This pains me

My friend is keeping a goldfish in a .5 gallon bowl right now with no filter or anything. they clean it every 4 wks. She's had it for a week. Long story short, that fish needs to get out of there. I'm trying to find somewhere to rehome it or give to fish store. For some reason her mom won't let her give it away, so she's working on convincing her. She is willing to rehome though. She understands that the fish will be severely stunted, and will probably die in that setup. This pains me to look at and think about that poor fish. It doesn't look sick yet, it just looks sad and cramped. Any ideas on how to convince her mom? My friend told her mom that it will die, be stunted, in pain, etc. and her mom doesn't care. She said, "it's just a goldfish". I need to get that fish out of there. Maybe sneak into the house and steal it??? Lol, jk.

 

Well some people simply just don't understand what really goes on. Its sad but many people simply don't care about fish and if you can convince the owners, great. If not I suggest just leaving it be. I see no point in trying to convince if her point is set in stone. I have relatives whoc have 10 blood parrots in a 29 and 2 goldfish in a bowl. I simply did not bring it up out of respect, since they were housing us at the time when we visited them.

 

I had this similar situation where my cousins had Bettas in 1 gals. They didn't care and when I told them they were sick and going to die, one of them just shrugged. The other one cared more but their fish died before they could get a bigger tank. They wanted to, but it didn't work out.
Maybe you could put together some research with your friend, and present it to them. It's not likely to work, but it's worth a shot. Adults like these will often use logical fallacies like the Authorative, "I said so," or, "the guy at the fish store." Tell them they should be able to prove it without fallacies like these. And saying, "the expert," is not good enough. It's hard to deal with Adamant people like these. Especially when they are adults who possess power over you.
But good on your friend for being responsible and making the right decisions for the health of the fish, even if it is hard. I wish you two the best of luck.

 

"You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make them drink"

Give all the information possible to show how big they get, needs, etc. Maybe find some cool examples of how gorgeous they get in ponds. At that point you'll have to remember that unfortunately its not your fish so there isn't much you can do. Provide the information for them to make the most informed decision possible.

 

My friend is keeping a goldfish in a .5 gallon bowl right now with no filter or anything. they clean it every 4 wks. She's had it for a week. Long story short, that fish needs to get out of there. I'm trying to find somewhere to rehome it or give to fish store. For some reason her mom won't let her give it away, so she's working on convincing her. She is willing to rehome though. She understands that the fish will be severely stunted, and will probably die in that setup. This pains me to look at and think about that poor fish. It doesn't look sick yet, it just looks sad and cramped. Any ideas on how to convince her mom? My friend told her mom that it will die, be stunted, in pain, etc. and her mom doesn't care. She said, "it's just a goldfish". I need to get that fish out of there. Maybe sneak into the house and steal it??? Lol, jk.

I'm genuinely curious why the mom doesn't care about the fish yet so extremely cares about whether it gets given away. Poor guy

 

I'm genuinely curious why the mom doesn't care about the fish yet so extremely cares about whether it gets given away. Poor guy

That's such a good thought, I never even noticed that.

I guess this problem might just boil down to one main thing you guys need to do:
You need to establish yourselves as more than just kids that don't get things, because you understand and know perfectly what needs to happen. You need to show her that you two know more than she thinks you do, and you have experience and knowledge, and know what you are doing.

 

Sounds typical. It's only a fish. Her child is only a person, so why not keep him in a suitcase filled with their own waste.

You can try printing pics etc but know at the end of the day you can't save them all and it's not your fault. I love animals and think it's disgusting that people continue to be ignorant with pets, especially since the internet is at everyone's fingertips. It's unfortunate that so many fish and other animals are ripped out of the wild or bred for our pleasure, only to suffer from disease or neglect. If you can't save him, when he dies try and convince them to not get another.

 

Thank you all for your help! Very helpful I will share with my friend and hopefully it works out