My daughter wants a fish

[robemcdonald]

As per the title my daughter wants a fish

Is there such a thing as a low maintenance fish that:

Doesn’t require a massive specialist aquarium costing thousands of pounds
Doesn’t need to be cleaned out on a daily basis
Will happily live in a smallish bowl

I think I already know the answer, but promised I’d look into it.

[Nurburgsingh]

cut out a fish shape from an orange peel and stick it in a mixing bowl with some water in it.

[warp9]

It's called a goldfish! Pop down your local pet shop, they'll put you straight, but a simple setup shouldn't cost you more than £50.

[otolith]

Short answer - no. Though there are still some unscrupulous shops which will sell you fish and entirely unsuitable bowl setups.

[Nurburgsingh]

how far away is the local "fish shop" - we put our kids off for YEARS by just taking them down to look at the fish.. spent 20-30 mins looking every few weeks or so satisfied their "need" for a fish.

[Turn7]

Have a scroll though this thread, all the good advice is there...

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Bear-n]

Get her a rescue fish from the chippy.

[fat80b]

My advice would be scour facebook etc for a second hand small tank with fish already in it.

Ours came with heater, pump, tank, lights,stones etc and 3 fish for the princely sum of £20.

The kids gave them names and cared for them for about a week and now it's my problem.....

[pidsy]

Bi-orb?

Or are they a no no?

[ReverendCounter]

In order to gauge whether she'd be a good, responsible carer, get her something from the fishmonger to start with.

[robemcdonald]

otolith said:

Short answer - no. Though there are still some unscrupulous shops which will sell you fish and entirely unsuitable bowl setups.

This is exactly the answer I expected.

Thank you

[robemcdonald]

Nurburgsingh said:

how far away is the local "fish shop" - we put our kids off for YEARS by just taking them down to look at the fish.. spent 20-30 mins looking every few weeks or so satisfied their "need" for a fish.

Not too far and they let you pay to feed the fish, so a good option.

[robemcdonald]

fat80b said:

The kids gave them names and cared for them for about a week and now it's my problem.....

My expectation…

[MG CHRIS]

warp9 said:

It's called a goldfish! Pop down your local pet shop, they'll put you straight, but a simple setup shouldn't cost you more than £50.

Nope goldfish make a st load of mess and need big tanks to live happy lives. Biggest myth in the hobby that goldfish are easy to look after and can live in a small tank.

[Boosted LS1]

They only make a mess because being gluttons people over feed them.

Goldfish are probably the easiest fish to keep and almost impossible to kill by making mistakes with their water.

As a kid I used to empty the tank after putting the fish in a bowl. Then I'd scub the tank and gravel, fill up with cold tap water and put the fish back in. This was probably the worst thing I could have done but the fish survived whilst others would have died from thermal shock. They are tough.

As for tank size then bigger is always better but something maybe 18" x 12" would be ample for a couple of fish. Don't bother with a bowl, they're to small imo and have poor water surface area.

Edited by Boosted LS1 on Sunday 20th February 15:01

[Louis Balfour]

My son wanted a fish.

What an ordeal. It is not a cheap and easy pet option, in my experience.

Buy her a panther cub. Or a lion. It will be cheaper and easier.

[Lincsls1]

Just tell her no.
It will just end up being another chore for you to attend.
Nothing easy about looking after fish.

[Largechris]

Louis Balfour said:

My son wanted a fish.

What an ordeal. It is not a cheap and easy pet option, in my experience.

Buy her a panther cub. Or a lion. It will be cheaper and easier.

Particularly when the shop sells you a Pygmy fish that just doesn’t stop growing and turns into a 3 foot monster.

[lufbramatt]

Smaller tanks are harder to look after- less water to dilute nasties, less thermal mass, need more frequent water changes.

I'd suggest 50 litres is the smallest tank that "works", would house a group of guppies or similar small fish ok. Looks like a 50ish liter system can be had for around £70.

Once a tank is up and running they're pretty easy to look after. It's when people overstock small tanks the problems start.

My 350l tank takes me less than an hour per week to maintain.

Edited by lufbramatt on Monday 21st February 10:10

[BoRED S2upid]

Get her a goldfish we had one from the fair when we were kids it lived for years quite happily. We have a biorb with 2 in north for our kids which hardly takes any time to clean.