Anyone looked after goldfish and they have survived more than 2 weeks!

[moosh]

Tips on looking after gold fish would be gratefully received.
Both ds1 gold fish died within a week MIL thought she'd buy them for his birthday without really consulting us which me and dh were horrified when we turned up on his birthday to find a tiny tank and some fish food and two fish! .
Ds looked disapointed to begin with he obviously was expecting a toy of some sort. One died after a week and the other died 2 days later. Ds ok about it now but wants more fish so before I go out and splash out anymore money someone help!!!!! I have already bought a larger tank as MIL gave us a tiny one which I thought was cruel to put the two fish in. Do we need to get a pump or a filter system to filter the tap water. Any fish lovers out there? (Fish to keep as pets not to eat). Believe it or not I grew quite attached to them for the short time we had them.

We've got a goldfish which i don't like a i have a real phobia of fish !! We've had 'him' about 2 years now!! you are best getting a bigger tank but you don't need pumps or anything. ours gets cleaned out every 1-2 weeks depending on how grubby he gets.my dh also puts something called "fish safe2 in the water when he changes it as this reduces the chlorine in the water or something! Also if you buy the pellet food instead of flakes the water doesn't get so dirty!!

Another thing, if you put two fish in a tiny space there's not enough oxigen for both to survive.

I have a under gravel bubble airfilter in my goldfish bowl. have had one fish for two years and one for about a year. I don't have to clean the tank out as the filter keeps it clean. They have quite a large tank too

I won a goldfish at a fair when I was 13 and it died when I was 27. I have to say it lived in a large glass vase for its first couple of years but then I bought a proper bowl (the guy at the shop said they can live up to about 24 years). Anyway, you don't have to have a pump but this does mean you don't have to clean them out so often and you can put some weed in to make the tank look prettier. My sister has two fish in a medium size tank with a pump and weed and they look very nice in her kitchen and are thriving. If you live in a very hard water area, do ask the people at the pet shop what they would recommend water-wise as I think fish can be quite sensitive.

We've had a goldfish for years and years, it eventually died recently but it had a good run! We didn't have a huge tank, a little bowl, just enough room for him. He always had those weeds in the bowl, when cleaning it out, always let the fresh water sit for a while to adjust to room temperature, be carefull about spraying air freshner/hairspray etc in the room if bowl has open top, don't leave bowl near radiator or where the sun shines onto it, erm can't think of many more, oh and don't drop him in the sink by accident when cleaning out the tank, very wriggly and hard to get hold of HTH

My dh has successfully kept cheap-destined-to-die goldfish for years and years. His secret is to do everything they tell you not to in the books. He only washes the fish tank out when it's so murky you can't see through it. He does this by fishing the fish out with his hand and dumping them in some water in a bowl. He then washes the tank out with dish washing liquid or hand soap. Then he refills it with water straight from the tap and dumps the fish straight back in without letting water stand at all. He feeds the fish table scraps (bread crumbs and bits of cookie) and lets his kids pet them. 3 years later the fish are twice the size they started at.

i'd get a pump or filter, most shops wont sell you fish unless you have these in place nowadays anyway.

Thanks everyone, I do think we live in a hard water area, and that could be the reason they died. I will buy a pump as the fish tank I bought is twice the size of the original one so there is room for that. Someone has also told be to put live plants in not plastic as too helps to absorb the carbon dioxide and helps to oxygenate the water. well wish me luck I am going to get some either this weekend or next weekend. Dh thinks it is a waste of money and effort but I feel it is nice for my two children who are only small to have somethoing to help me look after. We live in a flat so we can't have dogs which I love i refuse hamsters until ds1 is about 10 and can sort them out for himself like I did I had a string of hamsters from the age of 10 till about 15. Lets hope the fish survive a bit longer. I think I'll buy one for a few weeks and if that one survives I'll but another to keep it company.

my Mum has a goldfish that is at least 15 years old! He (?) lives in a tank about 2'x1'x18", and swims in hard water. There is no weed or filter, and he gets cleaned out when the water starts to look murky. My Mum reckons the secret is not to over-feed; she hits the roof if we sneak the poor thing a few flakes of fish food!

We had goldfish when we were children. One sunny day my mum decided to put the fish bowl outside on the terrace "to get some air". Needless to say, the sun heated up the water and the poor fish jumped out to their deaths on the terrace. She got us a rabbit after that.