Fish Help

**gigglezk** · 05-07-2011, 08:37 PM

My middle son asked for fish for his birthday. So I got him one goldfish to keep in a bowl with some rocks and a plant. He complained that his fish was lonely and needed some friends. I said no. His dad said yes and bought him eleven more

. Well, naturally, a one gallon fish bowl is NOT big enough for a dozen fish. So they've been dropping left and right. It's only been a week and we're now down to only one! Not the original fish either. So I'm hoping to keep him alive until I can get a good size tank and filter. Any suggestions?

FWIW, it's a goldfish. I was cleaning the bowl every day because it was getting nasty with all those fish in there. But now it's only one so he should be good.

**tjolims** · 05-07-2011, 08:46 PM

I know nothing about fish, but

@ your ex for buying 11 fish and no aquarium. Your poor son having all those fish die on him...

Instinct says it's the little bowl and the frequent cleaning that caused fish death, but like I said I don't really know. Hope you can find a good solution.

**gigglezk** · 05-07-2011, 09:11 PM

I cleaned the tank after the last one died and did some reading. I shouldn't need to clean it so much with only one fish in there. And I'm going to feed him only once every other day. I think the frequent feedings (only God knows how many times the fish truly ate because my son would sneak some food in there) and the lack of space was killing them. I also dechlorinated the water and let it sit before I transferred them. So we shall see. All I need is for him to last until Friday.

**chachadiva** · 05-07-2011, 09:12 PM

Try going to Petco.com. They have a bunch of aquarium kits in different sizes and they have online forums for each type of pet. Let your son pick out a new home for his fish.

Yeah, your ex was overcompensating and left you to handle all the rough stuff.

**gigglezk** · 05-07-2011, 11:00 PM

We just got back from the library and got a couple books on caring for goldfish, both for him and me. He is excited about trying to keep the last one alive. We've set a date for Friday to go get a tank (5 gallon) and maybe 2 friends. I was going to lay the ex out for doing this to me. But my son got him pretty good "Dad, I'm glad Mom took me to the library to get some books about fish. Everything you said was wrong. No wonder my fish died. Thank goodness Mom has a library card" LOL

**gigglezk** · 05-15-2011, 10:25 PM

Timmy is still alive!!!! I think the goldfish "bootcamp" I put myself in has made a huge difference. I feel much better about taking care of him and know what I'm doing. I've read almost every book the library had and I also made my son read along with me. To punish his father for his stupidity in overcompensating, I am making him buy the tank. But since we are moving in a few weeks, it would be a PITA to move a fish tank. So we're waiting until after the move. We're going to get a 30 gallon tank and maybe introduce one more fish into it.