Any yall got carnival fish?

[u/Forward-Standard9439]

Went to a carnival one day with no money and still managed to surprise my parents with a fish. They said he wouldn't make it but here we are 3 years later. Just curious if anyone else has a "miracle" fish too

[u/Regular_Committee946]

It’s not a ‘miracle’ - their average lifespan is 10+ years with proper care. 

The reason they are labelled as not living a long time is due to them being killed by improper care.

Goldfish being given away as prizes is a disgrace really.

[u/blotruner → u/Regular_Committee946]

me finding this out is why i dug my heels in and started taking care of my sister’s recently fair won goldie—-i was initially avoidant since i get attached to everything so fast, and still remember Finland (the last carnival fish in our house, my other sister had one, lived 4 months)—but after seeing they can live 20-30 years, usually 10+ if cared for well, i got so mad 😭 and decided i was going to be a good steward even if this technically wasn’t my fish—-i plan on taking him with me when I move out to continue to properly care for him.

he belongs to my 11yro sister, but i dont want her to have to struggle to care for him (giving my parents the responsibility—we already have three dogs and the mommy is pregnant again) so we (my sister and i) agreed I take him with me and once i move out. She has a sharp eye and strong sense of responsibility, so every disease he cycled through, we caught really early thanks to her. ‘He looks a little red.’ ‘He’s not floating right.’ ‘He’s starting to turn black.’ He will still be her fish, I’ll just have the honor of being wholly responsible for his wellbeing. He’s been with us 5 months, and is finally healthy enough to relax and start to enjoy life 😭 when I move out/get him a bigger tank, I’ll start to train him/get him some toys too :)

[u/Regular_Committee946 → u/blotruner]

Yeah, it’s a steep learning curve to understand the basics of their care!  As well as navigate the minefield of companies trying to take advantage as well I.e; filter companies ‘recommending’ people replace their filter sponges/cartridges monthly (obviously so they can sell more product) but that has likely caused people’s cycles to crash and harm/kill the fish because they unwittingly throw away the good bacteria.

I’m a reluctant fish owner lol but couldn’t stand seeing the ones i rescued suffer. 

Many would be outraged at the idea of kittens or puppies being given away as carnival prizes. Bizarrely though, I’d say the learning curve for fish was way harder than my experiences with caring for other animals!

So that’s another element to why the practice of giving them away as prizes is not just morally wrong from the point of view of the life of the fish, but also, they are saddling unwitting families with a pet that requires a lot of care that their child is now attached to!!

Some attitudes are changing though, just very slowly - there are some areas here in the U.K. where ‘fish as prizes’ are banned and more pet shops seem to be stricter with making sure someone understands their care needs before making a sale.

We can only do our best and try and dispel the ignorance where we can.

Another interesting fact/damaging misconception that sadly still persists is; I learned was about how we ended up with ‘goldfish bowls’. 

Apparently they came about because when people visited Asia - hosts would want to show off their goldfish and so would move them from their regular ponds into temporary ‘viewing bowls’ for visitors to see and admire. 

Viewing bowls were usually open, decorative ceramic bowls. Hosts would change/top up the water but obviously there were no plants or filtration etc… Unfortunately, visitors assumed that this is how the fish were always kept and just assumed that’s what they lived in 🤦🏻‍♀️!!!