Fish Question....

I had a gold fish in college that lived for over 3 years. Eventually my roommates cat got to it, but I think it would have lived longer. They are pretty low maintenance. My sister has a goldfish that has survived for over a year now. Maybe someone at a pet store would know the actual life expectancy.

I always heard that goldfish die quickly but I had two goldfish in college-one lived for 2 1/2 years and the other for 4 years! I cleaned out their little bowl once a week and fed them once a day. Whenever I would drive home for the weekend in college, I would put them in a glass mason jar and bring them with me. They were some well-traveled fish! Once I got them a bigger bowl, and they grew "up" even more. I am not sure how long they are supposed to live, but I loved having my fish for as long as I did. I would tell your kids to enjoy the good things in life (pets are one of those) for as long as you can, and when they die, you'll always have good memories of them. The most important part is teaching your kids how to love, and letting them know that death can't stop love-even for goldfish.

Actually, gold fish can live for a long time. They are a really hard fish, and therefore don't normally die easily. I have had fish for a big chunk of my life, not goldfish. The hady ones can put up with alot. My brother in law had a 20 galon tank full of gold fish, he fed them about once a week, hardly ever (if ever) cleaned the tank out, they lived for years. they didn't start dieing until he left on a 2 year mission and no one else would feed them. Even then it took a long time for them all to die.

Hate to tell you this.... I bought my twin daughters gold fish when they were in second grade. I moved them outside to my pond (hoping that they wouldn't last long) about 6 years ago.... they are still thriving....

P.S. My girls will be 27 this summer...

I dont know the official answer to how long they live but the same thing happened to me after winning ONE goldfish. It stayed alive at least 2 years, then we moved countries and I actually took it with us in a tupperware container on the plane (before 9/11)and finally ended up transferring it to a proper fish tank with a filter. In total I think it lived close to 5 years and it actually got much bigger in size. We gave it a name and had a proper burial. He outlived the guinea
pig we had bought as a pet. So I guess you never know.....maybe the cheaper fish are more resitant! M-

You are lucky. I asked a pet tech at a shop and he said most gold fish will die of a genetic mutation or cancer due to in breeding. I once had one of those kissing pink fish that suposedly are really fighting fish. Well the darn thing out grew our ten gallon tank. It had to 'stand' on it's tail to turn aroung. Then it finally kicked the bucket and we flushed...BIG mistake, it stopped up the toilet. I hope you all can enjoy many more moments with your amazing fish....

It depends, though I'm not sure on what. My husband and I bought several goldfish, and all of them died within a few months. But when he was growing up, they had one that lived for years! I guess just enjoy them for as long as they last!

Growing up, our goldfish would live forever it seemed like...we would often give them away because they would have babies. Goldfish are pretty resiliant little things. The nice thing is, they grow according to their tank. If you have a large tank, they grow bigger...small tank, they stay pretty small.

I had to chuckle when I read your question because I thought the same thing. The crazy fish lasted 5 years! I finally put them in an aquarium with a filter so that I did not have to clean to bowl so often but then with the extra room they got huge (about 4+ inches long) They are tough little fish.

My son's carnival fish are now each almost 3 inches long and are working on 7years old. We are on our third aquarium as they will keep growing as long as there is space. Another one we had we gave to a friend and it still lives in her koi pond and is about 8 inches long.

I once had a goldfish that lived for over three years. It grew too big for its bowl so we moved it to an aquarium where it continued to grow. It eventually got to be about six inches long. I think it might have lived longer but met an untimely death due to getting caught behind the bubbler in the aquarium. Enjoy your fish. It may be with you for awhile longer!

Hello D.,
Fish can live for years. Depending on the type of goldfish, some specialty fish don't live as long but your regular goldfish can be around for a long time. I have had mine for 5 years, just regular goldfish. You are doing everything right to keep them though, they are hardy fish but if the chemicals aren't right and if the temp. is too warm or if they are over fed they won't make it. Keep doing what you're doing and enjoy.
S.

D., we have a Black Moore fish, which is a goldfish, just mostly black color with big telescopic eyes. We call him Pepper.
He is HUGE by now, and he is 3 years old, feeling great and important. He had a friend< Salt, she was redding-whitish, but she died. We got him another friend, and she died also, but Pepper just likes it here, and keeps going no matter what.
When Pepper's friends were ill, I conversed with one family, and they have two Black Moores who are six years old. So yeah, WOW!
Considering all the new researches about energy fields, I would also say about your wonderful fishies: maybe they like the energy of your lovely home, of you and your kids loving them...
Keep goin, be happy, all the best and a tail-wave greeting from our pepper to your Fishies!

We've had our goldfish, which we also won at the fair, for over 4 years! They've also quadrupled in size so I'm going to need to buy a larger tank for them...

T.

