My Goldfish, now sadly, no longer Gold, is 7 years old.
What is the life expectancy of these fish? I have never had one last more than a year before, but this guy just will not quit! He is pretty big, and has turned silver but he is still going strong as ever.
What is the longest time you have had a gold fish?
My Spongebob has been alone his whole life, poor little baby, he keeps out growing all his tanks so every time he grows a little bit we buy a new tank for him. I have heard people say that a goldfish will only grow as big as it's tank. I left my gold fish under my mum's care when I left home, so she is now in charge of the cleaning, feeding and everything else. The funny thing is my sister has gold fish too, we bought them at the same time, from the same petstore, and my sisters fish died within a few months of getting home! Since then she has been through 5 -6 fish, while I have just had the one!
(01-25-2013, 12:47 AM)scotty Wrote: he keeps out growing all his tanks so every time he grows a little bit we buy a new tank for him. I have heard people say that a goldfish will only grow as big as it's tank.
I guess you have learned it first hand that the rumor was false.
The reality is that the fish don't stop growing just because the tank is too small.
I avoid to get goldfish because they are messy fish. They eat too much and produce a lot of waste. Can't get many of them either because goldfish need large tanks to begin with. When we get a fish tank, we should always get a tank according to the fish's full adult size rather than their current size. Invest money in bigger and bigger tanks every once in a while is going to cost more in the long run than just invest once on a big tank in the first place.
Common goldfish needs 40+ gallons of water each, while fancy goldfish needs minimal 20 gallons of water each. I would hardly call them truly "big" tank, just fairly bigger than the average size beginner aquariums.
Don't worry about goldfish being lonely. They aren't school fish, there is no need to have more than one if your tank isn't big enough to house them. If you get school fish like Tetra or Rasboras, then it is required to get minimal 5~6 for each group.
I guess so! He is a big boy! It so strange that Goldfish are so much work! I guess not knowing this is why I never really had a fish live past a year before. I think many people assume they are just an easy low maintenance pet.
I don't currently have any goldfish, but I grew up with one! My parents loved having fish in the house and we had one giant, fat goldfish named Buster that lived for a whopping 12 years. Lots of our other fish came and went around him, but Buster remained! Goldfish are surprisingly full of life when you care for them the right way.
(02-15-2013, 01:52 AM)scotty Wrote: I guess so! He is a big boy! It so strange that Goldfish are so much work! I guess not knowing this is why I never really had a fish live past a year before. I think many people assume they are just an easy low maintenance pet.
Goldfish look nice in the pond but are pigs in the tank which is why my goldfish usually become expensive cat food in the fall.
My current goldfish (a lionhead called Maxie and a bubble-eye named Irene) are now both about 1 year and a half. I expect them to live several years if not decades. And yes, they can have a really long live expectancy if cared for and fed properly.
Apparently the world's oldest goldfish on record, Goldie from the UK died at the age of 45. Carps. their close relatives have been known to live even longer! Some koi (Japanese carp) have been known to live 200 years or more! In fact, the world's oldest koi (named "Hanako") was apparently 226 years old when she died!
Although most peoples idea of goldfish are little 3"-4" gold fish swimming round in an aquarium or 6"-8" swimming around in a pond but in the right conditions can grow over 12". I think the longest authenticated life span of a goldfish in the UK was 42 years.
My goldfish is relatively young and is 1 year old. Well, I have had the goldfish for 1 year and I got it when it was relatively young but I'm not sure how you so I don't know how hold it is. I also have two other goldfish who are relatively young I have owned them for roughly 3-6 months and they were as young as the other one when I got them. Congratulations to you on being able to keep a goldfish for so long, most people can not do that.
I have a goldfish that we have had for a little over 2 years now. We've expanded his tank for the third time last year. I'm thinking since he's in a biggg tank now, he'll be fine for a few years. My husband disagrees and wants an even bigger fish tank! I personally don't want a wall long fish tank just for a gold fish. I just assume make a pond and put him in it.
I think that goldfish, since they are usually so cheap in the stores, are often just considered a "throwaway pet" that people buy on a whim, and don't really worry about whether it lives a long time or not.
I remember, back in the 50's, when I was growing up; they had little goldfish in bowls at all the carnivals when they would come to town. Of all the toys you could win at the midway, I always like the little goldfish the very best ! They were always so pretty swimming around in their little bowl. I am sure that my mom spent more money throwing dimes at the goldfish bowls, trying to win me one of them, than she would have spent just going to the Dime Store and buying one for me.
Then, of course, we had to buy a goldfish bowl, as well as sand, fish food, and a cute little castle for my new goldfish to hide away in when he felt like it.
I don't remember how long I had my goldfish, but I do remember that I enjoyed watching him swim around in his tank, and coming up to grab the food when I was feeding him.
A friend of mine was annoyed when her son walked up to her at a festival with a goldfish in a bag that he had won from a game. She figured she'd have to have a sad talk with him soon since those things are so unhealthy and the game itself so shady. The fish died last year, 12 years after the day he won it. It survived 4 moves and several bumps and splashes.
They live a long time. My Nephew got one at a carnival when he was about 10 years old. He had it in a gold fish bowl that was probably held a gallon of water. It was up to him to take care of it. That poor fish. His back fin would sometimes be out of the water because of evaporation.
When my Nephew grew up and went into the Army he gave the gold fish to his girlfriend to take care of. She took too good of care of it apparently. It wasn't used to having clean fresh water and being fed regularly. It got sick~ she actually took it to the Vet! It died anyway. He had to have been 12 years old.
Judy, that is a great goldfish story ! ! How amazing for the fish to live so long, and then die after he finally had someone who was truly taking good caree of the poor fish. Maybe there was something bad in the water that she put in his tank ??
When I was growing up in north Idaho, we always had goldfish at the carnivals that went through. I loved looking at them swimming around in their little bowls. That must have been a hard life for the little guys, because those bowls were not very big, and if no one got a dime into the bowl, they just kept being transported from one town to the next along with the carnival, and then put back out in the little bowls while the carnival was running.
I imagine they had to replace a lot of the goldfish; but that never occurred to me when I was a little girl at the carnival with my mom. She was pretty good at pitching the dimes into the fish bowl to win me a goldfish, too.
Judycap, I am amazed that goldfish lived as long as it did. Your nephew must had been doing water change every day. Yes, there are people using daily or even multiple times a day water changes as substitute for an aquarium filter. It can be done on rare occasions, but not recommended due to most people would fail to keep up the water changes of this frequency. A bigger fish tank and an aquarium filter could have saved them all the troubles. With an adequate size fish tank and a sufficient filter, you only need to do partial water change once a week.
It has been said. Goldfish can live for two to three decades if cared for properly. This 12-year-old goldfish is about 40 to 50 years old in human years. It still died young.
To Happyflowerlady, she did not need to put anything in the water. The goldfish did it by itself. In such a small bowl without a filter, a goldfish can quickly poison itself with the toxic ammonia produced by itself. Like I said, I was already amazed by the 12-year mark. Most fish live under such terrible condition usually die within months if not weeks.
