Goldfish lifespan
With excellent care, goldfish should live for 10 years or more. The oldest can make it well past 20-years old.
Are you surprised? People think goldfish are short-lived animals is because they obtain weak feeder goldfish from fairgrounds, and then keep them in unsuitable goldfish bowls.
These weakened fish die after a year or two, and the unsuspecting keeper thinks his or her fish has passed away from old age, when in reality it was barely a toddler in terms of its natural lifespan.
Goldfish can also have a shortened life if they’re kept in a pond and captured by predators like herons, or even your neighborhood cat. Consider netting your pond, and try to have deep enough water to put off cats and some waterlilies to offer the fish cover from birds.
Tips for prolonging goldfish lifespan
- Keep your goldfish in a properly-sized aquarium, not a bowl.
- Feed them a good diet, based around high-quality flake food, with variety in the form of freeze dried foods, vegetable matter, frozen coldwater fish food, and even the occasional live treat such as daphnia. (Only buy live food from fish stores or net it yourself from small pools of water that don’t contain any fishes, to avoid introducing disease).
- Don’t overfeed.
- Maintain good water quality with a proper filter and regular tank cleaning sessions.
- Buy smaller, bright looking fish in the first place. Larger goldfish are likely to be older - in some shops the goldfish on sale may be a year or two old already.
More ‘natural’ goldfish such as comets tend to have a greater lifespan than the fancy varieties. I’d say 12 years is a good age for a fantail, and the really fancy twin-tail or pop-eyed varieties may do well to make it to ten.
The bottom line is that your fish will be with your for a long time, so give it the best home you can - for your viewing pleasure and for their own health.
Please do tell us the age of your oldest goldfish in the comments below.
Click here to learn more goldfish secrets!
Filed in: Care
Dec 9th, 2008 at 11:24 am
I have a goldfish that is 13 and a half years old. I don’t know what type of goldfish he is as he has the body of a common goldfish but has a fantail. He was one of the first fish we bought for our aquarium and has outlived a lot of the others. He currently lives with two other fish, one of which is eight and the other is less than a year.
Dec 11th, 2008 at 6:56 am
I had two feeders that belonged to my aunt when she was my age, They only passed away recently to. They would have had to be 25 years plus.
To cheer myself up, I bought a ryukin x fantail that was to be fed to the oscars due to his tail fin having no split in it. He’s a beautiful little fish, and although his lifespan won’t be as great as my old feeders, I hope to have him around for many years.
Dec 11th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Hi Rowena and Jenna!
Thanks for sharing your goldfish success. It’s great to hear of people having such success with their pets. A lot of people come to the Goldfish Care Guide with sick goldfish, so it’s nice to hear some happy stories
Jan 15th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
I have been attracted to goldfish for many years. I am an artist and an educator. As an artist, I was first drawn to a group of 4 comets in a 29 gallon tank that I periodically saw in a nursing home over a 7 year period. In a rather depressing place, I found the view of these 4 beautiful fish — fully 10 inches long each from nose to tip of tale, gliding around each other repeatedly giving a most wondrous image.
As I developed my art career and began thinking about subjects, I went back to the nursing home to take photos. When I arrived, they were gone… When I inquired, an employee said ‘Oh, now we have birds….”
I have since provided goldfish for my own four children and now, any others I encouter. they are colorful, hardy and mostly kind-hearted– the kind of thing you encourage children to ponder. I now have a wondrous school — Space COast Early Intervention Center in Melbourne Florida a place that promotes inclusion for young children with disabilities… we have a 20 gallon tank with 4 beautiful fantails that mesmerize the children. All have been healthy for 11 months. Immobile children can watch at their own speed with a typical peer. THe sad part is that I have a great teaching staff whose generation has not had experiences with nature, so I have two generations to influence in care and respect of nature and learning about animals. Information from this site will be shared with our staff and the public who view our nature area on weekends. THANKS
Feb 15th, 2009 at 5:51 am
@Sally - what a lovely story! Thanks very much for sharing your comments in such detail, and really glad the Goldfish Care Guide could help you keep your fantails fit and well.
