# What is death like inside a goldfish's stomach? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 4, 2013, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-death-like-inside-a-goldfishs-stomach/652053 "2013-03-04T23:53:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-death-like-inside-a-goldfishs-stomach/652053/1 "2013-03-04T23:53:26Z")
We have goldfish. Against all odds, they’ve survived this long without some weird disease killing them. However, lately we noticed that despite there being a lot of baby goldfish, they don’t seem to be growing up and filling the bowl. Strangely still, there are no dead goldfish babies floating around. Then, to our horror, while changing the water in the bowl, we saw one of the bigger ones chase and EAT a baby goldfish! WTF! It was nightmarish. Its one thing to see lions on Youtube eating other animals, growing up with National Geographic documentaries have prepared me for that, but its another thing to watch one fish swallow another while the smaller one darts around desperately trying to escape. I mean that little fish fought for its life, but in the end, the bigger one sucked it down, tail wiggling, into its stomach. What’s it like in there? How long does the smaller fish have? There was no ripping of flesh or gnashing of teeth, it was swallowed whole and alive. I don’t have much experience in putting a still-fighting living being into my stomach. Is it a bad death? Will it suffer much? Am I not feeding the fish enough for it to have done that? We keep the big and small fish separate now ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-death-like-inside-a-goldfishs-stomach/652053/2 "2013-03-04T23:59:15Z")
Suffocation. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-death-like-inside-a-goldfishs-stomach/652053/3 "2013-03-05T00:02:42Z")
I don’t know how long it takes the babies to die in there but I do know this has nothing at all to do with what you’re feeding the goldfish. The adults just love to eat the babies, and eggs too. It’s just what they do. You need to separate the babies until they mature. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-death-like-inside-a-goldfishs-stomach/652053/4 "2013-03-05T00:02:51Z")
it’s a carpy death. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-death-like-inside-a-goldfishs-stomach/652053/5 "2013-03-05T00:10:07Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > it’s a carpy death. Nice one. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-death-like-inside-a-goldfishs-stomach/652053/6 "2013-03-05T01:12:40Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > … I don’t have much experience in putting a still-fighting living being into my stomach… Do you like oysters on the half shell? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-death-like-inside-a-goldfishs-stomach/652053/7 "2013-03-05T02:41:51Z")
Something [like this](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sarlacc), just on a smaller scale. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-death-like-inside-a-goldfishs-stomach/652053/8 "2013-03-05T04:19:45Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > I don’t know how long it takes the babies to die in there but I do know this has nothing at all to do with what you’re feeding the goldfish. The adults just love to eat the babies, and eggs too. It’s just what they do. You need to separate the babies until they mature. Wow, how are they not extinct? ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-death-like-inside-a-goldfishs-stomach/652053/9 "2013-03-05T04:57:54Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Something [like this](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sarlacc), just on a smaller scale. I was sure that was going to be [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiD-n7ewvGo) ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-death-like-inside-a-goldfishs-stomach/652053/10 "2013-03-05T07:05:00Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > Wow, how are they not extinct? In nature, adult goldfish are just one more predator out of a whole world of things ready to eat the young. But nature is also big enough that the young (or at least a tiny fraction of them) can hide and survive despite all of these predators. (Not that goldfish in their current form are exactly a product of nature, mind you.) ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-death-like-inside-a-goldfishs-stomach/652053/11 "2013-03-05T07:16:14Z")
In the wild, the fry would live in the shallower waters, or be able to hide in various spots like in plant life. In captivity, breeders will put the fry into another tank, or otherwise separate the fry from the adults. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-death-like-inside-a-goldfishs-stomach/652053/12 "2013-03-05T09:09:16Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > Wow, how are they not extinct? The bigger question is why aren’t we knee deep in gold fish. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-death-like-inside-a-goldfishs-stomach/652053/13 "2013-03-05T09:11:56Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > In the wild, the fry would live in the shallower waters, or be able to hide in various spots like in plant life. In captivity, breeders will put the fry into another tank, or otherwise separate the fry from the adults. No point puttin’ 'em in another tank once you’ve fried 'em. Yum. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-death-like-inside-a-goldfishs-stomach/652053/14 "2013-03-05T13:33:46Z")
Guppies do this too. I thought it was an awful thing, until our guppies bred so much they filled the tank. Then I concluded that the problem is that guppies don’t eat _enough_ of their young. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-death-like-inside-a-goldfishs-stomach/652053/15 "2013-03-05T13:50:42Z")
I once watched a rainbow platy be born (they just swim out! How is that possible?!) and, literally less than a breath later, be eaten by her mother. On Mother’s Day. It was a little surreal. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-death-like-inside-a-goldfishs-stomach/652053/16 "2013-03-05T15:00:15Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Suffocation. This. Fish need clean, oxygenated water to sustain themselves, and there’s not likely to be much of that inside another fish’s stomach. Sort of like the problem of breathing for [a bird that’s been eaten by another bird.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNNl_uWmQXE) ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-death-like-inside-a-goldfishs-stomach/652053/17 "2013-03-05T16:02:41Z")
Back in my college days a few bars had minnow shots. Drop a live minnow in a glass of beer then chug the thing down. You could feel them wiggle going down your throat but they calmed down pretty fast one they hit your stomach. Then there’s that guy, Stevie Starr, who I’ve seen swallow a goldfish then spit it back up and into a bowl 20-30 seconds later and the fish was fine. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-death-like-inside-a-goldfishs-stomach/652053/18 "2013-03-05T18:03:23Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > I once watched a rainbow platy be born (they just swim out! How is that possible?!) . It’s called ovoviviparity, which means the eggs develop inside the mother’s body until they are ready to hatch. It’s actually fairly common and exists in everything from insects to snakes. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-death-like-inside-a-goldfishs-stomach/652053/19 "2013-03-07T21:21:14Z")
Adult goldfish are [not immune](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldfish_swallowing). ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-death-like-inside-a-goldfishs-stomach/652053/20 "2013-03-09T04:30:01Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Back in my college days a few bars had minnow shots. Drop a live minnow in a glass of beer then chug the thing down. You could feel them wiggle going down your throat but they calmed down pretty fast one they hit your stomach. Tim Cahill, the travel writer tried that on a visit to Minnesota (do they do this anywhere else?) He said it was important to swallow the minnow head first. “If you swallow it tail first it tries to swim back up”. I can only imagine… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-death-like-inside-a-goldfishs-stomach/652053.md?page=2)