Im taking odds and bets, how long with this live?

[FordForever]

My friend has an uncycled freshwater tank that is 5 gallons. A new startup kit...She filled it with tapwater and threw in 5 glofish and a mini puffer and did not add any salt. Shes almost to seven days and the puffer is still alive...

What kind of odds is the puffer getting at this point?

[Kaga's Kritters]

i suggest you tell her to return the fish ASAP and help her set up the tank the correct way. I will not bet on an animals life, that is a terrible way to entertain yourself.

[shalafi04]

my friend did the same thing once back before I knew anything about fish. it lived a few weeks.... maybe 3 or 5... but she doesn't need to return that poor thing

[FordForever]

I told her that her tank needs to cycle she insists that her fish are fine.

[sandy_n]

Some people are just not open to new ways of doing things, unfortunately.

[MandyL]

At least get her to buy some water conditioner to remove chlorine... Soon enough some of her fish will be dead but at least that gives a couple of them a fighting chance.

[FordForever]

At least get her to buy some water conditioner to remove chlorine... Soon enough some of her fish will be dead but at least that gives a couple of them a fighting chance.

She is looking for a larger tank on craigs for them but the will probably die. Her sister has a 10 gal with an 8 year old teloscopic goldfish I can't beleieve she doesn't help these poor fish...

[Wild Turkey]

I told her that her tank needs to cycle she insists that her fish are fine.

Send her a link to this thread, i give the puffer 5 more days at the very most.

[Wild Turkey]

Some people are just not open to new ways of doing things, unfortunately.

Some people care more about being right and doing things their own way than the lives of fish is more like it. Makes me sick

[FordForever]

Some people care more about being right and doing things their own way than the lives of fish is more like it. Makes me sick

She ironically named it killer... :(

[FordForever]

Wal-mart is the worst place in the world. They sold this girl a 2.5GAL tank in one hand and a mini puffer in the other...Sigh...She won't listen, I tried RIP little puffer.

[Wild Turkey]

She ironically named it killer... :(

Some day we will catch up with sweden and not taking care of ur fish will cost u fines.

[NickFish]

I can't believe they are still alive!

I give the puffer another week or two, but the goldfish could go for months, suffering and slowly dying. I can't believe she did that.

Stupid people, stubborn and won't take advice. Torturing poor animals just because they like to think they were right.

Send here this thread, and maybe a link to AC.

[graceluvsplatys]

I hate it when people think that alive means happy/
my parents are the type.... Im glad Im there to take care of all the poor goldifh and bettas they have tried to keep alive!

[graceluvsplatys]

How bout this:
go to goodwill, you can get a 10 or 20 g for like 2 bucks. Convince her to get a filter for the goldfish..... maybe you could offer to take the fish if you have the setup untill she gets it going.
you will get a good feeling inside, too!

[cocoa_pleco]

to be honest, all of the fish only have a week or so to live, the ammonia is going to build up like crazy. the puffer wont last more than a few days probably either,.

unless a few 80% water change are being done daily, things will go bad. theyre going to need a 55g

[LosC]

I've seen goldfish adapt to horrible conditions; in with aggresive tankmates, no water changes, no conditioning, no filter media replacemtns, tropical temps, and they look lik a new type of fish called "silverfish" with missing scales. And they been alive for over a year! I wanted to knock this guy out cuz he didn't care and wouldn't listen but I controlled myself. I've tried and tried with ppl like this but what more can u do?

Thats the typical mentality today, "as long as they're alive they're fine".

[Halelorf]

I don't give the puffer very long. You would be surprised at what it takes to kill some goldfish. I've seen some in absolutely horrible tank conditions and they lived for months and sometimes years. It's too bad your friend won't listen, some people just shouldn't keep fish.

[Rocky06fx4]

For some people giving fish advice is a touchy subject. Some people get offended when being talked to about proper fish care, It might be that the person has a temper and doesn't like being told what to do. Another possibility is the person feels that you are telling them what they are doing is wrong. Then the person just gets madder when he finds out you were right and he was wrong.

[Rue]

...tell her the SPCA is starting to hit on abusive fish owners...

Use the new Swiss laws as official back-up!

[invadertoast]

Is it a dwarf puffer (jell-bean sized?) I've kept a dwarf puffer in a 2.5 gallon successfully, but the tank was cycled first! Maybe after everything dies she'll get discouraged and give up on fishkeeping...

Goldfish are tough, I have a friend who's mom has a pond on her property, there were so many goldfish in it it was just insane (I don't know how they got there) so she tried to bleach the pond and kill them off. A couple days later, she had an overcrowded pond filled with white, swimming, goldfish.

[FordForever]

Just an update, apparently this puffer is still alive in the uncycled 5 gallon tank. They know nothing about cycling could the puffer have lived through the cycle?

[Wild Turkey]

Just an update, apparently this puffer is still alive in the uncycled 5 gallon tank. They know nothing about cycling could the puffer have lived through the cycle?

Very, Very unhappily, yes. But if so youve almost certainly shortened its life span, and it needs more than 5g, i think they need 10, help me out guys.


EDIT
Looks like half of people say 5g min, others say 10g min. So i would go with 10g just to be safe and provide the fish with some better conditions, especially after cycling with it, if they are even done cycling which im not sure they are.

[FordForever]

Very, Very unhappily, yes. But if so youve almost certainly shortened its life span, and it needs more than 5g, i think they need 10, help me out guys.


EDIT
Looks like half of people say 5g min, others say 10g min. So i would go with 10g just to be safe and provide the fish with some better conditions, especially after cycling with it, if they are even done cycling which im not sure they are.

I feel so bad for this puffer, she said she is upgrading to a 10 gal tank this weekend so the poor fish is going to restart cycling with another new tank. Maybe she has a miracle puffer...poor little guy.

[RainMan]

some people say 10gal for dwarf puffers... but, ones that really love puffers say 20gal. It's all about how nice of a home you want to give them. They're not betas.

I feel sorry for the puffer too. Eventhough it is surviving... it's not happy. I guarantee.

[Lady Hobbs]

Since it takes about a week or two to get those high ammonia levels, I'd say he'll be a goner in a few days at best.