Tips for Successfully Keeping Goldfish

Getting a goldfish in a bag? This is the classic image of many a child’s first pet – a friendly fish. Watching the little guy flit and flip around a bowl brings such joy to little watchers.

After winning a gold fish from the local county fair, I tried to follow this route in my younger years but failed after only two days. Goldfish are known to be delicate little creatures with an unfortunately low life expectancy. I thought I was ready with a cheap bowl and some fish food… alas, it was not so.

Here are some tip’s I recently gleaned from Wendy Pfeffer’s What’s It Like to Be a Fish?

Tips to Help Your Kids Successfully Care for Goldfish

• Prioritize a glass bowl over a plastic container, elect one with a wide bulge.
• Pour water into the vessel, fill to the widest part of the bowl to provide the peak amount of oxygen possible (more surface area = more oxygen).
• Leave the water to rest for a day until it is room temperature.
• Float the fish containing bag in the water to accustom the fish to the new space and temperature, at least 15 minutes.
• Open the bag and let the little fish free!

What’s It Like to Be a Fish?  is filled with many useful tips that teach kids to successfully care for goldfish. These pages are also a wealth of information about fish in general. Pfeffer discusses different types of fish, physical characteristics, various biological survival strategies and food choices.

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