Goldfish Lifespan

10 Tanks

Fish Herder
Joined
Apr 11, 2022
Messages
1,260
Reaction score
773
Location
Colorado
Hello TFF and Goldfish Keepers. I want to let you know that you're not a failure if your Goldfish don't live for 30 plus years. I've been keeping them for several years in large tanks and changing half the water weekly and feeding a little variety daily. The best I can do is seven years. Why, you ask? Well, most Goldfish you get at the store have been changed through the breeding process and bred by the thousands, so they're naturally going to have a much shorter lifespan. Then, there are the fancy ones with the round bodies and compact innards that fail. The fish with the slimmer bodies, tend to live the longest. Anyway, it has been my experience that most Goldfish you get at the store will make it to three or four and possibly a bit longer if they get good care. They're no different than people. Some are very hardy individuals that live a long time. Sadly, the majority don't.

10 Tanks
 
I remember when seeing goldfish in those glass bowls was pretty common. I think a lot of people have learned how terrible those bowls are since then. No fish should be kept in them. (Although I still see them being sold sometimes). I also remember seeing goldfish given away as prizes at carnivals. And it's not like people had a cycled tank ready for it when they got home. Back then, most people didn't even know what cycling was.
Everyone thought that they only grew to the size of whatever container they were kept in. Those poor fish didn't last too long.
 
I guess the pond is best for hardier types. My 2 are around 17 years old now. I visited a customer last week who said she won hers at a fairground over 20 years and it was pretty big in quite a small tank. But i guess he was used to it, although not fair to him at all. Any fancies I've had have only lived a couple of years.... so your very right.
 
Comets and shubunkins can live very long lives, if no birds pick them off. I think there is an enormous lifespan difference between indoor and outdoor goldies. The indoor ones are usually much shorter lived, whatever their genetics.
 
on indoor, I have known a teacher with 20 year old aquarium kept goldfish, the tank walls were green with algae despite twice weekly water changes. She never tried plants I don't think, it was about 25 years ago. It was a 75 gallon tank with just 2 comet goldfish. The kind they give away at the county fair which I think is where she got them. Twice weekly water changes and putting up with green takes patience, and now that I think about I think the fish started as her dad's and she inherited
 
The first fish I ever bought was a goldfish. I had my guppies in their one gallon jar aquarium and then went up to S.S. Kresge’s and bought a goldfish which I put in another gallon jar. This was 1965 and the goldfish went home in a wax paper box like you used to get Chinese food in , it even had the little wire handle. The next week I bought a Mystery snail with my 25 cent weekly allowance.
Fast forward a few decades and I had an outdoor pond , one of those preformed plastic jobs of 125 gallons. I had common goldfish in there year round for several years and they even spawned.
I like goldfish. Just might have to get one again , ask him how life is for the goldfish these days.
 

Most reactions

trending

Back
Top