You were right, goldfish don't normaly live long, but some of them will suprise you. We live on a farm, not farmers, we just rent the house that sits on the land, anyways there are big tanks that pump water to the cattle, one day my kids were out playing around in the pens and they swore they saw a fish in the tank, didn't quite believe them, a couple weeks later I was talkin to the landlord and we some how ended up on the topic of the "fish" my kids said they saw.......there was a fish, their grandson had won one also and really didn't want it but couldn't just let it die, so they dumped it the tank, to give it a shot, the fish was 4 inches long and survived for 2 years out there with the cows and even during the winter, and no one ever fed it. I guess some are just stronger then others LOL.

It all depends on the care. The bigger the place they are in the bigger they get too. I lived in a house with 4 girls when I was single and they put a small fish pond in the back yard. They bought 10 cent gold fish and they got up to 4 inches long. The hardest part of their life is when you bring them home and change their environment and change their water temperature. You are good at making things live!

Sorry, but they will live just about forever. We had some free fish that we finally put in our horse tanks since they were alive for several years, and what do you know, they continued to live and got enormous. And would eat the goop out of the horses' mouths.

S. S.
old mom of 4 and grammy of 2

Hi here is what I know. Gold fish are a member of the carp family, so they can be very dirty and die easily if not well kept. Sounds like you are doing a great job. They can live for years, many like around 30 if in an ideal environment. That would be like a pond because they can grow up to around 2 feet, I think. If they were put in a bigger tank they would grow. Anyway I don't know exactly how long in a bowl but I have heard 2 days (about what you may have) to 7 years. Hope some of this maybe helps!!!

we have had our fish for a few years and no problem they may be with you for a while.

D.,
As long as you care for them at the way you are ...the goldfish will live for a long time...I have 10 plus 4 Koi in an outside 90 gal.pond...they live there year round..
and they are growing ..and thriving...and will live for a long time...have had mine for 4 years..have a filtering system to keep it cleaned...and are big and strong....they are really relaxing to watch..and with a pump moving the water...it is soothing...the grandkids love them...they lay outside on the grass by the pond and take their naps there....We live in Montana...and have a floating tank heater in ours for the cold winter days... good for -20'below....started out to be a 'project' for my husband and later brother in law...but I have since acquired the 'project' and do all the necessary work on it...so keep that in mind...it takes some work... enjoy....L. in Montana

i haven't had goldfish since i was a little girl, but the two that i did have lived for quite awhile.

i'm guessing that they are probably coming towards the end of their lifespan, though. i don't think that either of mine made it past the 2 year mark, but they came close.

kuddos on your goldfish rearing. i also think it's really sweet and smart to have had a conversation with your kids about the relatively short lifespan of fish when you got them.

Hi D.!
I had to laugh because this happened (happens) in our family with goldfish all the time. Some do happen to live only a few days at best, but we've always had them live quite a long time. I think the care is part of the reason, but I don't really know.
The last one came to us when I was in elementary school. He was still going strong when I left home in 1996. My mom finally was finished caring for the darned thing in early 2002. In other words, he lived for about 18 years!!!! That was the longest one.
The one before him lived about 10 years. The one I bought for my son is coming onto a year, but she (and we know she's a "she"...she laid eggs) is in a 10 gallon tank with a few buddies.
Good luck, and have fun!

Hi there! As a child my goldfish always lived a very short while. Then, when my older children were small, we got two free fish. I did a little research and found out that goldfish need a higher amount of oxygen than many other fish. I bought a small pump that fit in the little bowl and they not only lived another five and six years respectively but ended up getting to be about six and seven inches long. By then we had progressed through larger bowls and tanks to a 30 gallon one and more fish. So much for free fish! Good Luck.
C.

Ha, Ha! I laughed when I read this because I have been feeling the same thing about my fish! We got it for my son's 3rd birthday. Next week he is turning 6 and it is still alive!! It doesn't look or act like it's any closer to death than when we first got it. I thought that mine couldn't possible live past a year, I can tell you now that they can live at least 3 years. I have no idea past that.

All the gold fish I had lived forever. I had one for more than five years. Sounds like you're taking really good care of them. Ours got fed once a day and where lucky if their tank was cleaned once a month. They really seem to be hardy creatures.

Hi mom with two kids. Those goldfish will live a lot longer than you're thinking. My boyfriend has one that has lived at least 10 years. It's huge in not so big a tank and he only cleans it quarterly. Just like us, if they're happy, they want to keep living! Enjoy. J.

lol...it's normal if you actually bother to take care of them, and you are! We had a goldfish that lived forever! He got bigger and bigger and ate the other goldfish we had...isn't that so weird? Who knew that bigger goldfish eat smaller ones. It lived a long time...when we moved, we let him lose in our neighborhood pond. For all I know, he's still there!

in my experience - golfish like dirty water and they live for years

We have had our goldfish (from school carnival) for three years now. I also had one growning up that lived like 6 years....so they can chug along for awhile.

good luck

Generally they don't live long, but sometimes they do. I'd just explain that usually fish like that have been traumatized with all the activity at the carnival and being moved around so much that they don't make it most of the time, and that you are surprised (and happy) that their fish is extra-tough.

