Whether they want to or not, every parent winds up looking after their child's goldfish. It doesn't matter if they won it at a fair or they begged until you picked one up at the store, after a couple of days your child's excitement wears off and it's up to you to keep Goldie alive.
How hard can it be? The fish swims around in its bowl, you feed it some flakes, maybe change the water once a week and that should be everything.
Fish don't need to go for walks, they can't rip up your furniture, they're pretty easy to look after - or so you thought. It turns out you've already made the worst mistake possible.
It's as simple as this: goldfish don't belong in bowls, ever! While it's common to keep goldfish in bowls all around the world, it's been proven that it's not healthy to keep fish in them. Some places, like the city of Rome, have even banned goldfish bowls for being cruel.
Most people don't think twice about dropping their pet fish into a tiny bowl, then they wonder why they die in just a few weeks. it may seem hard to believe, but a healthy goldfish should grow up to be the size of a softball or bigger.
In fact, it's very common for goldfish to live into their teens, most only die young because they don't have enough room to grow up.
If you want to take better care of your goldfish, there are lots of guides on the internet that will show you the ropes.
The most important thing is to buy them a big tank full of water. Regular goldfish actually need around 40 gallons, while smaller "fancy" breeds need around 20. After that, you'll want to invest in equipment like filters, bubble stones to entertain your fish (that's right, they get bored), lights, food, live plants, water purifiers, testing strips, and more.
Now you can probably see why your county fair goldfish never made it to their first birthday!