Mar 7th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
I have three goldfish. One is a common, one a calico fantail, one a calico colored koi. They are all over two years, the oldest at aroud five. I have people who will be awed by how the goldfish are so old an big.(all over 6 inches, the koi at a foot) They can be agressive, I have lost several fish to them being hungry and the fish being small. I also lost an Oscar which was in there because he hadn’t been getting along with his mates. He bit the koi, whom promptly bit the Oscar’s gill off. Never put them in there, goldfish could kill them.
Apr 18th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Hi!
I have had four goldfish which my first two have died.
But my oldest one is Sandra Lee or Mr. Goldie. I have two names because i don’t know what my goldfish is. *a girl or a boy* i’m eight and i’ve had Sandra Lee ever since i was five. so he still has about nine years to live! I also bought a orangeish redish goldfish with white underneath on it’s stomach. It’s name is Chessey Chesseball or ChesseBall. He’s 1 or almost one on May 17th. My goldfish are fintail goldfish.
Apr 18th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
I have had 4 goldfish both fintails. I’ve had my two goldfish not die and there names are Chesseball and Sandra Lee. Chesseball is one and Sandra Is three. I love them so much and take care of them!! I really love this website teaching me about goldfish!
Apr 19th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
One of the oldest goldfish lived to be 43 yr. old!!!I was surprised when I heard this.
Thanks for the help!!!
May 13th, 2009 at 2:48 am
Ye to Kuch nahi me ri gold fish 16 din jinda rahi thi.
May 30th, 2009 at 10:26 am
I had a goldfish when I was 2 years old which lived for about a year. Now 14 years later I have 4 goldfish my oldest is about 5 years old but his growth got stunted by a few years in a bowl, Sushi is almost 2 and is fun because he is trained to swim to the top and kiss our fingers, the other 2 might be about 1 year now. I totally love my fish.
Jul 21st, 2009 at 5:58 pm
We have a fish that just past away, who lived a long 12-13 years. He started out in a large tank with a couple of other goldfish (which didn’t last nearly as long), then was moved to a small outdoor pond, where he was self-sufficient for the majority of his life. We must have only fed him twice, three time at the most. In the end, he turned out to be larger than my hand, and probably twice as old as my dog. RIP Superfish!
Jul 22nd, 2009 at 9:52 pm
What is the temp range for our pond?
I live in metro Phoenix AZ
Aug 2nd, 2009 at 10:32 am
Hello,
We live on a 4 acre farmette with sheep, goats, donkeys and poultry. All my water tanks, tubs, wading pools, barrels contain goldfish to control the misquitoes and also I like the goldfish.
I don’t feed the fish but they have plenty to eat and grow well. I like the Comets the best. They are so beautiful with their very long tails and fins.
This year I have had to move the babies into various water tubs in smaller pastures. I have a 6 foot diameter X 2.5 deep water tank in my small orchard and it waters and fertilizes my trees. I removed 13, 2.0 long (body length) beautiful youngsters from that one last week and hope to raise 9 of them in an outside 20 gal tank for awhile. The other 4 are working in 2 - 20 gal tubs and 2 - 40 gal tubs. We have predators here. The worst are the Giant Blue Herons. I have wire over my tank in the orchard.
The 5.0 foot diameter plastic wading pool in the dog yard also produces an abundent amount of babies. I removed 8 large (3″) early this spring and 4 more recently. They are never bothered by predators. The parents are still in the wading pool and seem to be doing fine. I hope to have more babies next year. They are both 5 inches in body length with tails seemingly as long.
Goldfish are beautiful as well as practical.
Thank you for your website.
Aug 24th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
We have an orange fancy tail goldfish. He is now 8 years old.
We have him in a 55 gallon tank but he is out-growing it.
