A pet goldfish can only live for at least five years. If their owners are quite thorough and delicate with them, they can live for up to ten years. Goldfishes swimming in the wild can live as long as 25 years, according to The Nest.
The oldest goldfish recorded was 43 years old. That, however, was only made possible by extreme care and dependence on the situation of the fish tank.
Sometimes, a little surgery won’t hurt to keep a goldfish from dying. Bob, a 20 years old goldfish, was discovered to be in critical condition by its owner. Bob was apparently suffering from a tumor on one of his fins.
According to his veterinarian, Bob’s chances of surviving is next to nil. Of course, the owner, so as Bob (maybe), wasn’t ready to give up. The owner agreed to pay $250 for the surgery.
Now, you might be thinking that the owner could’ve just bought another goldfish and call it a day with Bob. But one must understand Bob in order to understand why he needed to live.
Bob was already defying the laws of nature by reaching past his teens. One single tumor, which his owner can afford, won’t stop him from reaching his legal age.
Dr. Faye Bethell, the lead surgeon, said, “The option was to remove the lump or put him to sleep and now he is doing brilliantly. They were really, really pleased because the goldfish is older than their children and is considered part of the family.”
Dr. Bethell continued, “We’ve done several (operations on goldfish) but this one was the oldest fish we’ve operated on. We keep them wet throughout using their own tank water so they don’t dry out.”
The whole operation only lasted for an hour. Bob was released from the pet clinic the same day. In order for Bob to get through the pain of the operation, he has to begiven anesthetic water.
Dr. Bethell explained, “It’s pretty complicated because everything is so small and they don’t have a massive volume of blood so have to make sure they don’t lose too much.”
She said, “We’ve done several but this one was the oldest fish we’ve operated on. We keep them wet throughout using their own tank water so they don’t dry out. He is back home and enjoying swimming properly.”
Owners’ love for their pet goldfishes is nothing new in Britain. Last year, a person who lived in Buckinghamshire, which sounds like a countryside, had to drive 200 miles to Bristol just to have his pet goldfish Nemo’s tumor removed.
