For 'old' people..

[den]

I remember when I was a kid, (late 60's) going to the "pet department" of my local K-Mart, Kresgies, (or whatever). Way at the back, behind the racks of "Young Men's Clothing" and "Sundries" (whatever they are), would be a wall with probably 10 gall. fish tanks, filled with green scum. In them, would be turtles, comet goldfish, then you had 'exotic' goldfish. The 'tropical' section would exist of Zebras and possibly a Swordtail. (You could buy an official 'turtle tank' which was a 12 inch plastic bowl with a stairway up to a 1 inch plastic palm tree. This would make them feel at home, you see...)

You would then buy another 10 Gall tank, with the square, green 'filter' which you put inside the tank, under the water, with the expulsion tube simply shooting the water back out (underwater)- complete with fibreglass filter, and marbles in the bottom. (??)

You were supposed to "change the water once a week", which we never did, because that meant filling up a bowl of straight tapwater, dumping the fish in it, then using 'fresh', 'boiling' tapwater, scald the scum off the tank, fill it back up with 'fresh' tapwater (because it looked pretty with all them bubbles on the side), and dump the fish back in!

Daaaaadddd...another fish died.......whaaaaaaa.

It's all my Dad's fault that I am the way I am and everything! If only he took me to the toy section and pretended there were no such thing as 'pet fish'. If I ever have a kid, he's going to scrub that tank so hard, before he puts in pure tapwater I tell ya....

 

[Angry_Platy]

I am not that old but my first fish were 2 goldfish...I changed ALL the water once a week and cleaned the gravel with boiling water...and scrubbed down the sides of the bowl with a scourer....I never used water conditioner and fed them when I remembered.

They lived for 6 years!!! they only died cause the cat thought they'd be fun to play with

 

[den]

So let me get this straight...you're NOT supposed to change ALL the water once a week??

 

[my_fallen_angel]

So let me get this straight...you're NOT supposed to change ALL the water once a week??

i hope your kidding!


i thought i was doing a good thing when i scrubbed the gravel in my fish bowls when i was a kid, and emptying all the water .
at least i did use water conditioner

 

[den]

Yeah..guess I should remember that impressionable young minds are reading this...

DO NOT CHANGE ALL OF YOUR WATER EVERY WEEK!! IT WAS A JOKE !! TEE HEE!!

 

[jams.alaskan]

Yes, I remember... I was jealous cuz all the neighbor kids had those turtle things or the gold fish and my parents didn't feel it was right for the "living, breathing, things". My parents were right - I learned early - happy fish always for me

ALASKA

 

[Doggfather]

i didn't know k-mart sold fish

 

[Sky042]

at my parents house in the atic we still have one of those old tanks with the large chrome metal seams and corners. ANd one of those filters with the charcoal(not carbon our fish store used to sell shiny useless charcoal) and the floss that you put on the top add a air pump and you had yourself a fishtank. I actually sucessfully kept goldfish in it for a while till my sister decided the fish needed cleaning and added liquid soap to the tank.

 

[den]

That's right, it WAS charcoal - not marbles (that was advanced). And it WAS stricly an air pump that basically blew bubbles through the fibreglass and 'charcoal'.

(Peeps: realize The 'charcoal' was loose, not in a bag, and it was probably from a mine somewhere in Birmingham (if they have mines). Come to think of it, it was probably good that we changed the water once a week!

 

[ChriX]

LOL @ mining charcoal

I used to change all the water on my first goldfish every couple of weeks too. I had a Fluval 1 in my tank which was just a bit of sponge, I used to rinse that out under the tap when I changed the water too, as I presumed, being 5 or so, that it was only a mechanical filter. However, I never used to boil the gravel every week. He lived for years this way.

 

[cometcattle]

I remember they had fish, parakeets, and hamsters at the "woolworth".

 

[Fish-n-Chips]

lol cometcattle...i also remember woolworths

 

[ladynaoko]

we managed to keep our 6 goldfish alive in a 15 G tank for 7 years!!
A lot of those guys are still alive, living in my aunts pond. I went to see them yesterday - "That CAN'T be little Sonic!!". Little 3 inch sonic is now a 12 inch long, 3 inch wide monster

 

[Nina7777]

Hi everyone- I'm not "too old" either. but I remember when I was about 8 having about 6 fancy goldfish in a one gallon bowl. At least I had an air pump, but I only changed the water occasionally and fed them way too much!
Then when i was about 10 I got a 10 gallon for christmas, and kept mollies, kissing guoramis, fiddler crab, guppies, and those oh so pretty birght colored cichlids, together.

If i only knew back them what I know now, Maybe all those poor fish would have lasted more than a month.

I should be shot for the way I kept those poor fish! But in my defense, we didn't havea computer and the local fish store wasn't very knowledgeable, and I was only a youngin.

When I have kids though, I am going to teach them all the right ways to keep fish and about everything they need to know!

 

[tstenback]

Well i am old and i can say we must have had really good water back then cause all i ever did was fill the tank let 'er run with the air pump and air stone and bubble filter for a day then fill er up with fish and rarely had a death. Didn't need to do water changes, only had to top it up and add dechlorinator(if i had some handy) It is amazing that i ever had a fish that lived. Now that i know a bit more about the water chemistry and cleaning and all that rot it seems it is harder to keep the fish alive. So it must be the water ...or is it the fish?