We think he is at about 2 lbs., 6 inches high and 10 inches long. We might consider adopting him out to a pet store with a stock tank or pond. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Oct 6th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Kelly, get a bigger tank for your fancy tail. After 8 years, it would be hard to give him up.
Oct 25th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
I have several goldfish that came from a friends elderly Mothers fish pond… They seem to be slighty cross-bred from the comets and fantails she had in the pond… She said she put 6 fish in originally, however, there were at least thirty in the pond… I have had these fish for 6 yrs in an aquarium… They were at least 2 yrs old when I netted them out of her backyard pond… So,I now know how long these beautiful fish can live… I always thought that they were short lived…
Nov 6th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Im not sure how old Fluffy is…we bought him a couple years ago from a local pet store. He’s a 7″ long fantail and since then he’s really become a member of our family. He knows when i’m nearby and will come to the front of the tank and try to get my attention by swimming back and forth very rapidly, and then he goes up and nibbles the surface of the water trying to get a treat out of me. Never really thought of fish having personalities til we got him. What a wonderful site you have here - thanks for all your efforts.
Jan 4th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
i have two comet goldfish, 1 named daisy and the other dom, dont ask about the names,ive had allsorts of problems with them since i got them but they seem to be doing just fine after i had to cure them of whitespot and fin rot, they are extremely rewarding fish to have and are extremely hardy as they pulled through those diseases even though the guy at the fish shop said they were unlikely to pull through
Jul 31st, 2010 at 10:52 am
I had a comet goldfish who just recently died at the age of 12 years and my shubunkin goldfish is about 14 now and still going. He’s recently moved into a pond so hopefully he’ll have many years ahead of him in a bigger environment with other fish.
Sep 1st, 2010 at 6:48 am
I have 5 gold fish…well 1 of them is silver. I was, or should I say we were given/donated them at different stages. They lived in a recording studio in Glasgow until they moved to my Flat (link to pics http://www.myspace.com/q10studios/photos/albums/my-photos/592519). Two of them (with the big tail fins) are at least 13 to 14 yrs old and the others range from 7 to 8 yrs, I hope they reach 40yrs+. They are very much loved and are a living reminder of all the good days gone by at the studio. PS you should have a Picture Gallery for showing everyone’s fishes, 1 pic only each would be nice.
Nov 21st, 2010 at 9:20 pm
i am ten years old and when i was younger i had a goldfish that was pretty old but we didnt now how old….she got so big and i named her mama fish and she had like more than 10 husbands she was also big and very calm.the way she past is from the stupid fish feeder and we set it to go on vacation and it never fed her so when we got back she was D-E-A-D…i was so up set i cryed for a while. go ahead and call me a cry baby but i loved that fish.
Dec 15th, 2010 at 10:07 am
Our goldfish “Goldie” was a feeder goldfish from a fishing pond at a fair. I didn’t even want to get her a fishbowl as I was afraid she would die quickly and sadden my daughter. Goldie is almost ten now!
Jan 15th, 2011 at 5:55 pm
I never really knew that goldfish could live to be so old. I’ve had mine for roughly 11 years and its still truckin along. I’ve enjoyed having him. He has caught a few different diseases over the years, but a little bit of research and some medicine and viola! Cured goldfish.
I think I’ve had 3 different tanks for him and 10 filters probably. During those 11 years I have moved probably 6 times and he has faithfully followed each time. I think i’m about ready to get him a new fancier style tank. I have the strange feeling that after I put a few hundred into a new home he will bite the dust. Wish me luck! 
Jan 21st, 2011 at 6:01 pm
I find it strange that fish, feeder golfish particularly, do not have a short lifespan. Is this a fish thing? Are there other animals that “when well kept” live, and live, and live. Parrots, who else?. Thanks.
Feb 5th, 2011 at 6:55 am
My daughter won our goldfish at our State Fair 12 years ago. It was very small and now it is approx 5″ head to fin and 8″ to the end of the fin. I don’t know what kind it is - just an ordinary goldfish, not a fan tail. But he is HUGE. He has turned from bright gold to white.
