Taking Care Of Fish – Oxygen Problems!?
by Aquaboy on Saturday, July 3rd, 2010 | 2 Comments
My best friend is moving and she had to give me two fish. I don’t have access to a pet store. For now I’ve put them in a bowl large enough (they are small fish, 4-7 cm long) and my friend gave me some fish food, but the fish keep swimming to the surface to breathe! I’m afraid there’s not enough oxygen in their bowl. What can I do to help them?
I don’t have any plants to give them,
they don’t have gravel on the bottom of the tank.
There’s about 1.5 liters of water in the bowl, I guess…
How can I help the two fish survive?
Heyy, so my friend couldn’t give me the whole tank, because she’s selling it. But I hope I can get a filter tomorrow. The fish are red swordtails.
why didn’t your friend give you the fish tank as well? Are they gold fish. Gold fish don’t need the oxygen tank and all the apparatus that other fish need. Fish often do go to the top to get oxygen. That’s how they are. If they’re fish other than gold fish, you need to get an aquarium and all the apparatus asap.
They simply can’t survive in a bowl without any sort of airation. You HAVE to have a tank. With a filter and heater, the heater depending on if it’s a tropical fish. Constant water changes as well can harm your fish. Until you can get to a pet store here are some things to help your fish.
20% water changes daily.
Use a fork or fingers to agitate the water to get air in there.
It would help to know what kind of fish they are. To be better to help you care for your new pets.
Ok then you are going to need a tank, the swords can get to be about 4 inches long, not to mention they also need some warmth 72° to 82.
Swordtails are also live barers, so hopefully you don’t have male and females in that bowl. But I doubt they will mate since the conditions are less the favorable.
But all in all you want these fish to thrive, not just survive. If you are unable to get a tank you may have to think about euthanizing the fish. There are sites that can give you information on how to do a humane euthanization, as ugly as it sounds. I do wish you luck and hope you can find a suitable home for them. Let me know how it turns out