A Quick Guide to Goldfish Lifespan (and 4 Tips to Extend Their Lifespan)

Are you wondering about how long do goldfish live? Are you looking for ways to enhance the lifespan of your cute little golden wrigglers?

Goldfishes are known to be timeless and classy fishes that are usually adopted as pets by fish lovers.

For beginners and kids, these fishes are one of the most remarkable fishes to purchase as not only are they available in pretty colors and pretty faces, but they are also regarded as social, sober, and brilliant animals to have around.

Read further to gain a deeper insight about the lifespan of goldfishes and how you can enhance it by putting some efforts:

How long can a goldfish live?

You might be surprised to know, but these tiny little Goldie’s can live for ten to fifteen years on an average.

Further, the goldfish lifespan can also increase to thirty years if the goldfishes are bestowed with proper care and maintenance.

But the sad part is that most of them do not reach close to their maximum lifespan possible due to poor housing conditions and thus die before attaining their maximum lifespan.

Hence taking care of them and providing them adequate housing conditions in terms of their physiological and behavioral needs stands to be of paramount importance for hiking their survival years.

Lifespan of different goldfish species

Fish Type	Lifespan	Additional Remarks
Fancy goldfish	Known for their fancy appearance, these fishes can survive for five years.	Their life depends a lot on the amount of care bestowed on them.
Common goldfish	They can live for a tenure of 10 years	Their lifespan can reduce down to five years being risked by predators, competition with other breeds and disease. They can also survive for 10 to 14 years if taken proper care of.
Comet	Comets can survive for twelve years in an outdoorsy habitat	If kept in tanks they can also survive for fifteen years.

Sure shot tips to enhance the lifespan of goldfishes

Now, since you have got the answer as to how long can goldfish live, let’s ponder over a few tips and hacks that can actually help the goldfishes to attain their maximum lifespan.

Extending the life of your goldfishes is a lot dependent on the care they receive from their fish parents to live a healthy and long life. Here is how the life of goldfishes can be increased:

Letting the goldfishes in pond or tanks

You might feel tempted to keep these fishes in a bowl, but goldfishes would rather prefer living in a pond or big-sized aquariums.

Ponds fledge the goldfishes with adequate swimming space that aids their growth and development and also prolongs their lifespan.

Also, keeping goldfishes in a pond helps you replicate a natural habitat for them, and thus, they get to live a natural lifestyle that helps them grow and survive long eventually.

Water maintenance

Allowing your goldfishes access to a clean habitat also helps in increasing their lifespan.

A water tank that is poorly maintained or is not cleaned for long and forces the fishes to live in unhygienic conditions can lower down the lifespan of fishes.

In fact, it is recommended that a partial water change of 10 to 25% water should be adopted weekly by fish parents to keep their fishes healthy, extending their lifespan in the long run.

Provision of a balanced diet

A proper diet is a key to an extended lifetime. Every living organism requires an appropriate diet for survival, and goldfishes are no exception.

Therefore, feeding goldfishes with a good diet such as vegetable matter, dried foods, flake foods, daphnia treats, etc., can help your goldfishes to survive for long. But make sure you do not tend to overfeed them.

Excess food not only contributes to an excess of fish waste but unconsumed food in the fish tank undergoes quick decomposition that can adversely affect the chemistry of the aquarium.

Further, it causes the development of molds, fungus, algae and may also lower down the oxygen content in the tank that can prove detrimental for the fishes.

Hence never overdo it and feed your fishes with an adequate amount of food.

Reducing aquarium overcrowding

Goldfishes love to live in a luxurious and lavish environment that is spacious enough to mark their territory.

They do not like fighting a space crunch and need big spaces for survival. In reality, when there are too many fishes packed in the same pond or aquarium, gold fishes may feel anxious and thus may show up variations in their behavior.

Further, you may also tend to notice a sudden shyness or aggression in the goldfishes in such a case. And, poor growth and development, early death of goldfishes can be detected as an after effect.

So, if you happen to find that your cute little Goldie’s have started behaving weird all of a sudden, then there are high chances it is because you have overcrowded their luxurious paradise.

Also, you need to note that introducing too many fishes in the same pond or tank can give you the backbreaking task of keeping it clean.

How Long Can Goldfish Survive Without Food? 

Water and food for goldfish are what oxygen is to us, humans. Goldfishes need water and food for survival, and a fish that is deprived of food will ultimately die of starvation.

On an average, a goldfish can live without food for about two weeks.

But this doesn’t mean that you should starve your pet goldfish to test whether it can actually survive that long.

Pets are meant to be taken care of, and if, by chance, your pet goldfish does not make it for a week-long due to scarcity of food, you may regret it later.

Hence always allow your goldfish proper space, water, and food access showcasing your ability to be a caring fish parent.

Can Goldfish Live Without Water? 

We have grown up hearing that fishes die as soon as they are taken out of water. Yes, this stands true in most of the fish breeds, but a goldfish is believed to survive for an hour even after being taken out of water.

On the contrary, a few of them have even survived for up to three hours on having little access to water, such as a puddle or water traces.

How Long Can a Goldfish Live In a Bowl?

Goldfishes are one of the most classic and commonly loved pets, and you may often picture them swirling and twirling around in a bowl.

Even as a young kid, you might have seen many cartoons as well that showcased a single or a pair of goldfishes in a bowl.

Hence there has been a common conception that goldfishes are meant to be petted in a bowl.

And, if you are someone with the same notion, you need to know that despite all the fancy things you might have seen regarding goldfishes being petted in a bowl, bowls are the last thing that goldfish would like to be in for survival purposes.

Furthermore, bowls can considerably reduce their lifespan from ten to fifteen years to two to three years as they can hinder their growth and development statistics. 

Which Goldfish is known to live the longest?

As mentioned above, the lifespan of goldfish can expand to a max of thirty years, but you will be surprised to know that a fish named ‘Goldie’ actually lived for forty-five years.

Goldie belonged to a family that lived in the UK and is the longest living goldfish ever.

Unfortunately, Goldie didn’t make way to the Guinness book owing to the lack of documentary evidence but always gained media attention.

Another fish named “Tish,” that also belonged to a UK family is also known to live for forty-three years.

It has even embossed its name in the Guinness book owing to its extended survival, all thanks to the families who must have taken proper care while petting these oldest living goldfishes. 

Conclusion

We hope that this guide proves to be helpful for all the fish parents reading this to prolong the lives of the most adopted pet fishes.

Blessing your goldfishes with a natural habitat, proper food, and care can make your fishes survive even more than dogs and cats.

So what are you waiting for? Shower love on your fishes in the form of care and see how these tiny gold balls can turn out as long-living companions for you!