My goldfish isn't growing!

[Carina Larsen]

Hi!
I bought a goldfish for about one year ago. My fish is 2 inches long, and I
believe: not growing. Is that normal? Am I feeding him to little? I thought
there were some species that will remain small, all through their lives, no
matter what you feed them. Am I right? And how do I know how much to give
him? He seems hungry all the time.

Carina

[GO]

It's sometimes hard to tell if a fish is fat, or skinny, or ok, or not
because they have unusual shapes. Shape alone is not enough to be able
to tell unless you have handled the fish and have felt the extent of
flesh to bone ratio. To increase your familiarity with a fish and it's
condition regarding fat and other flesh what you may monitor is the
flesh on the head. If the head looks bony it may be too skinny, if the
head is full and smooth the fish is probably getting enough food.

Other factors affecting size are the water temperature (should be
warm) and how often it is fed per day.

It's conventional to indicate a fish size from tip of mouth to end of
tail. 2" is very small but I assume you mean , what everyone factors
incorrectly, it's 2" from nose to beginning of tail. Yes? No?

I had a GF I inherited 10 years ago from a neighbor, it was about 3"
nose-to-tail. They had is about a year. I put it in a heated tank with
three or four small feedings a day and it doubled in size in about six
months. And I even had it in a smaller aquarium than it was living in
before I got it.

Glenn

Carina Larsen <cari...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:04cT4.8075$gy4.1...@juliett.dax.net...

[kitty fish]

within a year, a fish should increase in size by at least
1.5X. you must have your fish in a container too small (i
would recommend no less than a 20 gallon tank for a single
goldfish or a pair), maybe youre not feeding a variety of
fresh foods (not meaning veggies and such, but prepackaged
fish food goes bad after 90 days, so those big huge cans
are for people who have a LOT of fish!), or maybe his water
quality is bad (you should be doing up to a %50 water
change every 1-2 weeks). if you arent doing any of these
things, then your question has been answered, good luck!
kitty fish

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[Carina Larsen]

kitty fish skrev i meldingen
<1710ec64...@usw-ex0110-076.remarq.com>...

>within a year, a fish should increase in size by at least
>1.5X. you must have your fish in a container too small (i
>would recommend no less than a 20 gallon tank for a single
>goldfish or a pair), maybe youre not feeding a variety of
>fresh foods (not meaning veggies and such, but prepackaged
>fish food goes bad after 90 days, so those big huge cans
>are for people who have a LOT of fish!), or maybe his water
>quality is bad (you should be doing up to a %50 water
>change every 1-2 weeks). if you arent doing any of these
>things, then your question has been answered, good luck!
>kitty fish
>

I don't know what kind of fresh food to give him. My petstore recommended
Tetra Perls, in addition to the perls am I giving him flakes and dried
mosquito-worms and lots of love...
I change water once a week, but still keeping him in a 3 gallon glassbowl.
The petstore said this was ok. I planned to have one or two fish in a bowl,
and not buy a huge tank. One reason is that I don't have that much space,
and money.
Somehow I also like him to stay little and cute, insted of becoming 5 inches
long. But I don't like this if my goldfish is suffering from it.
Nice to hear from you!

C

[GO]

It's better to have one healthy and happy fish than to have a
collection of fish living a nightmare.
A three gallon glass bowl is not big enough for one fish.
Something like that with no filter would need a fresh water change
every day.
And with no filter there is nothing helping the fish eliminate
ammonia.
You might at least try one of those sponge filter run by an airpump.
At least then there would be aeration, and the sponge would develop
some bacteria to help.

Glenn

Carina Larsen <cari...@hotmail.com> wrote in message

news:qmaU4.9295$gy4.1...@juliett.dax.net...

[kitty fish]

of COURSE you are compromising your fish's health! if you
wont do it right, dont do it at all. you cannot expect a
fish to grow if he doesnt have room. a 2 inch long,
deformed, stunted, disease ridden, prematurely dead fish
isnt cute, its pathetic.

[ravinwulf]

juliet wrote:

> Fish only grow proportional to the tank that they are kept in. eg, a goldy
> in a small tank would stay small, move it to a pond and it will grow. it's
> perfectly normal for a fish to not grow if it feels it should stay that
> size.

Not exactly. Fish growth is dependent on water quality (among other things);
too small a volume of water relative to the size, number and type of fish
virtually guarantees poor water quality, which in turn virtually guarantees
that the fish's growth will be *stunted*. This is neither healthy for the
fish, nor normal. The end results are an increased susceptibility to disease
and a shorter life span.

Regards,
ravinwulf

[juliet]

Fish only grow proportional to the tank that they are kept in. eg, a goldy
in a small tank would stay small, move it to a pond and it will grow. it's
perfectly normal for a fish to not grow if it feels it should stay that
size.

...back to lurking...
Juliet
jul...@hotmail.com

[Dreashoe]

please move it to a larger tank! i mean, come on, even if you use the inch per
gallon rule, the biggest your fish will get is probably about 3 inches, and it
will be unhealthy! goldfish really need a lot of room, and a lot of aeration.
10 gallons a fish, k?

hope that helps, Andrea