I should not be allowed to own fish

Posted: Jun 10, 2024

Winning 9 goldfish at a festival has turned into a very expensive experience. It's also been, I guess concerning would be the right word, experience.

When we won the fish, I was expecting to go to my local box store and get a small aquarium and some goldfish food. Knowing myself, I would have probably gotten the biggest aquarium Target offered because I think animals in captivity need as much space as I can give them. ^[1]

But, Target doesn't have aquariums. So, we ended up at Petco. Thank heavens the young man on duty actually had some knowledge. He informed us that goldfish are filthy things and need the biggest aquarium you can actually afford. Almost $800 later, we took our fish home with a 55 gallon tank, some plants and decorations, and other things they needed.

The tank, which barely fit in my car, was definitely not large enough for all nine goldfish - which seems ridiculous because they just aren't that big yet. So, we re-homed five of them at the local pond place.

With only four fish left, I was actually able to see the differences between them, and they got names. One of which was "Baldy" because he didn't seem to have a dorsal fin. (He did, it was just damaged and folded down a bit.) I got curious and hit kagi for information. That's when I learned Baldy was sick. After a bit more research, ordered antibiotics for him, got a second "hospital" aquarium and some air stones, and tried to nurse him back to health.

It seemed to work. He perked up, started swimming around more, and appeared to be on the mend. After his course of antibiotics, he went back in the big tank with his friends. Things were looking good.

The next issue was that Baldy and the smallest fish in the tank, "Baby Bear" seemed to have trouble getting to the top of the tank for the flakes and competing with the two larger fish, "Shark Bait" and "Ahab". So, I wondered if I could get goldfish food that would sink down rather than float. I figured I'd put some floating stuff on the top for the big two, and strategically aim sinking stuff down for Baldy and Baby Bear.

So, off to the local fish store we went. They did, indeed, have sinking goldfish food. So, I got that, and two snails for the tank. Petco had told me the goldfish would eat snails. This place said they had no problems with their goldfish or snails being in a tank together.

Two days later, we found Baldy, dead, behind a plant with a snail. A couple of days after that, I noticed a white sore on Ahab, and a strange white "growth" around Shark Bait's mouth. Crap. More medication ordered - this time an anti-fungal.

I don't think the fungus came with the goldfish. They'd been here about three weeks by the time it showed up. Instead, I think it may have come with the snails. Who knows. I'm just hoping I can keep these little guys alive.