New developments with my goldfish

Murrmurr

Murrmurr

SF VIP
Location
Sacramento, California
I think Eva laid some eggs....but I'm not sure.

I bought these goldfish for 5 yr-old Paxton (my former foster son) and his 4 yr-old twin siblings. I bought 4, for some reason. I pared them down 3, one for each of the kids, and they got to name them.

Paxton named his fish Binx. His twin brother and sister named theirs Rocky and Eva, respectively.

I only bought them a few months ago, and I just let the PetSmart associate stick a net in the "feeders" tank and grab whatever was easy. These are a pet store's disposable fish. I only paid .39 cents for each.

Well, just a few months later Binx has grown into quite a majestic looking fish. This is a gorgeous fish. He isn't orange ("gold"), he's kind of a pinkish-peachy color, twice the size he was when I bought him, his fins are big and bellowy...just a real handsome ...uh, guy, I guess.

And Rocky grew about half-again the size he was.

These genders are not educated guesses or even assumptions, they're just random assignments I gave them.

But anyway, they're acting like one of them laid eggs, and I'm pretty sure it was Eva. "She" has been lying under the plants a lot, or behind the air-stone, which is uncharacteristic for her, and now there's foam on the surface of the water. I looked it up, and that foam forms when a goldfish releases eggs.

I don't see any eggs, but it's very common for the fish to eat them soon after they're released. And if any do hatch, they'll eat the fry.

But according to my searches, goldfish are about a year old when they develop eggs. I guess I'm just surprised that feeders are apparently already at least several months old when you buy one.
 

jujube said:
Fish aren't the most loving of parents. Male bass will carefully build a "nest" for his lady-love to lay her eggs in, then he will attentively tend to the nest, fanning sediment away carefully from the eggs so they don't smother and driving off predators.

When the fry hatch, they better make tracks because he'll promptly eat any he can catch.

Ahhh, good 'ol dad.
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Yeah, let's not forget that mom doesn't care what dad eats. :p
 
Ohhhhh what tangled webs we weave….My goldfish story started sort of like this. I got two…then my brother got me two more. My original fantail died…18 years later. And god only knows how many fish are in our pond. Lots. Lots and lots. And no….they do not seem to eat their own eggs at my house.
 
Muskrat said:
Ohhhhh what tangled webs we weave….My goldfish story started sort of like this. I got two…then my brother got me two more. My original fantail died…18 years later. And god only knows how many fish are in our pond. Lots. Lots and lots. And no….they do not seem to eat their own eggs at my house.
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If I remember right, the egg-eating mostly happens in aquariums and mostly with the more common species. Mine are very common.

I kept them in a large fish bowl until I finally got an aquarium for them a few weeks later. I recently got a slightly larger aquarium, and that's when the chasing and bumping started. I figured that might be mating behavior, and it was Binx and Rocky chasing poor little Eva around and bumping her against the walls (she's half their size), so I apparently assigned the right genders just by chance.

I thought about building a fish pond out back but about a half-dozen stray cats and a few squirrels visit every day, so that wouldn't work out. For the fish.
 
Rocky and Eva Goldfishbaum had to move. They broke out with black spots, and I thought it might be ammonia burn but the ammonia levels were good, and a chem-test said everything else was fine, so ...a fungus, maybe? That's what I treated them for, plus I did salt treatments and frequent water changes, as recommended by my neighbor who keeps various types of fish.

But they didn't get any better, and Rocky looked a bit worse. So a few weeks ago that same neighbor offered to take them to his place and keep them in his "sick bay" and see if he can cure them.

They died. 😵‍💫

Meanwhile, whatever it was that caused the demise of the Goldfishbaums hasn't effected Binx at all, as far as I can see. And I've looked really close. And now that I've kept a close eye on him for the past few weeks, and he's as handsome and shiny as ever, and I'm sure he's gonna be fine, I went and bought 2 new fish.

I didn't get feeders this time. They can have diseases and/or be full of parasites when you buy them. I chose 2 nearly identical goldfish (for the twins, see) that are the same breed as Binx; Comet Goldfish. I got the largest ones the fish store had, but they're really small (bc they're young). So small, in fact, I'm crossing my fingers Binx doesn't eat them.

I also bought a couple more plants. Bigger ones this time. Plants help keep the water chemistry and bacteria nicely balanced. The new fish are loving them; they play in them and hide in them. That's pretty cool.

But now I need to think of what to tell the twins. I don't wanna tell them their fish died...although, I could blame it on my neighbor...but I mean, what can I say? "Rocky and Eva shrank. It's cool, some fish do that."

Since their adopted-parents-to-be take 'em all to church, maybe they believe in fish heaven? Is that a thing?

Or-r-r, maybe I'll leave it up to the parents-to-be to break it to them. Take advantage of a situation I'm not too thrilled about.
 
Frank, sorry about your fish. Tell the twins they went to a big Koi pond, or any pond, as part of their education. After all, fish travel in schools don't they?

Bad joke, but actually I'm serious. They may buy it.

I had 2 tanks in my life. The second was short lived, just 2 goldfish named PanFry and Cheddar.
 
RadishRose said:
Frank, sorry about your fish. Tell the twins they went to a big Koi pond, or any pond, as part of their education. After all, fish travel in schools don't they?

