Question
I've recently got a pair of goldfish and put them in a bowl. I'm trying to keep them happy by feeding them all the natural thing they eat in the wild (and they are loving it too).
It has been 4 ~ 5 days and things were going fine, until I got them a little bulb to keep them warm and light up the bowl a bit. But, after around 2 hours from the moment I switched the bulb ON, the fish would come to the top, pop their mouth out of the water surface a bit, and gulp air, then they would go down and release bubbles.
Initially, I thought, that due to low oxygen and high impurity rate in the bowl, they are gulping air from the top and immediately changed the water. But, again when I put the bulb back on, they started coming to the top releasing bubbles.
I don't know if they are doing this to get more heat (as it's a bit cold these days here) or they are just feeling good doing this... Please help me as soon as possible... :(
Edit 1:
Both of my fish are 2.5 inch (7.5 cm).
I change their water every 3 days.
When the bulb is removed they discontinue this behaviour.
Answer
I just went to the pet store and got an air pump and an air stone and installed them to my fish bowl. I observed that this solved 3 things :-
Air bubbles trap some of the dissolved impurities and release them at the surface.
Replenishing oxygen level in water by increasing the surface area of water in contact with air.
Generating disturbance at water surface, generating little waves, and continuously moving the inside water which most fishes are fond of.
I also observed that my fishes are not struggling to breathe anymore. :D
Answered By - 0x550x42