Tim Ramsey, aye 10, of Spokane, Washington, for his question:

Why do goldfish stick their faces out of the water:

Your pretty little pets are signaling SOS. Its time, high time to change the water in their bowl. When they poke their faces above the surface, it usually means that they are gasping for oxygen. Of course, they have gills to absorb dissolved oxygen from the water and no lungs to breathe oxygen from the air. But the water in their bowl can become short of the dissolved oxygen they need to stay alive.

This happens when the water is not changed at least once a week. Some people pump a constant supply of air bubbles into their fish tank. This adds the dissolved oxygen they need. Another thing that may be wrong is the temperature of the water. Goldfish like it to be at a cool 65 degrees Fahrenheit. G7hen the bowl is close to a radiator or on a sunny window sill, they feel suffocated. One more thing may be wrong. Clouds of tiny algae in the water tend to clog the delicate tills and stifle the fish: So when you change the water, scrub and rinse thoroughly the inside of the bowl.