This Chinese idiom is not suitable for the case u mentioned.
This idiom comes from a very old and famous Chinese book ' The Mencius' originally . The literal meaning of it is : You gotta get the fish in the river and u gotta get the bear's paw in the forest coz you hunt the bear in that place, but you can't do these two activities at one time so u can not get the fish and bear's paw at the same time.
Basically it tells people that you should make an alternative decision when you've got two choices which might have conflict with each other due to certain reason.
EXAMPLE 1:
A : 每个东西都很贵, 为什么?
B: 因为每个东西都是上品. 你想要买他们么?
A: 恐怕不能,我没有这么多钱. 鱼与熊掌不可兼得呀~ (coz u don't have enough money)
EXAMPLE 2:
A:下周我们有三天假期哦。 We will be having a vocation of three days next week.
B: 是的。我们找个地方玩吧。Yes, let's find some places for spending the vocation
A:我想去欧洲跟美国。 I want to go to Europe and America~
B: 时间不够,你只能去一个地方。 No, the vocation is too short, you can only go to one place.
A: 哎呀,鱼与熊掌不可兼得。 Oh~ 鱼与熊掌不可兼得.