Goldfish are a Great Choice for a Child’s First Pet

When your four year old child wants a puppy and you are too short on time to take on the responsibility you may first try to “talk her down” to a Guinea pig or hamster. They are cute little guys but they do sometimes run away when the child plays with them. You may be wise to skip down over the little furry guys and offer as an alternative – a pet goldfish. Now here is the ideal first pet. The child can watch it all day through the glass bowl or aquarium without too much supervision. The goldfish will be active enough to attract the child’s interest. Plus – you can instill in her the responsibility of feeding her new pet every single day.

The first mistake a novice goldfish keeper will make is to place the fish in too small a container. This causes the problem of the water becoming dirty in a short time and the water not providing enough oxygen. For you newbies out there – yes fish do need oxygen just as humans do. Their intake is through the gills while ours is through the nose. If you notice a goldfish’s gills heaving in and out rapidly it usually means they are somewhat desperate for more oxygen since the water they live in isn’t providing enough.

Most often the goldfish is not in an aquarium with an aerator to add oxygen. When you change the goldfish’s water it should not be a drastic change. Place some of the water they are currently swimming in in another container. Then use a small net to transfer the fish to the other container. You can eventually teach a small child to do this gently either with or without your holding and guiding his hand. Empty about half the water in the regular fish bowl or aquarium out. Save a small amount. Clean the bowl with a cleaner sold through a reliable pet store. The online stores are very knowledgeable and often will answer emails that request their advice before ordering the products.

The cost is reasonable and you can stock up on fish food and cleaning products during sales. Now your goldfish bowl has been cleaned and you are preparing to put fresh water in it. Let the tap water sit until it’s room temperature. You have experienced the shock to your own body of diving into a cold pool. The fish can be affected the same way only he can’t quickly escape as you could. It’s too much of a shock to his system to be placed into a radically different water temperature. When you are ready to return him to the room temperature clean bowl, add some of the dirty water from the extra container he was in. This is done to allow him to acclimate himself to the clean water without the change being too drastic.

Return him gently by use of a small net that can be purchased online. The one other thing to remember about goldfish which will help them avoid an early demise is, do not overfeed them. You may want to have a pair of goldfish rather than just one. You might want to buy two or three small live aquarium plants to keep the water well oxygenated too. If you choose to add one of those cute little bridges for them to swim under, make sure it is created with a guaranteed non-toxic finish. Ceramic is usually safe because the colors are baked on. There is a wonderful book available online geared toward the young child under seven. It gives information about goldfish as pets at his or her level of understanding.

Finally, if and when the worst happens and your little one finds his cute pet swimming belly up one morning, you can console him and then console yourself with the knowledge that you are providing him with a gently traumatic loss experience that will be one of life’s lessons we all must learn. A lot of explaining and a little ceremony of some kind will console him. It’s a positive thing to say his little pet had a happy lifetime and died a peaceful death.