab Mouse injured! (ok now all the Peta People are gonna hate me) I guess all I'm saying Tweet is that it is no surprise the fish are having problems. If you don't want to get a larger Aquaium you should probably change half the water once a week- and feed very lightly (one or 2 flakes per fish per day) Funny story about PETA Star Mary Taylor Moore- SHe was a Huge PETA spokesperson- until her kid came down with diabities- well then research on animals to cure dieseases became ok in her eyes!
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Post by Tweetiepy on Jul 7, 2005 12:07:27 GMT -5
Stefan, I have a filter that cleans the water - it's not just a fish bowl - the filter is changed every few weeks & the water is changed out every second month (what they said in the enclosed documents). I thought Pam Anderson was a huge PETA advocate - doesn't she own any leather? a thong maybe?
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stefan
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Post by stefan on Jul 7, 2005 13:14:02 GMT -5
LMAO-- Pam has never hurt any animal (except maybe Tommy)! The reason to clean the water more frequently is that goldfish are very dirty- they produce about 10 times the waste of a normal fish!
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Post by Alice on Jul 7, 2005 13:19:30 GMT -5
Tweetie, yes filters clean the water out a little. they catch little particles, old food, some algea, give a little oxygen to the water with the charcoal... but they the do not clean the toxins in the water (like amonia). nor do they clean out all the GUCK that gets trapped in the gravel on the bottom.
Even with my 30 gallon tank, I still do a 25% (minimum) water change every week.
Like rock tumbling, the instructions are for low quality basic's (tumble in coarse for 1 week, etc...) but with experience, you learned that you actually need to recharge the grit every week and it takes about a month to finish up with coarse. The instructions that you got with your tank make it sound like fish are very low maintenance.
For fish, you should change 25% - 40% of the water every week. Once in a while it's OK to change the water completely, but don't do it too often because your fish will become stressed and then start having medical problems again.
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Post by Tweetiepy on Jul 7, 2005 13:26:42 GMT -5
Alice, I'm thinking this naked fish thing happened when I changed the aquarium. One night we were watching tv & you could hear the bubbling of the filter. then the next day, I get a strange smell from the aquarium and notice scum on the inside - no noise, so I transfered the fish to a smaller container and emptied the aquarium and returned the aquarium to the store for a new one. I guess the experience traumatized one of them -
My neighbors are much worse, they had an aquarium for 6 months without changing either water or filter - but they had a "cleaning fish" in there, so he must have been pretty busy sucking it up!
I love animals, but I don't have a "hairy thumb"!
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chassroc
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Post by chassroc on Jul 12, 2005 14:46:35 GMT -5
Anaimals, people, goldfish...we are all about the same; one takes advantage of another
csroc
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