Bad joke, but actually I'm serious. They may buy it.

I had 2 tanks in my life. The second was short lived, just 2 goldfish named PanFry and Cheddar.
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Michelle pointed out that they'll be so excited to name these new fish, they won't get too hung up on the missing ones.

The pond thing is a good idea. Or I could say they went to live in the river. Because, technically....
 
When my son was little he won goldfish at the school carnival. He came home and we went straight to the pet store to buy him a home and the needed supplies.

He did very well for a long time but suddenly died.
The horror, son was not old enough yet to understand. Went directly to the pet store and purchased another fish. This went on for years until we felt it was time to talk about death. My son took it well as far as we knew.

We marched on best we could. We had a dog when son was born, he grew up with. That loss was much harder. Waited a couple of years and he was able to pick a new puppy. He did not forget his first dog, he now was old enough to learn a pet had to eat, have water, play and feel loved and safe.

It might be wise to replace until they are old enough to have some understanding of what could happen. This is so much more needed and true for children who have been thru trauma. They need to feel their world is safe.

Think of how scared Paxton might feel if he thought you might die, vanish from his life. He is not ready to think about such things. The twins are not as attached but they are too young to know those things either.

Just go to the pet store and keep replacing until the time they must be told the facts. Every living thing can and will die, people, pets, trees, plants. If we take it a step at a time it is less frightening. I never want to tell a child again and I know you don't either but I know you have the experience and love to walk them slowly to the truth.
 
Join the club, throw in a few little goldfish and a few other little things, and before you know it they will be queuing up to be fed and costing £40 per month to feed.
 
this goldfish story reminds me of the little pond my husband dug...still here and beautiful serenity it is..he got large goldfish to start..the raccoons came..he'd count and there were less....
he bought electric fencing..measuring to be sure the coons were zapped..
the fish multiplied so rapidly...
too many...so
he took fencing down...
lots of fish...frogs...dragonflies
now
 
I would love to have a little pond with fish but I have a lot of cats and wildlife that would enjoy a good meal. I had a neighbor who had one. She had a window screen she placed over the pond to keep predators out.
 
Avon said:
Join the club, throw in a few little goldfish and a few other little things, and before you know it they will be queuing up to be fed and costing £40 per month to feed.
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This last trip to the Petsmart cost me over $100. I'd say a little over 1/3 of that went on catfood and some supplements for a sick cat.

I put food out for ferals and strays, and my indoor cat, Pixel, has FIV, plus he chokes very easily, so his food has to be liquefied.

But, yeah, fish are expensive if you're conscientious about it. Goldfish food doesn't cost much, and I make my own filters, which saves me quite a chunk. Tank maintenance is the most expensive part at this point.
 
Blessed said:
When my son was little he won goldfish at the school carnival. He came home and we went straight to the pet store to buy him a home and the needed supplies.

He did very well for a long time but suddenly died.
The horror, son was not old enough yet to understand. Went directly to the pet store and purchased another fish. This went on for years until we felt it was time to talk about death. My son took it well as far as we knew.

We marched on best we could. We had a dog when son was born, he grew up with. That loss was much harder. Waited a couple of years and he was able to pick a new puppy. He did not forget his first dog, he now was old enough to learn a pet had to eat, have water, play and feel loved and safe.

It might be wise to replace until they are old enough to have some understanding of what could happen. This is so much more needed and true for children who have been thru trauma. They need to feel their world is safe.

Think of how scared Paxton might feel if he thought you might die, vanish from his life. He is not ready to think about such things. The twins are not as attached but they are too young to know those things either.

Just go to the pet store and keep replacing until the time they must be told the facts. Every living thing can and will die, people, pets, trees, plants. If we take it a step at a time it is less frightening. I never want to tell a child again and I know you don't either but I know you have the experience and love to walk them slowly to the truth.
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I've actually talked to Paxton about my mortality. I explained that one of the reasons his caseworker looked for a new dad for him is because I'm old, and that not very long after people get old, they die. I told him it's a natural, normal thing for our bodies to slowly wear out and eventually stop working, and it's not scary at all.

He smiled and gave me a big hug. He understood as well as an intelligent 5yr-old can. I just don't want him to be totally broadsided if I keel over sometime soon, you know? He's had enough of that.
 
Murrmurr said:
This last trip to the Petsmart cost me over $100. I'd say a little over 1/3 of that went on catfood and some supplements for a sick cat.

I put food out for ferals and strays, and my indoor cat, Pixel, has FIV, plus he chokes very easily, so his food has to be liquefied.

But, yeah, fish are expensive if you're conscientious about it. Goldfish food doesn't cost much, and I make my own filters, which saves me quite a chunk. Tank maintenance is the most expensive part at this point.
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Pondlife Murr, alas it is not an instant thing or a guaranteed thing unless a person forks out an absolute fortune on big fish and then nothing is guaranteed in nature survival. My main photos seem to have gone missing but found a few dated 2014. Remember for the first time ever the goldfish caught something and died and it took four years before that recovered. Tired at that point in time I was stupid enough to restock with a few Orfe which are now large and not suitable. That Coy was a decent
size in photo, put in as a minnow, and now it is huge. And there tonight they all were with new Goldfish waiting for their grub.
cuckmere 2014 014 (2).JPGcuckmere 2014 018.JPG
 

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