# An update on my 26 year old goldfish **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 19, 2020, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-update-on-my-26-year-old-goldfish/918523 "2020-08-19T23:27:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-update-on-my-26-year-old-goldfish/918523/1 "2020-08-19T23:27:42Z")
…he died this morning. ☹ I haven’t been here for a while, but as soon as he died, I remembered [this old thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-goldfish-that-will-not-die/540570/21) and thought you all should have an update. RIP, Darryl (now with Larry and his Other Brother Darryl) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-update-on-my-26-year-old-goldfish/918523/2 "2020-08-19T23:47:10Z")
I noticed the disturbance in The Force. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-update-on-my-26-year-old-goldfish/918523/3 "2020-08-19T23:50:25Z")
Wow, so sorry! Still, that is incredible! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-update-on-my-26-year-old-goldfish/918523/4 "2020-08-20T04:38:02Z")
How big does a 26 year old goldfish get? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-update-on-my-26-year-old-goldfish/918523/5 "2020-08-20T13:19:30Z")
Well that sucks - what a fun thing to have. Any idea what did him in? ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-update-on-my-26-year-old-goldfish/918523/6 "2020-08-20T14:06:25Z")
Well, life is strange, no doubt about it. When I wrote this thread, he had been on the bottom of the aquarium …for hours! It was clean, but I replaced 4 gallons of the water anyway, hoping it would revive him. It didn’t seem to. I went outside, dug a hole and thought I’d wait until he floated. To be sure. Good thing, too, because last night I checked and HE WAS SWIMMING AROUND AGAIN! He rebooted himself! I am the owner of a 26 year old zombie fish! Pray for me. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-update-on-my-26-year-old-goldfish/918523/7 "2020-08-20T14:07:46Z")
I think legally you have to retitle him - it’s like getting a new transmission in your car. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-update-on-my-26-year-old-goldfish/918523/8 "2020-08-20T14:08:44Z")
Maybe we should be praying to Darryl. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-update-on-my-26-year-old-goldfish/918523/9 "2020-08-20T14:13:07Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > I went outside, dug a hole and thought I’d wait until he floated. To be sure. > > Good thing, too, because last night I checked and HE WAS SWIMMING AROUND AGAIN! Yeehah! [renews her resolution never to bury a cat till the body goes into rigor] ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-update-on-my-26-year-old-goldfish/918523/10 "2020-08-20T14:30:52Z")
That’s insane! But so sweet congratulations on Darryl’s life well lived🐳 ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-update-on-my-26-year-old-goldfish/918523/11 "2020-08-20T15:40:05Z")
Can you _please_ post a picture of him?? I really want to see this ancient, zombie goldfish! ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-update-on-my-26-year-old-goldfish/918523/12 "2020-08-20T15:53:57Z")
Does photography work on the undead? ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-update-on-my-26-year-old-goldfish/918523/13 "2020-08-20T16:49:48Z")
Here’s the Zombie Ghostfish photo taken minutes ago (he’s been blind for years, but still goes right to his food). : [![Google Photos](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ChPhFuKG48PSvaA78YjfoX0EsJdmgyEmK4UdMHeCTRTFQoVGrW367flYwmg7KE-V9o3O-C_1nkbKlyRFj399lz6nHS-SqaVxnqiUQ3LmPDUPXhOSgG0dSQ0JuiSctW2iZoEtPlVXqRo=w600-h315-p-k "Darryl the Zombie Ghostfish") ](https://photos.app.goo.gl/hqtvz3dkMEaq7L257) Chipper this morning, too. Crazy! ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-update-on-my-26-year-old-goldfish/918523/14 "2020-08-20T17:45:01Z")
He’s a lovely old guy! I love looking at old animals and thinking about what was happening in my life at the time they were born. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-update-on-my-26-year-old-goldfish/918523/15 "2020-08-20T18:08:21Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > Well, life is strange, no doubt about it. When I wrote this thread, he had been on the bottom of the aquarium …for hours! It was clean, but I replaced 4 gallons of the water anyway, hoping it would revive him. It didn’t seem to. I went outside, dug a hole and thought I’d wait until he floated. To be sure. > > Good thing, too, because last night I checked and HE WAS SWIMMING AROUND AGAIN! He rebooted himself! I am the owner of a 26 year old zombie fish! > > Pray for me. That’s fantastic! But I’ve known for long time that goldfish are tough bastards, I’ve known a zombie fish too: about 25 years ago, my girlfriend had an aquarium with a few fresh water fish, including a rather big goldfish that already was about 8 years old or so (I’m sure he had a name, but I can’t remember it). One late night, my girlfriend and I returned from a pub, and to our terror, the goldfish lay in the middle of the room on the carpet, rigid. He must have jumped out of the aquarium and was dry as stockfish. In a desperate move, we put him back into the aquarium, and after a few minutes he was happily swimming again as if nothing had happened, with one big difference: all his color was gone and he was all white for the rest of his life, which lasted another several years. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-update-on-my-26-year-old-goldfish/918523/16 "2020-08-20T18:10:54Z")
wow! that is amazing. keep on swimming! ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-update-on-my-26-year-old-goldfish/918523/17 "2020-08-20T18:39:41Z")
My Daddy has a fish who did that. He was “out” for quite awhile. His name used to be Bozo (because he is a clownfish… ) Now it’s Lazarus. Welcome back, BTW! ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-update-on-my-26-year-old-goldfish/918523/18 "2020-08-20T19:59:48Z")
Sorry to hear about Darryl. I have a cousin in Ohio, he has a frog that he caught in 1984. Still lives in the same 5 gallon aquarium. Isn’t friendly. Just does his thing. Slows down a bit in winter when the house cools a bit. But they give him mostly dead crickets and an occasional live one. He’s a big frog now, but not really much larger than when he started when my cousin was 5. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-update-on-my-26-year-old-goldfish/918523/19 "2020-08-20T22:18:55Z")
> [@Disheavel](#): > > Sorry to hear about Darryl. But he came back! ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-update-on-my-26-year-old-goldfish/918523/20 "2020-08-21T01:56:27Z")
Thanks, **janis\_and\_c0**! You guys rearranged the furniture a little, but I’m remembering what it was I liked about the joint! Great zombie stories! Glad my guy isn’t the only undead freak. He appears to be fully recovered. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-update-on-my-26-year-old-goldfish/918523.md?page=2)