Geplaatst: 07-07-12 11:55 My other half had a common goldfish when we met as students. OH is not the sort to randomly buy pets, he always finds out about things first. Fishie was bought in 1991, the internet was nowhere near what it is now so books and info from shops were the source of reference. Fishie had a 40 litre tank - 40 litres for a goldfish - that's what was (and sadly sometimes still is) commonly recommended. We thought this was fine, eventually though we thought he could do with a bit more room so bought him a 70 litre tank, nice and big we thought. He started having health problems as he got older; we turned to the internet for help and soon found out what was wrong. Too small a tank, stunted fish, poor diet, lack of understanding of nitrogen cycle, Fishie was a common - these should be in ponds not tanks - something of a catalogue of errors. We sorted out the tank as best we could at the time and got him a four foot, 350 litre one (arguably nowhere near big enough) but it was too late to really sort out the health problems we’d caused him. He was blind as well as the problems mentioned above. Blind because he developed a bacterial infection from living in a half cycled, too small tank where pollutants built up to dangerous levels. His immune system was non-existent in his latter years, a result of poor diet, stunting and associated ill health from being kept in less than perfect conditions for most of his life.
Below are some pics – the first one is Fishie – it’s not pretty is it.
Fishie
This is how he looked towards the end of his life, skinny (his digestive system was hopeless), blind, suffering yet another infection despite the UV sterilizer and trips to the vet. But he was 17 when he died, he would take food from my hands, he swam about, reacted to noises about the tank and as far as was possible interacted with me and OH. So does that mean he was happy and his life was a fishkeeping success? I guess he could have been less happy but I’ll be honest and say he could have been a heck of a lot happier. He lived a long time but you can’t judge the success or otherwise of keeping a pet by how long it lives, there are many variables to take into account. The second pic is Howie, another of my fish. Howie is there to illustrate what Fishie should have looked like. Bit of a difference.
Howie
Plenty of people who came to our house commented on Fishie over the years – isn’t he big (um, no, not really, he was stunted) what a lovely big tank (um, no, not really, it was only 70 litres), doesn’t he look healthy (um, no, not really, he was blind and stunted). People said nice things about him and his tank but this didn’t mean they knew what they were talking about, or that he was healthy and had the right tank.
Second example is Jerry, a comet. Jerry was kept in a bowl and then a 30 litre bowl shaped tank for four years.
Jerry
When he came to live with us he was, at four years old, the size a healthy comet ought to have been at about four months. Malnourished, stunted, deformed, he died three months after he came to us. His body was too damaged for recovery and his systems just failed. But his previous owners could not be persuaded there was anything wrong with him – he got excited at food time, he ate, he swam about, his water was changed, he had a filter, their friends commented on how nice the tank and fish looked. "After all, goldfish live in bowls don’t they so a nice bowl shaped, filtered tank has got to be luxury hasn’t it? And he’s four years old? Gosh, I had no idea they could live so long." People said nice things about him and his tank but this didn’t mean they knew what they were talking about, or that he was healthy and had the right tank. Compare his pic to the fourth one, a wakin/comet, another of my fish. Pixie is about the same age as Jerry was when he died, spot the difference.
pixie
Voor de mensen die slecht zijn in Engels:
fishie:
heeft eerst in 30 liter geleefd, later in 70 liter. Is 17 jaar geworden. Is blind, slecht verteringssysteem. Geen geweldige omstandigheden gehad.
Howie:
zelfde soort als fishie. Heeft alleen in 550 liter geleefd met goede omstandigheden, voorbeeld hoe fishie eruit had kunnen zien.
Jerry:
Geleefd in 30 liter vissenkom. Vergroeid, ondervoed, lang niet de grootte die hij hoort te zijn. Heeft 4 jaar geleefd.
Pixie:
Zelfde vissoort als Jerry. Heeft in 550 liter geleefd, in goede omstandigheden. Voorbeeld hoe Jerry eruit had kunnen zien. Op de foto is hij ook vier jaar, de leeftijd dat Jerry gestorven is.