We had a fish that my son won for 4 years. We'd still have it but my younger son dumped strawberry jam in the bowl, and the next day he dumped the whole thing of fish food into the bowl. I think the two things combined and the trauma from having the bowl cleaned two days in a row was too much.

We bought goldfish for a science experiment thinking the same thing and they lived 3 1/2 years....if you feed them and keep their tank clean, they can live a long time.....

My little sister has had hers for 5 years.

My sister won a goldfish at a school fair when she was 6 years old. "Sammy" lived for 8 years--and even survived a move from Utah to California in his little round fish bowl. You're probably in for a long haul!

I've had some live a day and some live years. A neighbor of my moms had a japanese fighting fish that lived about 8 years. I had a gold fish live 3 years. You just never know.

LOL, I had a goldfish that lived for 10 to 12 years. I've NEVER seen a goldfish live that long. They generally live for a few years, nad will live longer if you keep upgrading tank sizes. The main reason for short lifespans is they generally get crowded in too small of a tank. If you want, you can go to an Aquarium store and buy a larger tank. A 20 gallon tank would be nice, but a 50 gallon be be excellent. Goldfish are from the carp family so thay can get quite big if they have room to grow. Good Luck, and you can rest assured, compared to cats or dogs, a goldfish does not live very long.

My kids always win about 12 every year. Most die in the first few days (I think cuz of excess ammonia in the water from all those fish at once), but 2 or 3 live on...and on... and on. One got so big we gave it to the Jr. High to put in their trout tank; it was 9 inches in our 20 gal aquarium. Right now we have 2 that are 6 inches and have been with us for almost 4 years. So who really knows?! :)

Ba ha! Good job fish whisperer! I guess I have the same question - we received a tadpole as a gift ... seven years later the thing is still going strong. My colleague at school has goldfish who are now 5 years old. I think it depends on the conditions in which the fish were born and kept partially - and the rest you've done yourself.
Enjoy!
~R.

It's funny you mentioned fish and water because we have just been taught that if you "Change your water, you can Change your life." We have been introduced to "hexagonal kangen water" and they tell a story about the fish. When the fish are sick, change the water. You have been a very good care taker of these gold fish because you change their water when needed, good for you and good for the lucky fish.(HEEEHEEE) If you are interested in your family's health with water go to our website and learn about this amazing water. www.myhexagonalwater.com. Click on "MOVIES" then "COLON CLEANSE" if you can stomach it. Check out the PH testing demostration with the different waters and drinks, you will be amazed. Have Fun!!!!!

I think it just depends. I bought my son a goldfish when he was like 2 and they lived for like 3 years. When one of them died I just bought another one to replace it, and it didn't live very long. Hopefully this helps!
T.

I had three goldfish that lived for close to 10 years. I had them in a 10 gallon fish tank that I wasnt the best at cleaning (I figured it was more of a natural environment! haha), and fed them once a day. But the grew to be HUGE!! I had to get rid of them when I moved into a house with a strict landlord, so 5 years later, as far as I know, they're still alive

this is a total coincedence that our names are the same... but we have goldfish too. My kids win them at festivals that is close to our new house of 3 years now. 2005 they brought home 10 fish and we were down to 4 real quick... within 5 days. But then they slowly died off, taking about 6-8 months for 3 of them. The last one stayed with us 2 years to the same week that we got it. After the other 3 died we bought 1 so the last one wouldn't be lonely... the pet shop said they live anywhere from 23 months to 30 months, at the longest. Well they both died, and last Augest my kids won 4 more fish - they are in the small 2 gallon tank now... I broke down and bought one with a simple filter. I also spend about 30 cents on a snail - it keeps the walls of the tank clean. The fish food bottle I bought back in 2005 is still only half gone. The 4 fish we got last Augest one has died - but we all think that is because my oldest dropped it on the way home.

by the way... I am not in SLC, this group would not let me put in the fact that my parents live there and I live by Tokyo Japan with my 5 kids and Japanese husband.

Enjoy your fish - it helps my kids with learning responsibilities... it came in handy when they found 2 kittens tossed in the road. They are now living with us and thriving, but the kids are in charge of the feeding and the litter box.

I won three goldfish once at a fair and they lived forever. We kept them in a bowl for the longest time and then I convinced my mom we need a small aquarium. I think I won them win I was about 13 or so and at 18 when I left for college 2 of them were still alive, we gave them to the neighbor kids at that point. My aunt had a goldfish that lived for at least 7 years.

Not sure you want to hear this.. my pet goldfish as a child torpedo lived 8 years....
MsD