Feb 8th, 2011 at 6:41 am
My goldfish is threee. I got him at a fair.
Mar 16th, 2011 at 9:38 am
HI
I AM NEW TO THIS PAGE AND I HAVE A QUIESTION,
I HAVE TWO COMET GOLDFISH AND I JUST BOUGHT A FAINTAIL
CAN THEY GET ALONG OR DO I NEED TO SEPERATED THEM?
Apr 5th, 2011 at 3:22 am
i have bought 2 gold fishes nearly 5months ago. sandy and goldy on of them eats very much and is a lil bit agressive . now they r living with 2 sharks and 2 angels.
Apr 19th, 2011 at 3:48 pm
Had Mr Fish for nigh on 7 years. He keeps growing, and is not v gold anymore. He is very socialable, and feeds out of my fingers,… and mouth to mouth ! Each time I buy him a new tank I think its his last and am convinced he must be reaching the end of his days. Now Ive read these stories I will keep upgrading him!
Apr 27th, 2011 at 6:35 am
Hey, Had my comet goldfish for over a year now and they just keep growing we have a big tank with a big decoration as a hiding place. They really surprised me about how smart they are and I think they are great to watch!
May 12th, 2011 at 3:36 pm
Hello, I just lost my goldfish name Kindo and she live about 3 years with us but was a older fish when we got her. I have two other fishes and I just want to know how long will or can live.
May 14th, 2011 at 9:32 am
I adopted 2 goldfish, both were bought by the previous owner as feeders. The largest has outgrown his color, solid white, about 10″, approx.13yrs old. We call him Kong, because he’s the king of our 100+gal tank! LOL! The other is bright orange (Sunkist), only 5″, approx.-11yrs old. I don’t even want to think about “that inevitable day”, but they’re healthy & we hope to have them for many more years.
May 29th, 2011 at 4:01 pm
my gold fish is ten yrs old now and in small bowl on windowsill,well i have him ten years, don’t know what age he was when i bought him, can’t believe we have him for that long.And absolutely no maintenance at all.Hope he has another ten years left in him….
Jun 29th, 2011 at 8:36 am
My mother had a goldfish I won at a Christmas bazaar when I was 5. It passed away a month after I was married at 23. It was a very small fish when I got it. So it was atleast 18
Years old.
Jun 29th, 2011 at 10:04 am
Hi! I don’t own goldfishes. But I might own one, first of all what temperture are goldfishes use to? I don’t want them to freeze or get heated up.
Jul 31st, 2011 at 1:15 pm
Amanda, you’re not a crybaby for loving an animal you’ve taken such wonderful care of. Alli, I have a ten year old tarantula(chilean rosehair). I have a seven inch two year old comet and a three inch six month old comet, both in a 75gallon tank. Keep up the good work, all you awesome fish lovers!
Aug 4th, 2011 at 11:01 am
My oldest ‘goldfish’ is about 9 yrs old and lives in our 8′deep x
16 ‘ long and 12′ wide outdoor POND. Most interesting fact learned
about these fish….is that they live on the Algae alone.We bought
tons of Food for goldfish in first few years and then found out
that they live off the Algae and wild bugs.
Greatest surprise was that we bought 30 of them at local Lowes
store at .25 cents each. Shocked to discover that one of them
grew rapidly and was really a Coit fish …not a goldfish. She
gets alone fine with all the other 30 goldfish…I think she
believes that she is a Goldfish also.
Aug 15th, 2011 at 10:59 am
My mom won 2 goldfish at a fair back in 1971. One of them unfortunately jumped and died shortly after she got it. The other lived in a glass bowl with blue rocks, ate goldfish food (not the flakes) everyday and she cleaned 100% of his water once a week with regular tap water, no drops or filters. During water changes she’d put him in a shallow bowl on the counter. If you put your finger in and stayed still he would come up and rub himself against your finger. He lived for over 18 years.
