<p>I'm interested in keeping small goldfish. I have never kept pets before, and I want to know what do I need to do to keep the fish alive. Do I need filters, plants, pebbles? Do I need a tank or will a fishbowl be enough? Is it too much hassle for college? Thanks.</p>
<p>You should ask the people at the pet store everything about keeping the fish alive. It may vary based on what type of fish you purchase. </p>
<p>I’d give you actual advice, but I’ve managed to kill every pet goldfish I’ve ever had. Nine. I’ve given up on them.</p>
<p>When I had fish I wound up getting a five gallon tank, which was much more space than the one fish needed. I had a water filter too and a bunch of pebbles on the bottom of the tank as well as some other things like shells and fake plants. The fish lived fine in the smaller tank, but when I got the larger one I’m sure it was happier and the entire set-up looked a lot nicer.<br>
The downside of that, though, would be that it takes up a lot more space and will be hard to move when you leave.
A friend of mine last year had a fish in a small bowl, though, and either her or her roommate would take it home during breaks to take care of it. Keep in mind that you can’t just leave it in your room while your away.</p>
<p>I own a 150 gallon fishtank (at home, not school, of course!), so I’m a huge fish fanatic. Never had a goldfish, though. One bit of advice: don’t overfeed them. Ask someone at the petstore about how much to feed them and don’t deviate from that much.</p>
<p>Get a betta. They need less space than goldfish.</p>
<p>^ Agreed on the beta fish, very low maintainence compared to other fish and they take a very small amount of space.</p>
<p>If you have just one goldfish, a small bowl would be fine. It’s just when you have lots of fish that problems arise, since there won’t be enough oxygen in the tank.</p>
<p>Second on the overfeeding. Goldfish will gouge themselves on the food available and kill themselves.</p>
<p>If this is going to be your first semester of college, then I would wait on a pet. I’m sure that life is going to be hectic with meeting new people, attending classes, doing homework, joining clubs, etc. so you might accidentally forget to take care of it. Don’t forget that you need to clean the tank. Otherwise it will turn into an algae farm and will smell like *****. </p>
<p>If you have your heart set on having a pet though, and don’t mind spending a bit of money, I would highly recommend an Eclipse tank. It has a filtration system and a light built into the lid of the tank. (NOTE: If you’ve never had a fish tank before, you may be bothered by the sound of the filtration system at first. It sort of sounds like you left the faucet running on a fast paced drip. After a few days though, you won’t even notice it. It just takes a little getting used to.) I’ve had fish for years and Eclipse is by far my favorite. No matter what type of tank you get, just make sure that for every 1 inch of fish you have, you provide 1 gallon of water. This just ensures that the fish have enough room to swim. You will also need gravel for the bottom of the tank, and you could purchase some fake plants. Just don’t overload your tank with trinkets. If your tank has a filter, make sure that you get extra filter cartridges, but if it doesn’t, get some sort of sponge of scrubby that you can clean the inside of the tank, and any trinkets in the tank with. You will also have to rinse out the gravel, so get a cheap strainer (make sure that the holes are small enough to hold in the rocks). You’re also probably going to have to balance the pH in the water by getting a water conditioner. </p>
<p>Sorry for the long post, I just want you’re getting into lol. If I were you, I’d wait until at least the 2nd semester. Good luck with whatever you choose though.</p>
<p>P.S. Like floee said, get a beta. They’re much prettier, much smaller, and live a bit longer than goldfish.</p>
<p>Warning: You might not be able to bring a tank with any sort of filtration system depending on your school’s housing policy. </p>
<p>Honestly, I’m really wary about keeping pet fish. If you buy your fish at a smaller fish specialty store that actually takes care of its animals it might not be so bad, but last year, a lot of people in my dorm who bought fish at the local Petsmart had them die relatively quickly because they were neglected and sick. </p>
<p>I always felt really bad for my roommate’s fishes because she did not clean the bowl often enough and it looked disgusting. Also, its living space was tiny and it seemed to be throwing itself against the edges of its bowl a lot out of boredom. Also she killed the first one by leaving it in a freezing car overnight.</p>
<p>Don’t Beta’s eat each other? Or is that a different fish?</p>
<p>i know it’s just a fish and it can easily go in a bowl. but you might want to check with your school. some of them are stringent on not allowing any sort of pets in dorms. and with RAs doing checks in rooms, that could result in some fine or whatever disciplinary action the school usually takes.</p>
<p>Well, I don’t know if they eat each other, but they will kill each other if kept in the same bowl. The people at the pet store said they would be fine with other kids of fish, but lo and behold, my grandma’s betta killed her goldfish.</p>
<p>Really? That’s crazy. I think one of the reasons my goldfish died was because one died and I never took his dead body out (I was eight, give me a break, lol) so then the others started going.</p>
<p>If I had a beta who killed another fish, I would never clean that up. I don’t think I could even look at it.</p>
<p>my sister has been taking care of some bettas recently. supposedly it’s the male bettas that kill each other. she has a tank which is partitioned off. female and male bettas can get along fine obviously. not sure about female bettas with other female bettas though.</p>
<p>Regarding fish eating each other, did you know some species of sharks will eat their siblings while still in the womb?</p>
<p>Clearly, sharks have it all figured out.</p>
<p>I think it all depends on the beta that you get. I had one and put it in a tank with like 15 other tropical fish (all of which were smaller or the same size as the beta) and minded its own business. I think that one lived for a year. When it died, I got another one and it began attacking the other fish.</p>
<p>wow-i’ve killed off a lot of gold fish myself, but my mom has a 10 gallon tank with the same 5 goldfish inhabiting it for the last three years.</p>
<p>… I swear have any of you been around fish before? Goldfish are great in a bigger tank (nothin less then a 10 gallon) but it has to be cleaned often… You should only put a betta by itself when its in a small tank or else it will just kill everything off…</p>
<p>^^ But if it’s already by itself, what would kill?</p>