Fish 101

Just like cats, the fish starts speaking Spanish. "Tengo hambre."

Here's the thing.... I'm no expert by any means, but I do know that a fish will continue to eat until all of the food is gone (or until they die). They don't know when they are full or not. Something I learned from a pet store when we bought our fish.

Thank God my cat isn't the only one that speaks Spanish when hungry

@25 my dog doesn't stop eating until the food is gone. he isn't that bright

One of my cats does that, as well. If there's food available, she's eating, whether she's hungry or not. I have to lock her in the bathroom to feed the other cat (or the dogs!) or she'll decide she needs to share. She's a rescue, and I don't think her previous owner fed her regularly.

They hang out at the top of the tank looking for the magical food gods.

They wiggle around and look as sad as a small scaly creature can look while staring at the glass.

@25 That is very untrue, I have many aquariums and I can tell you, when a fish is no longer hungry, it will stop eating. Fish have natural survival instincts, they will gorge, but will not eat until the point where their stomach explodes and kills them. If that were true the top predatory fish (arapaimas, snakeheads, piranhas, ect) would have died out due to over eating. A lot of fish in the wild such as gars only eat enough to survive, and often go weeks without eating. If I were to give my fish an entire bag of pellets they would only eat until they feel full or as much as their stomach can hold, the rest of the food would remain in the tank, rot and produce ammonia, which is likely what happened to OP since fish are very sensitive to water quality, they require tanks (not bowls), filtration, and weekly 25% water changes, when we keep fish in bowls or small tanks, without any type of filtration ammonia, nitrite and nitrate build up incredibly fast and will severely weaken or kill it. The general rule of thumb when it comes to feeding most fish is only give them as much as they can eat within 1-2 minutes (depending on type and size), any remaining food should be scooped out immediately, because again, ammonia can build up in a matter of hours. It's very rare that a pet store employee gives accurate information regarding fish, there is usually no type of training required to work there, a good 75% don't even know how to properly bag, transport and acclimate a fish. I personally never take anything they say seriously, since it's far better to do your own research, otherwise you will continue to spread their horribly misguided information, and eventually look like an idiot.

I may just be a loser, but I didn't know this and I actually find that really fascinating. I wonder what happens? Their stomach swells too much and makes them top heavy or something? Definitely going to have to google that. :)

This must be accurate; I thought my fish was dead cuz he wasn't moving and decide to deal with him after school the next day. I couldn't carry him up the stairs due to an injury, so I put him on the step and then stepped up myself so I could take him upstairs to flush him. By the time I got him to the top of the stairs he started swimming around again.

I love your picture

If a fish is fed too much their stomachs press up against something called a swim bladder, which is where they get their balance, and they either float or sink on their side. You can give them a small piece of a cooked pea to make them poop and relieve the pressure on the swim bladder

rest in peace in peace?

How can you be 15 and not know what RIP stands for??

I know, I was joking and I know I shouldn't be joking about dying sorry

Saying "RIP in (insert word that starts with p)" is very common nowadays. Maybe that's what he was on about.

RIP actually is a Latin acronym, "requiescat in pace". It does translate to rest in peace, so it is still redundant semantically, but it shouldn't be said rest in peace in peace. :P

The phrase rip in peace is a meme, it's used a lot in certain websites and forums like reddit. #10 was trying to be funny.

@69 No need to be an ass about it. It's not like saying "PIN number" or "ATM machine" because that's generally done unknowingly. "RIP in peace" is going through one of those meme cycles the internet is so fond of at the moment. Chill, dude.

Hey, everybody. Look at this baby kitten! :)