Aug 31st, 2011 at 12:18 pm
I bought two goldfish yesterday for my seven year old son but one already died. How can I help him to survive to other one.
Thanks
Sep 11th, 2011 at 5:14 am
i wanna buy a goldfish 1 of my fish died 2 day a rosie barb i have a fighter too does a goldfish need oxygen pump or whatever it is called and is it ok to keep only one goldfish can we train it and how PLZZZ HELP ME TO SORT THIS PROBLEM OUT. i am 10
Sep 28th, 2011 at 4:58 am
When I was young, I went to a town fair, I went to hook a duck and I won a small, tiny goldfish, I named it bubbles! My mum thought it would only last at least 2-3 days, guess what, it lasted 28 years. Yeah, you heard me right. Please, everyone, if you want a goldfish that lasts, go for a goldfish, but my gold fish lived in a large aquarium, so I would recommend that, if you want it to live that long.
Faye
If you have any questions about fish care and fish management, please email me at
fayeseckel@hotmail.com or
angelx9×1@hotmail.co.uk or
Ring me at
(07) 54453589
Thank you lots
XXXfayeXXX
Oct 24th, 2011 at 3:04 am
This answers a lot of my questions. I won three goldfish at a carnival and all of my friends fish died after only a week or two.. it was awful. Mine lived way past ten years. I figure that if you take in an animal big or small you are accepting the responsibility to give it a good life… I feel sad for the people who let theirs die so quickly. It’s not right.
Nov 5th, 2011 at 4:11 am
people who keep telescope goldfish with comets have taken a huge risk because I didnt care what the breed was I just got them and I realized that my nextdoor neighbour had a similer fish but without the googly eyes and the telescope died and ever scince then I have been reserching the goldfish and their characteristics and I figured out that my telescope wasn’t as hardy as the fantailand I only just found out that single tailed goldfishcan live for longer and when I was 6 I didn’t know that single tailed goldfish can live longer that fancy varietys
Nov 7th, 2011 at 1:24 pm
Our family pet OJ was picked up at our Island county fair when my daughter was 11 years old and just died on saturday the 5th of Nov. My daughter is 25 years old now so OJ must have just turned 15 when he died. we kept him in a tank and fed him goldfish flakes. he was about four inches long and outlived every other fish that went in the tank with him. Long live the goldfish in your life!!!
Nov 14th, 2011 at 4:40 am
My fantail goldfish wasn’t thought to live very long due to his rather comical proportions (he has always looked like a golfball with fins) but is almost at seven years now
Nov 27th, 2011 at 4:46 am
hi, i have a common goldfish that i won at a fair when I was 5, he has a massive tank that even has LED lights that change at night and day so he knows when it is time to sleep and wake up. when I first bought him he was a tiny dull orange goldfish, throughout the years I have spoilt him with new decorations to his tank, gave him stress relief to make him calm and gave him stuff to make his scales shine, he turned into a 6inch, bright gold, goldfish. He had no complications for 10 years but 2 days ago he started to deteriorate, all he does now is sleep at the bottom of the tank, his eyes are moving and we have put aquarium salt in his tank to try liven him up, it only lasted for 30seconds at the most. now i really don’t know what to do, it’s really upsetting me just seeing him like that as ive had him for 10 years and i hoped he would grow up with me and my kids could see him when i was older. does he feel pain? can i put him to sleep? and can i cremate him? (i know it’s a bit ott but he really does mean that much to me) please can you answer these question? thank you
Dec 8th, 2011 at 10:10 pm
We have had a goldfish in a small glass bowl for at least 7 years. She is silly she flip and spashes every morning to let me know she is hungry. Her bowl is rite next tyo the coffee maker. I wonder if us having a kinetic water softener helps.
