Goldfish Age?

[rebelagent]

How long do gold fish live? I heard they can live up to 2 years. Is this true? I have had golds off and on in a single bowl but have managed to shorten their life span because of procrastination. Sorry lack of feeding times.

[William]

There are records of goldfish that lived to be atleast 45 years old.

[lpstong]

Wow 45 years for a goldfish. The longest I had one was almost 4 years. All the others were under 3 years. I don't why its just that way.

[dan788]

The common goldfish lifes longer than fancy goldfish but 10-12 years are still not uncommon for fancy goldfish. The problem is that many thaat keep goldfish don't know how to keep goldfish and there life span is therefore rather short.

A goldfish is usually not suitable for a community aquariums.

[lpstong]

Which to makes alot of sense. My first pet was a goldfish I didn't take care of very well. But I remeber when I was 17 I had another one. I just had one and kept it in a single glass bowl. The common Fish bowl most fish stores sell. Well he was growing but still fit in the bowl. I had gone on vacation for two weeks and left the fish to be taken care of by my brother and sister. When I came back he was dead.
They said one day that they had found him laying on the side of the bowl. My grandmother said he may have grown to big or because we live in a hot climate that the weather had heated the water to much and the fish bailed. I don't know how much of it was true but it is beginning to sound right. The bowl being to small and the weather made the water hot.

[aquafreak]

The fish bowl really isn't suitable for fish and especially not for goldfish. This is due to the fact that goldfish wants colder water than tropical fish and because goldfish need a lot of oxygen in the water. Fish bowls have due to their shape low oxygen levels unless the water is oxygenated.

Keeping fish in fish Bowls has actually been outlawed in Rome, Italy as cruelty to animal.

[rebelagent]

Ok than, what should I put them in, if not a fish bowl made for one. I know an aquarium would suit them. But how large if I just want to keep goldfish? Would a 5 gallon tank be suitable. And would a dozen of them be fine in the tank? What would the ideal temp be for the tank? And what if I just want to keep one goldfish what would you recommend for a proper tanks size? Lets say if I were to give my niece a gold fish or two for her birthday. I would want it to be low maintence for her. What would be the proper tank size for that many fish.

[William]

a 5 gallon tank can be kept to keep a snall goldfish but it will need a large aquarium as it grow. A dozen goldfish in such a small aquarium is really not suitable. remeber some goldfish types can grow to a 1ft/ 30 cm in lenght.

A larger aquarium always require less work than a big one and I would therefore recommend an aquarium of 20-25 gallon/ 30 L . However a smaller aquarium can be used for a small goldfish.

The recommended varies depending on which type of goldfish you want to keep. I recommend that you read about the type you want to keep in the goldfish section in our articles library.