Kalypso – My Diva Red Cap Oranda Goldfish
August 22, 2008 by Kimberly
I’m not kidding either…
Let me tell you a story about what just happened in the past few days…
It has been an extremely busy week, and I didn’t feel like cleaning out Kalypso’s 10 gallon fish bowl. She has 2 filters with bubbles and a floaty fish toy that she loves snuggling and pushing around the bowl.
Kalypso has grown quite a bit in size since I got her in the spring. I’d say she’s more than doubled in size. So, I got this new 10 gallon bowl just for her as an upgrade from her 5 gallon bowl. A big difference.
Now, when I didn’t feel like cleaning out all of her home the other night, I brought out her 5 gallon bowl just for the night (I call it her condominium), so I could clean the 10 gallon in the morning. It was already late at night, mind you.
She had a pretty plant new glass beads at the bottom and fresh water, and she was sitting right next to my computer, so that she could see me!
The next morning, I sat down to check my email and do about 30 minutes of work. Kalypso was fine…Swimming around, happy to see me, etc.
However, I was sitting there no longer than 10 minutes, and all of a sudden, she turned upside down, floating, as if she were dead! No warning of distress, nothing visually wrong with her either.
Freaking out, I called my mother over who turned her right-side up, and moved her back and forth to keep her gills working, as an angler would returning a fish to water.
I rushed to clean up her 10 gallon bowl, fill it and replace her fish friend and filters, etc. It was a panic and a frenzy…
No sooner did we put her back into her large home with her bubbles from her filter, did she change her tune.
Seriously, it was as though she was boycotting, saying, “If I don’t have my bubbles, I’ll just die!”
I think she was depressed that I took away her huge home, her fish friend and most of all, her bubbles! She loves her bubbles.
Within 1 hour, she had perked up as though nothing ever happened. She’s lucky we’re so diligent and I love her so much – she’s a special fish – because anyone else would have flushed her…She wasn’t moving and upside-down.
Boy, did she show me!!! Don’t move your fish into a condominium from a huge mansion, especially if there are no BUBBLES involved! They might just die!
How melodramatic!
***
I hope you enjoyed this Fish post on Exotic Animal Lover! Until next time…
Live Exotically,
Kimberly Edwards
P.S. For Heaven’s Sakes, give your fish their bubbles! This is the system I use for Kalypso:
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[...] Kalypso – My Diva Red Cap Oranda Goldfish [...]
My red-cap oranda is doing the exact same thing. I haven’t moved her out of her tank though. It is a large tank with her and 3 other goldfish all of similar size and she just takes it upon herself to go upside down and stay that way on the bottom of the tank until she sees me and gets excited and then rites herself. She has done this several times now… it is scary!
Hi Emma,
Yes, it is scary. It broke my heart when I would see her that way…
Apparently, they can survive like this for a very long time. From what I can gather, it’s a swim bladder problem.
Kimberly