Dec 21st, 2011 at 3:14 pm
I have 12 goldfish(3 Commets,1 Shubunkin and 8 common)and 2 other small fish.My fiance brought them home from work 3 weeks ago,as he works at the local Zoo,and the pond there is undergoing some changes in size and depth .So the pond was dried up,and all the fish were left there to die,but the workers were allowed to take them home if they desired.I keep the fish in 2 separate tanks but both of them are quite small for them.I’m hoping that I will be able to buy a suitable tank for them,but until then I think I’ll improvise an indoor pond out of a plastic water tub or something.As far as the age of the fish,7 of them are about 10 cm long each so they must be at least 1-2 years old.I would really like to see all of them growing,and living a good, long life,and I hope that I’m not being cruel by keeping so many of them in a relatively small space,but I figured that it’s better than leaving them to die in a dried out pond.
Dec 22nd, 2011 at 10:54 pm
Hey guys I have two comets they are 8 years old and when I tell people they are in awe. They are gorgeous and one, piper is blind but now I have taught them to come to the top of the tank when I tap the plastic lid. I have revived them 3 times too lol. I also would have thought rory would pick on piper but he/she doesn’t if anything communicates and sticks close. There are no babies so they must be the same sex. I love them and rory is feisty she almost jumped out of the tank once. I am proud of my efforts keeping them alive
Jan 2nd, 2012 at 8:24 pm
I have a Common Goldfish I bought 14 years ago from Walmart for 15 cents. He lives in a 75 Gal. Fishtank all by himself with two 150 Gal. Filters and one 75 Gal. Filter. He eats a varried diet of fish flakes, bloodworms, brine shrimp and various veggies.
Jan 3rd, 2012 at 1:22 pm
We bought our kids two goldfish (I think one of them is a fantail) when I was still pregnant with our youngest. She is now 7 years old. We love them!
Jan 5th, 2012 at 1:36 am
My brother suggested I might like this website. He used to be totally right. This put up truly made my day. You can not consider simply how a lot time I had spent for this info! Thank you!
Jan 10th, 2012 at 6:06 pm
I feel terrible about the life my oldest fish has had. I’ll be honest, he hasn’t had the best life. He is 12 years old now and I got him from a school fair when I was 7. I swear he really must be immortal because a lot of things has happened to him in his life. My step mum ditsy left him and three others in a small room with lots of windows for a week when she went on holiday. The other three basically cooked to death, mine still swimming around happily. My brother once fed him, and another fish, to my old cat. This resulted in him loosing a few scales, but the cat mostly had the other fish before him and I was able to save him from her jaws. He has been starved (this was my fault) as I stupidly forgot I had fish and his tank was literary black, when I found the tank under my mess, I was surprised to find he was there, still happily and lively swimming about. Because I was young, I used to handle the poor thing regularly and as he gasped for breath I found it funny as he ’sang’ songs. Oh my I was terrible to him
This thing is immortal, the fair fish are lucky to live to two years as this article states.
His traumatic days are over now, as I am much older now and take much better care of this fish I call Cartman. Im not perfect, but I do give my fish love (as I have well over 20 now) and they are all healthy and well and in suitable tanks. Talking about Cartman and how amazing he is as a little fish is fun though. I blame my immaturity and naivety for his younger life, but I can assure you, he is doing excellent for his age.
Jan 17th, 2012 at 6:18 pm
My fish named Spike lived a day and a half
Jan 25th, 2012 at 8:10 pm
My son won our goldfish at his school carnival and we have had him for 5 years npw his name is goldy
Jan 26th, 2012 at 1:01 am
I’ve come to this page looking for help to save my poor goldfish. I really didn’t know much about goldfish until I read the article in this page. I thought my goldfish was too old and it was getting slow because that same reason but I bought it a year ago as recommendation of food for another fish I had. I never thought this little fish would outlive the rest and stay alone and strong until now. I’m very worried, please any help on food or vitamin I can provide my fish. I don’t want it to die. I feel is part of me now. Its funny but i feel this fish, somehow, connects with me … I now it might sound very stupid but the fish actually watches tv with me ..lol
Feb 3rd, 2012 at 7:22 pm
My friend has a fantail goldfish named nemo the swimming fish that we got at the fair and is still living after 11 years