The goldfish who wouldn't die

[Duer 157099]

How long do goldfish live anyway?

About a year ago, my son brought home a crawdad from a local creek, and so we got a little aquarium to put him into, and started buying feeder goldfish for him to eat.

One goldfish, however, refused to be eaten, and kept growing.

Eventually, the crawdad died, but the goldfish is still alive (his name is Rupert). It's HUGE, too, like 4 inches long.

I'm tired of having to clean the aquarium, and goldfish are filthy critters. There's a filter but that's little help.

I hate to say it, but I'm just waiting for this beast to die.

How much longer do I have to endure this torture?

[Mutley]

1. Um. I think they can live 6 to 8 years if well taken care of.

:hug: Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Actually. Looking at some of the other links... apparently they can live for decades. :D

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=goldfish+lifespan&btnG=Google+Search

[Duer 157099]

11. hmmm.. "well taken care of" being the operative words...

(nefarious thoughts enter my mind...)

[LisaL]

25. Take good care of that goldfish, darn you.

[Race4Peace]

2. the smaller you get them, the longer they last.

[Duer 157099]

9. Oh great. This bad boy was tiny, eensy beensy, don't know

how he escaped the deft (not!) claws of the crawdad (it was actually funny watching the crawdad try to catch the fish. he was pathetically slow and it was fascinating to watch him wait for a fish to swim between his claws)

[Nikia]

3. My dad has some huge goldfish in his pond

Twelve years ago, my mother gave me her 6 goldfish to give to my mother since she didn't want to take care of them anymore. Around that time, my father was building his pond and garden. Within a few months, he put them in the pond. There are many in there now as they have reproduced. I don't know if the huge ones are orignal or in an early generation, but goldfish do take a while to grow that big.

[ronnykmarshall]

4. Do get me started on fish.

We bought an aquarium last fall and my SO wanted guppies, plattys and other live bearers.

First time one gave birth, of course they didn't last long. So we felt bad and bought another "baby tank".

So now when one gave birth, we'd scoop the babies up and put them baby tank away from the adults. When the babies got bigger we moved them back into the big tank.

Needless to say we have fish coming out of our asses now. The babies have had babies.

Michael was all upset when he notices one of the frogs (tiny little critters) eat one of the mollie babies.

Does anyone in the L.A. area either want some fish are want to start a tank?

We'll be more than happy to part with a bunch.

[Duer 157099]

8. Well if I were in your area, I'd take them off your hand

just so my mammoth goldfish could eat them! (hey, it's the food chain)

When I've gone out of town, I've bought guppies for this beast to eat so it wouldn't starve (god forbid!) while I was gone.

My bad.

[Arugula Latte]

10. I'll bet if you list it on the LA Craigslist site under the "free" stuff

category you'll get at least one taker, especially if you give away one or both of the tanks with the fish.

[Duer 157099]

13. LOL, that's actually a good idea

If I'm clever enough, it might even make it into the "best of" section (no, I'm not that funny)

Here's the rub though: I want to keep the tank. The tank has a cascading fountain top thingy that I really like -- I just hate having to clean the goldfish poop out of it!

edit to admit: oh, I see you were talking to the LA person...

[jmowreader]

17. Go get a third tank

In it you put some large piscivorous cichlids like Jack Dempseys or Green Terrors, or--even more entertaining--a frog-mouth catfish.

You move the babies from the first tank to the second tank until they grow out, then move most of the fish from the second tank to the third tank. Problem solved.

(Be warned: frog-mouth catfish are specific piscivores--they won't eat anything BUT live fish. Cichlids will take prepared foods.)

[Blue-Jay]

39. Start with the flushin'!

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

5. We had one that we figured was about 20 at time of death.

Goldfish suck. I have fancier tastes in fish personally. Anyway, the thing will probably live forever, especially if you want it to die. I'd see if a local fish store will take it. I've done that before with fish that got too aggressive or if I just wanted to get a cooler fish and didn't have room. Your best bet is to ask an independent petstore and not a big chain.

[Duer 157099]

6. OMG, I can't believe all of these replies

telling me this horrible news! 20 years?!?!?!?!?

O.M.G.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

15. The fish was about 7" when we got it.

My "kind" uncle said he had it for about 8 years. We then had it for about 5 or 6 (hoping it would die the whole time...once my father fed it an entire strand of spaghetti. Guess what? The thing loved spaghetti.) Finally, it outgrew the tank, so my dad's friend took it to live in his koi pond. It was eaten by a raccoon about 5 years later.

Like I said, find an independent pet shop and see if they'll take the fish. As long as it looks healthy, they'll probably take it. I used to do this all the time when I had my super-nice African Cichlid tank.

[LisaL]

26. If you take good care of him, he will make it to 50.

[Mutley]

29. According to this site the oldest living goldfish known was 43.

http://www.goldfishinfo.com/goldlife.htm

Poor dotcosm. :D

[Duer 157099]

30. Noooooooooooooooooo! This can't be!!

I had no idea what I was getting into. This fish will probably outlive me.

