Did you know that goldfish will eat cashews? I didn't either.

[GatorFarmer]

A large plastic wide mouthed tub had served us as trashcan for a while. It was simply easier for the boys to get trash inside of it. But unfortunately they'd missed enough times that I had to take it outside and hose it. One thing led to another and it stayed outside, becoming filled with some stagnant rainwater, that soon filled with all sorts of larvae and bugs.

Meanwhile my kids took an interest in having a pet, so my wife purchased fish several times. Most of them died within a few days. She doesn't do well with pets. Even the cat she once had was eaten by raccoons. Probably fortunate that I take care of the children...

Anyway, I'd remembered reading a comment in a magazine article that a goldfish would eat all the larva that would form in a rain barrel. So figuring "eh, let's see what happed" I purchased five more goldfish, little more than a dollar at petco. One went inside and four I simply dumped in the tub of disgusting filth water.

The inside fish died after about two days. Two weeks on the outdoor bucket fish are still going strong. Within days the four fish had eaten all the bugs and larva in the water, and that water was thick with it. Rain run off from the room constantly puts in some freshwater for them too.

So finally I figured they needed some more food, after seeing the largest and most aggressive of the fish manage to eat a large bug of some sort that had made the mistake of landing on the surface of the water.

Not knowing where the goldfish flakes are, I mashed up some cashews left over from a bag of trail mix. I don't like cashews. Oddly enough the fish attacked them wildly and devoured them.

A bit of googling revealed that goldfish actually eat all sorts of things. Hmm.... I think perhaps I'll see if I can get them to eat meat...

 

[s&wchad]

Oddly enough the fish attacked them wildly and devoured them.

I never knew I had something in common with a goldfish!

 

[Kanewpadle]

Meat?! Careful, they might morph into pirahna's.

Next thing you know, they'll be asking for beer.

 

[gunfish]

Goldfish are just fancy carp. You might try a mouse.

 

[oldman45]

Cashews are too costly to feed to a fish. Try peanuts.

 

[walnutred]

In Japan the stick their bare feet in the tub with goldfish for an expensive pedicure. Supposedly the gold fish only eat the dead skin.

 

[moosedog]

I wonder if they can open pistachios?

 

[H Richard]

The ones that died quickly were probably killed by the chlorine in the water. The rainwater was natural. If you use regular faucet water, you need to use a chemical to clean the chlorine out, then bring the temperature of the water up to room temp, preferably about 72 degrees before putting the fish in.

 

[Rule3]

The ones that died quickly were probably killed by the chlorine in the water. The rainwater was natural. If you use regular faucet water, you need to use a chemical to clean the chlorine out, then bring the temperature of the water up to room temp, preferably about 72 degrees before putting the fish in.

Absolutely or just leave the water in a open container for a day or 2 and the chlorine dissipates.

Just be sure those Cashews are not processed in a plant that also does peanuts as you know about those peanut allergies. Have a Epipen ready

 

[mjr]

Meanwhile my kids took an interest in having a pet, so my wife purchased fish several times. Most of them died within a few days. She doesn't do well with pets. Even the cat she once had was eaten by raccoons. Probably fortunate that I take care of the children...

That's one of the single best paragraphs I've read in a long time.

 

[Pote]

fun story. yep, carp are pretty much bottom feeders and vacuum anything! Back when I was in college I had a 55 gallon tank and went through all kinds of various species of fish. One day I decided to buy 2 cute little (about an inch long) Wolf Fish. Being a predator fish from the Amazon they fed on feeder gold fish...ala piranhas feeding. Well let me tell you, these 2 fish would put a tank full of piranha to shame!! In fact they are nicknamed the piranha killer.

I would drop in 2 dozen gold fish, many half their body length and all two dozen fish would be gone within hours. These fish grew at an incredible rate and I could scarcely keep goldfish in the house. As fast as I fed them, they would be gone hours later. They got to be about 10 inches long, torpedo shaped with fangs that stuck out of their jaws like a dinosaur. You could not put your fingers in the tank or they would hear the dinner bell for you. Fastforward to being out of goldfish one day and I looked in the fridge for something that could hold them over....hey, there's raw chicken! So I sliced up raw chicken in strips and held it over the tank. the fish promptly surfaced and literally took the chicken from my hands. I was hand feeding fish with slabs of chicken...it sounds so ridiculous now, but it was insane. The thing was, that now didn't satiate them. They just kept coming for more and I had to stop their bellies bulged so. Well, they loved it and they grew even larger.

I sort of got bored only viewing these two fish in a huge tank (they basically didn't swim much and just lay in wait to attack.) So I went to the pet shop to see if anything could co-habitate with them. As I suspected, and had seen many times in a tank full of piranhas, I was recommended an Oscar. So I got a large one...one that wouldn't look like a goldfish meal. The oscar was twice the height of these wolfheads and just as long. It went into the tank and all seemed fine......for one day. I came home from work the next day and one of the Wolf Fish had the oscar in his mouth....head first nearly swallowed halfway...what!!!!!!! The fish was larger than they were. Well he was stuck...he couldn't swallow it all, it was literally biting off more than it could chew. LOL

I had to capture the Wolf fish and physically remove the oscar from its jaws. that was an expensive meal. I later sold the fish to a store and replaced with other fish that weren't eating better than I was at that time. I have pictures somewhere of the ordeal as it was actually quite amazing to witness....anyhow, my fish story. Here is what a wolf fish looks like:

skull

and a small one eating a goldfish:

and lastly...I think it was good I sold them as I had NO idea they grew like this!!!!!

 

[Evil Dog]

That's one ugly fish

 

[COL Jagdog]

That's one ugly fish

That fish actually looks like one of my dates in college --
took her to one of those "all you can eat" places in Baton Rouge and got dirty looks form the staff when we left (she went back to the buffet 4 times after her first huge plate of food. Took her back to the dorm at 11 PM -- she made me stop at the 7-11 to buy her some snacks on the way back to campus -- and she was thin as a rail. Never have figured that one out.

 

[GatorFarmer]

Hmm, now I have to see if I can find a wolf fish anywhere...Maybe it could live in the pond across the street as apex predator to replace the alligator shot a few years ago.

I used bottle water that sat at room temperature for the goldfish that were indoors, and left the bag in the water for 20 minutes to acclimate them just as the directions said. I suspect the tank was too small, since an online source claims goldfish can live ten years, but that they need ten gallons per fish of space for a happy and healthy existence.

In theory, Petco offers a refund if they die in a set amount of time, but seems a lot of work to take in a dead fish for 26 cents.

 

[Pote]

That fish actually looks like one of my dates in college --
took her to one of those "all you can eat" places in Baton Rouge and got dirty looks form the staff when we left (she went back to the buffet 4 times after her first huge plate of food. Took her back to the dorm at 11 PM -- she made me stop at the 7-11 to buy her some snacks on the way back to campus -- and she was thin as a rail. Never have figured that one out.

so you can lead a fish to a buffet and make them eat......or something like that.

 

[627 city hunter]

cashews mmmm