Will a pet fish survive in my office over the weekend?

December 20, 2005 6:38 AM

Will a pet fish survive in my office over the weekend?

I'd like to get a pet fish (goldfish or something) and put it in a fish bowl on my desk. But I have 2 questions. 1)Will it survive without being feed over the weekend or over a long weekend? 3)will it smell bad when it poops so I have to change the water frequently?

posted by sandra194 to Pets & Animals (17 answers total)

Get a betta (Siamese Fighting Fish). He/she will be fine in your office (assuming the heat is not completely shut down causing wild extremes in temperature) over the weekend.
posted by Pollomacho at 6:52 AM on December 20, 2005

I had a Betta fish that survived just fine over the normal two-day weekend without food, and i would feed it every weekday. I washed out its bowl every two or three weeks and never found it to have a noticable poop scent, I mainly changed the water because it became murky and probably wasn't healthy for it to live in.
posted by iurodivii at 6:53 AM on December 20, 2005

A goldfish will happily survive two days in five without food.

Having gotten that out of the way, a goldfish in a bowl will survive despite your care, rather than because of it. Please go for a small tank with filtration and air bubbler, instead. Google for a site that specialises in goldfish - lots of good advice out there.
posted by Leon at 6:54 AM on December 20, 2005

My cube-neighbor has had a betta for a few months now. She obsesses about its feeding schedule but in fact most pet fish are overfed anyway.

And I agree it's a better choice than a goldfish, which requires tank aeration.
posted by nev at 6:59 AM on December 20, 2005

Second the don't worry about it, on the authority of my brother, a marine biologist and ex fish commissioner.

If you have a filter, its even preferable. Gives the water a chance to clear up.
posted by StickyCarpet at 7:18 AM on December 20, 2005

It will survive no problem. Please do not use a bowl, get a tank.
posted by twistedonion at 7:23 AM on December 20, 2005

You should ask at the store about cleaning the tank, but you will probably need to add water once a week or more and do a 50% water change every two weeks. You'll need to do this whether you get a tank or a bowl.

Also, if you have a long weekend or vacation coming up, you can get 3-day or 7-day vacation food. These do produce more waste, though, so you'll have to change the water when you come back.
posted by CiaoMela at 7:33 AM on December 20, 2005

get a betta and get a 10 gallon tank setup for it with a filter, heater (if it gets cold in the office), and a plant or two. People keep bettas in bowls, but you really wont see all the benefits of these cool little fish if he's in anything less than a 5-gallon. i was given a betta for my birthday this past august, never having had nor wanted fish before. After a month or two I broke down and got it a 10-gallon, like everything I read said bettas really need to be happy, and I am so glad I did. The fish used to hate me and now it is so obvious that he is SO frickin' happy, darting back and forth and having space to explore & patrol. You dont have to change the water so much if you have a tank either - its actually much easier than maintaining a bowl, once you have it properly setup and cycled. here's a good place to go to see what you'll be getting into if you do it right. and bettas can definitely go a weekend w/o food. Good luck, its a bit of work at the beginning but for me everything I have put in has been worth it.
posted by dthaspaz at 7:54 AM on December 20, 2005

I don't know much about bettas but I have always heard that guppies poop less. They would still need an aerated bowl I think.
posted by TheLibrarian at 8:19 AM on December 20, 2005

I used to have goldfish and they're a dirty pain, and if you have one all by itself it will grow to 5 inches plus. I have platys now and they're great. Much cleaner. Much easier to care for. Small. And yes, a fish can go a couple of days without food, no problem.
posted by duck at 8:25 AM on December 20, 2005

The reason fish can go without food for a while is that they are cold blooded, and unlike mammals don't burn up food to keep warm.

Your aquarium heater is providing much of the energy that food would provide for a mammal.
posted by StickyCarpet at 8:34 AM on December 20, 2005

My cow orker has a fish she inherited from our boss when he was canned well over a year ago. It is not fed on saturday or sunday and seems to be doing just fine. She even added a 'friend' for it close to a year ago and neither have resorted to cannibalism.

She did get a timer for the desk lights and puts a cardboard 'screen' in front of the tank to try to get them a proper cycle of light and dark, I might note. She's quite judicious for a person who had this responsibility thrust upon her.
posted by phearlez at 8:58 AM on December 20, 2005

When I was a kid we always had goldfish, and we fed them perhaps every other day. They lived an average of five years apiece and grew to about 6-8 inches. So, yeah, another vote for the "don't worry about it."
posted by restless_nomad at 9:45 AM on December 20, 2005

I've got an automatic battery operated feeder for my tank. It's good for at least two weeks for my 5 gallon tank. The other thing I have is an automatic light timer hooked up to the hood light. Both keep the fish on a regular cycle even when I'm away for a week.
posted by Mitheral at 9:48 AM on December 20, 2005

If you're looking for a way to add some life and color to your office environment, there a million better ways to do it than getting a fish. I think it's bad mojo to keep a creature in a tiny, boring enivornment, and it's also really hard to keep a fish tank clean in an office.

A few ideas to add some life and color that I use: Plants (and they're good for you, too, because they suck some of the bad stuff our of the air), hanging, colorful art pieces, a small herb garden to grow on your desk (and it's fun to add fresh herbs to your lunch, too!), etc. You can find a lot of great ideas at Design Sponge and The MoMa design store.
posted by alma at 10:22 AM on December 20, 2005

Fish can easily go two days without food. If you are going to be gone more than 3 days, I'd get an automatic feeder. You might want to get this anyway, since you can then avoid touching the tank for a week at a time.

However, I agree with the other people in here, keeping a fish tank at the office is hard. Basic things that would be easy at home become much more difficult. For example, where I work, there isn't an easy place to fill a 5 gallon bucket with water, nor is there an easy place to dump 5 gallons of used fishtank water. Also, what are you going to do when dirty fishtank water sloshes out of the bucket and on to your pants? At home this wouldn't be a problem, as you likely have a change of clothes handy, but at work you would have to go around for the rest of the day looking like you peed your pants.

A freshwater fish tank doesn't smell bad if the tank is healthy. It should smell slightly like the dirt you would find on a forest floor. However, if the water quality isn't up to par, it can smell pretty bad. Also, while the tank itself probably won't smell, the tools that you use in the tank may smell when they dry out after a few days.

I've had a fishtank in my office, and at home. It is not something I'd want to repeat at the office. Try getting some plants and a lava lamp instead.
posted by darkness at 1:04 PM on December 20, 2005

There is a one gallon carbon-filtered tank with an airstone on my desk, and I have a killifish in there.

He eats live or frozen brine shrimp and bits of frozen worm, and he's been happy and alert and zippy for over a year now. I had to hide my brine shrimp breeder in a drawer, because more people came to see the Sea Monkeys than the fish.

A one gallon tank is not big enough for more than one -- these guys are a bit territorial. I wouldn't put anybody bigger than a killie or a platy in there. Maybe a pair of guppies.
posted by Sallyfur at 9:01 PM on December 20, 2005