We also have a bird who has been around for awhile (5+ years I think), but him I like (actually I have his cage next to the fish tank so he can watch Rupert make a fool of himself). He (the bird) likes the fountain part of the tank, and he sings to the water.

[LisaL]

31. They obviously don't know about my 50 year old goldfish.

[bertha katzenengel]

7. ask around for someone who has a koi pond

it may grow and grow.

A carp is just a goldfish who complains a lot . . .

[Arugula Latte]

12. My kids won goldfish at the school carnival in fall '04.

One has survived and is huge, like yours ... I had a goldfish named "Spot" when I was a kid and that sucker lived on for years. My parents had to take over when I went to college. Heh heh.

[Robb]

14. (whistles quietly)

1/4 bottle red wine
thick slices of onion, carrot and celery
1 bayleaf
bouquet garni
6 peppercorns
salt and pepper
goldfish, cleaned with head, tail and fins removed
Button mushrooms and small onions, sauteed in butter

1. Put the wine, sliced vegetables, herbs, peppercorns and seasoning in a saucepan, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
2. Arrange the goldfish in an ovenproof dish. Strain the liquor over fish, until almost covered add a little water, if necessary.
3. Cover the dish and cook in the oven at 325 degrees for about 1 hour.
4. Serve the goldfish in the liquor, garnished with the mushrooms and onions and with sprigs of parsley.

Serves 1

:yoiks:

[Duer 157099]

16. (vomits loudly)

:-)

Not because I can't imagine eating a goldfish... but because I see the FILTHY icky stuff he swims around in!!

I swear, when I clean the tank, I put him in a little bowl of clean water, and by the time I'm finished cleaning his tank, the little bowl of water is already GROSS!!

They poop continuously, I think.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

19. Goldfish are toxic....

That's why you can't have any other fish in the same aquarium with them. They will poison them.
Duckie

[Duer 157099]

20. I have two other fish in with the beast

one is an algae sucker (who I should fire because he's not doing his job)

the other was just like the goldfish in that I bought it as a feeder for the goldfish, but he managed to outlast outsmart and outwit Rupert, and so he still lives (he's like a guppie or something, not sure)

[realisticphish]

35. as algae eaters grow

they get lazy, and don't move around as much

[jmowreader]

21. Not only that...

Goldfish are cold-water fish; tropicals are warm-water fish.

Set your water temp to cater to the needs of the goldfish and the tropicals will freeze to death.

A water temp more in line with the needs of the tropicals will damage the goldfish.

There's a reason the Japanese keep these in ponds.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

24. Mine actually had a cory cat in the tank.

They bonded. The cory also grew to be huge (for a cory cat, at least). It was weird. The cory we had for about four years. It ended up dying when the house lost power in the winter and it got too cold.

[Ekirh]

18. Trust me

The Goldfish will win . ..

My Mom had a goldfish (Well it was my brother's but he "abanonded it") and she had the same "I can't wait for this thing to die" mentality. In the end my Mom ended up letting it go free in a pond.

[uppityperson]

22. I have a ft long 10+yr old goldfish

they grow to fill their container. Bigger container, bigger. It moved from a tank into a HUGE pot outside last yr, still growing. You don't need to continually clean its container. It is ok to let sides get algaey and green because the fish doesn't care. We used to clean one small spot to look in at, never emptied water all the way, just refilled what the cats drank from that fish fountain and it has lived over 10 yrs, is over a ft long, going strong.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

27. Fish will outgrow their tanks.

Mine got to be about 10" in a 10gallon. It's a fallacy that they only grow to the size of their container and unfortunately there are too many pet shops that will sell you a baby Oscar for your 10gallon (when it needs 55-75 gallons minimum). Or worse, a pacu or arowana baby for your 55gallon. A paco can get to be almost 3' long and the arowana 4'.

[Blue Diadem]

23. My granddaughter's goldfish is going on 4 years old

She won him at a carnival and we hadn't expected him to be around this long. He received a larger aquarium for Christmas..he had outgrown his smaller one. I think Rupert is going to be with you for a while.

[Duer 157099]

28. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

:cry:

[Whoa_Nelly]

32. have had goldfish for as long as five years

and then gave them to someone because of a move.

Guppies are Hardy little Fuckneggets!

[BikeWriter]

33. I'll put it this way. Who are you leaving it to in your will?

[Duer 157099]

34. lol... I just told my son that he might have this fish when he's 50

(he's 12 now). He was mortified.

[realisticphish]

36. sell him to an aquarium store

if they will buy him off you. If you are serious about killing it, there are painless ways to euthanize fish. DO NOT flush it down the toilet.

[HEyHEY]

37. Get a spine - flush him!

[miss_american_pie]

38. Forgive me, but how old is your son?

And why isn't he caring for his fish?