BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Fish How old is your Gold Fish?

Tell us how old your gold fish is!

Let us know if your gold fish is in a bowl or an aquarium! To what do you attribute his long life and health? The type of food you feed? Your water change schedule, or just what is it that you do for your dear little goldie that makes him such a happy fish?

The oldest known gold fish was 43 years old!

I have 3 Fantail goldfish. 2 calicos Pongo (4 years) and Perdi (2 years) and a gold one Cherry (aproximatly 1 year).

Pongo is my pride and joy. Eventually I hope to place her in a small indoor pond like environment much further down the road.

Good goldfish care is the same as any other fish. Clean water -filter: large cartridge size bio bag filter, stable temp -heater: I keep it at about 76 degrees F, a healthy variety of food: algea wafers, goldfish flakes and goldfish crumbles, appropiate tank size!: I have a 20 gallon tank with 3 fish and a bubbler! -yes they need one it is a myth in my view and experience that they can live for years on end without a way to diffuse the air. The other thing I do that most fish keepers do not is that every 3 to 6 months I completely tear down and clean out the tank -complete water change, scrub down all plants and rocks, wipe off inside of tank, wipe out filter and wipe off the heater.

Fantails and Betas

Hi, I have a question about water or just my mind. We have bought fish 4 times and the fish die over just 3 days time. no matter what we did. they just kept dieing. So I got the idea of buying the fish and dumping the water out that was in the bag when I bought them and just put in my aquarium! Believe it or not, I now still have the same fish for 5 months.So the question. So is it, The store water or just my mind ?
.

ACK!!!

My 2 youngest children got "free" goldfish at a fair this weekend.

I didn't have anything to put them in other than a fishbowl - but after reading articles it looks like I am going to need a tank.

They keep coming to the top of the bowl and "gulping". Does this mean they are already running out of air?

I know cats, not fish! But my 4 yr old is going to be devastated of these things die.

They are running out of air if they're gulping. You can change the water in their bowl which would fix it for a day or two. If you don't have time to set up a new tank right away you can get a battery powered water oxygen pump for about $10 or so.

You also need chlorine treatment for the water if you're using city tap water. The chlorine will eat away at their scales and protective coating. I use to salt the tank water as well, which they sell at the pet store and they can tell you how to use it as well. This makes the water even better for the fish.

Gold fish are actually really easy. I had 2 (Brenda and Eddie) for over 4 years and even moved them from CA to VA with a battery powered air pump.

I pretty much did everything that failtailsandbetas said. I bought a great tank at a specialty fish store in CA that was about $60 or $70. The more room for the little guys the happier they'll be. My tank eventually cracked though, and I purchased the exact same tank at Petsmart. Just make sure you get one with a bio wheel, air pump and a system that will really clean and circulate the water. My system didn't have a temperature regulator and the goldfish seemed fine without it.

After that they're easy. I think I'd do a partial water change once a month or so. Really clean the tank good every few months like fantailsandbetas said. Basically getting a good tank and a few simple things done weekly/biweekly and they could live for years.

Hope this helps.

I just had to give Bob and Paula a burial at sea.

I was changing their water every other day, until I could get to the pet store and get a tank; but apparently it wasn't enough.

{sigh} - but now the kids are all hyped up about wanting fish, so I guess we will go hit the pet store this weekend, get a tank, and some fish that will have a better chance of survival.

The fish they got at the carnival had like 200 fish in a ten gallon tank that they were scooping up and giving away, so I have no idea what kind of shape they were in to begin with.

Anyway, this time I can get prepared ahead of time.

Guess I'll become a regular on this board!

We have 4 goldfish now. One is around 6 years old (Herman)and traveled about 9 hours to our new home without the benefit of a filter or anything to oxygenate the water. It really is a miracle that he survived. He has 3 tank-mates that are a couple years old. Our tank is nothing special. I think it is 20 gallon tank with a filter that sits on the side. (I wanted an under gravel one, but couldn't find one at the time, and had to replace the old one quickly otherwise the fish would have died.) I don't change the water as often as I should, but you know what, the fish seem happy. I never really thought they had much of a personality, until I actually had fish, and that wasn't my idea, however, I think it is pretty neat when they swim around to get your attention when they see you. They seem to recognize the hand that feeds them. I feed them twice a day, and if they seem really hungry when it isn't feeding time, I'll give them a few pebbles. I don't like the flake food, it sinks too quickly and seems to foul up the water in a hurry. I'll be pretty sad when Herman dies, so I was kinda glad, although amazed at the longest living goldfish. I don't know if I'll be up to maintaining an aquarium in my eighties....lol

My goldfish is named Ori..he is 14 years old. He lives by himself in a 3 gallon decorative tank, it looks almost all plants and rocks until you see him swim around a corner.

Honestly I think the number one reason that keeps Ori going is the space. Everyone I have ever met with a long living goldfish, has them in a bigger tank. They need space. Goldfish bowls are terrible. Not only are they small, but the top is smaller than the middle, creating even less surface area for air exchange. Not to mention, that in small tanks/bowls water changes occur very rapidly. It can be fine when you leave for work, and toxic by the time you get home.

I don't feet flakes or anything, I have always used bloodworms, and shrimp. He seems to like it.

I do a partial waterchange every other week, and a full scrub down yearly. I also have him running on a really good filtration system, I have a cannister filter that is set for a 50 gallon tank. It does a great job cleaning and it also provides a good air exchange as the water circulates back in.

Skeeter

43 years old - now I feel really cheated.
I've never had much luck with fish.
(to say the least)
Three years ago we established a garden pond and bought some gold pond fish - fairly large fish. My husband was constantly trying to keep down algae and keep the water clean - the water had to be topped up every week or so - and then THE BIRDS arrived....
Large fish eating birds - perfectly engineered to catch fish - long legs and neck with a very long and slender bill - these birds took about 6 fish one morning. We then put some wire over the surface of the pond - somehow, the bird managed to get to the remaining fish despite our attempts to keep them safe. Talk about an emotional roller coaster - and no burial at sea or anywhere else.
We then discovered we had one fish still alive and kicking in the pond - so I bought a nice tank and moved him into the house.
Sadly, I found him floating a few weeks later. Failed again....
I think we're not meant to have fish in our lives so we've settled on our cats, that are still thriving at 7 and 10 years of age.
I agree that the bowls are cruel - I looked through a display home a few months ago and a large black fish in a small bowl was apparently, a decorative feature of the en suite - the poor thing could barely move - I spoke to the estate agent about it - I thought it was so cruel.
Pleased to hear the rest of you are doing well with your fish.