It sounds to me like the best advice I, or anyone else here, can give you is to try to make the best of a less than ideal situation. Goldfish have been forced upon you and your parents are uninterested in spending any additional money on your hobby at this point. Therefore, I'd advise you to do your best to learn the hobby and keep your goldfish alive. I have a 29 gallon tank with five goldfish in it... it can be done. Things may change with your parents as you gain expertise.
True this. Who knows, you may be able to convince them to upgrade to like a 55 gallon down the line if you are able to take care of them well enough. That would be at least a bit better than a 20. I'm sure you can keep them fairly healthy though, just watch closely for any deformities from stunting.
It merely sounds that they don't take your new interest seriously. Respect has to be earned by actions. Take the summer to show them you are earnest and you are learning biology. Sooner or later when you learn enough and can show it with more than words - like a healthy and thriving fish tank - they will realize you know more than them or more than they have been giving you credit for on the subject.
That coupled with commendable behavior and grades should yield the fruit of parental respect.
On the money, they are afraid you will spend it unwisely is all. It's tied to them not having developed respect for you or you having not earned it yet - the same issues I tried to address above.
Plus, you have just become a teenager. Many parents are lagging behind and tend to treat their children as if they are younger than they are. You've been a baby to them for 12 years and they got accustomed and set in their ways of viewing and treating you, sitting in an old comfortable rut.
How should I show them I'm learning biology? And isn't the livestock in a aquarium one of the most important factors in having a healthy and thriving aquarium? I don't think a topfin 20 filter will have enough gph for 2 common goldfish.
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Create an account on Kahnacademy.org, and watch all of the biology videos. The site has a dashboard that keeps track of everything you've watched so you can prove to them you watched them.
They'd probably just say that me having a aquarium isn't related to that.
If you can I would convince your parents somehow to get you at least one extra filter. You might want to get a large air pump and a big sponge filter, they are pretty cheap and work extremely well for biological filtration which you will need. Tell them it will also help them get more oxygen as well. Even better if you can get one that will work with an existing air pump. They should only cost around 5 bucks! Most LFS will carry the right ones or your parents can order them online.
Maybe watch youtube fish videos with them? Look for videos with millions of views and good info? They may trust it then.
Also, see if you can sign up for honors bio next year if it doesn't need prerequisites? I took it, my parents were happy, plus my teachers were awesome. I took normal bio in 7th grade and then normal bio freshman year, then honors again sophomore year and ap bio senior year. I think. They were pretty difficult classes but if you have a knack for science it will go smoothly. If you are in CA too I doubt too much has changed from when I was in school.... lol.
Biology was going to be my major in college but I picked art instead. I may go back once I have the cash and get some sort of degree in it. IDK if my ap test credits are good anymore though. I think I scored a 4 on the big test if I remember right haha. But most likely I forgot everything complicated.
