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looking after fish
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
i got two fish the other day, winston and sharon.
ive never had fish before and am not sure how to look after them, does anyone have any tips?
how do i know if they are a boy or a girl and can they have babies?
they are in a bowl, someone said a freshwater bowl doesnt need a filtration system but others say they do.
ive never had fish before and am not sure how to look after them, does anyone have any tips?
how do i know if they are a boy or a girl and can they have babies?
they are in a bowl, someone said a freshwater bowl doesnt need a filtration system but others say they do.
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Any ideas what kind of fish they are, or are we talking your standard goldfish?
In a bowl with a reasonable open surface area that's not sitting in direct sun and assuming you don't over feed them the you really don't need a filter. If any of the above aren't the case then one might be useful.
Its worth noting that some food tubs suggest a pinch per fish twice a day, or something daft. In reality a pinch every couple of days usually does the trick.
Did u go to pride? I was there
It's a pretty round bowl. I'm not sure what sort of fish they are. The man told me but it was a long foreign sounding name and I forgot. They are small with bulgy eyes and fancy fins.
Ooh I've been feeding them twice a day, only a little bit but they eat it all up.
If you're feeding them twice a day then it should really only be a teeney bit and make sure it all goes straight away. Problem if you give them too much food is that it ends up as gunk in the tank, both the bits that go through them and the bits that get left.
Yeah. Too busy, too wet, too expensive.
Fish can't control how much they eat; they have no stomachs, believe it or not, and so they'll eat as much as you give them. A little pinch once a day will usually do; too much and you can actually kill them from over feeding.
I have a medium sized tank with three fish of various sizes and varieties (Pork Chop, Spanky and Bo
When you clean them out make sure the water you transfer them into while you clean the tank is roughly the same temperature as the tank water, or they can die from shock, and likewise when you refill the tank to put them back in.
Make sure you use ONLY water to clean the tank; no washing liquids or detergents, and buy some SafeWater solution to neutralise the water; tap water can have all kinds of nasties in it and a few drops of SafeWater make it safe for your little fishies to swim in it.
2 of my local fish stores will NOT sell you fish unless you have a filter system
i think they are preferable but not a necessity
when i had fish with no filter, i found the water got dirty very quickly, so if u dont mind cleaning it out more often, you should be fine
do u have any plants? that'll help get oxygen in the water for them
are they black?
one is black (winston) and one is orange (sharon). I saw a pump thing in Wilkos for £5 but I didn't understand whether it was the right thing and would be suitable. I don't have any plants, they have a bridge they like going under and a fake plant they hide in. I'll go to the pet shop when I get a chance and have a look at all the stuff.
try and get a real plant hun, will help their little lungs get more oxygen x
The bowl is a lot cleaner with just one fish in though.
I get paid on Friday so am going to sort out a filter.
Forgive me here, but shouldn't you have asked these questions before gettin gthe fish?
I don't know what I did wrong. I made a rubbish parent.
Sorry but
It might not be you.
Yeah, I blame my boyfriend. He sort of poked them and moved the bowl the other day. So clearly all his fault.
Excuse me, but I did ask my friend who keeps fish, as well as looking at a book, and asking in the pet shop. I just thought I would ask here for more advice and other opinions.
Shame about your fish though. They've gone to that great bowl of batter in the sky
Some fish just don't last that long. Ours didn't - they were meant to live for at least 48 hours, but only lived for 12...
For a bowl you'd be better off with a siamese fighting fish - they breathe air like a human through a labyrinth organ (a basic lung rather than gills) and therefore oxygen in the water and flow is not important to them. They also stay around 3 inches in length too, so you wouldn't need to upgrade tanks as he grew
Feeding, just once or twice a day, as much as the fish will consume in 30 seconds. Fish out any left with a small net to prevent ammonia spikes.
Oh, and hey by the way
What tropical fish would live well together in a community aquarium?
How big is the tank you have?
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=16&cat=1911&articleid=3284
and here
http://www.timstropicals.com/Compatibility/CompatibilitySearch.asp
Ideas for a tank that size:
Pair or two pairs of gourami (goldens, moonlight, opal, dwarf) avoid 3 spots, and kissings, they get big and are aggressive.
Shoals of small tetras or other schooling fish (neon, cardinal, glowlight, black neon or rummynose tetras, halequin rasboras, cherry barbs) add rummynose after 8-12 weeks of the tank being set up - they're quite sensitive
Some kind of shark? (Red tail black, ruby, torpedo barb, black shark, albino shark) Apollo, cigar, and silvers would be too big though.
Could go with livebearers - guppies, platies, mollies, swordtails... the breed prolifically, and can cause a problem with their breeding, but also look nice.
Some kind of catfish? Siamese flying foxes are nice and don't eat other fish, as are bristlenose plecostamus, and some of the 'L number' cat fish such as golden plec, zebra plec, - most 'L numbers' (one's with no proper scientific name, just a number) don't get above 6 inches. Avoid hypostamus plecostamus (common sucker fish) and gibbiceps (sail fin plecostamus) cause they can get HUGE!
3ft tank you could also go with a pair of angel fish - but avoid adding small fish after the angels cause they'll enjoy munching on them! Also avoid anything too boisterous such as 3 spot gouramis, larger predatory catfish, tiger barbs.
Loaches are cool too - and you get a huge variety. (Pakistani, skunk, clown, chain, cross striped) make sure you keep them in trios though, or they get stressed.