He’s putting the “old” in “goldfish.”
This enduring goldfish has outlived his owner’s two previous failed marriages, was renamed five times and has recently gone grey in his old age.
Wayne Leach, 44, won the fish named Goldie at a carnival in Wales, for his daughter Nancy who was two years old at the time, in 2011.
Goldie is now approximately 106 years old by human aging standards, according to Leach’s math.
“I didn’t expect him to last this long. Typically, you’re lucky if a fun-fair fish makes it back home. We never expected 12 years,” the father-of-three told South West News Service.
During that time, Leach, from Cardiff, ended his first, three-year marriage, followed by a second union that lasted nine years.
The single pop had just begun seeing his second wife when he scored Goldie at the fair — admitting that the fish, now a member of the family, feels irreplaceable to him.
Leach jokes that Goldie has outlasted his marriages because, unlike his former wives, the fish “can’t argue back.”
“I’ve been married for 12 years altogether and I had an epiphany that my one goldfish has lasted longer than my two marriages,” he admitted. “Goldie has lived in three properties, had five names and he was around before my son.”
Despite Goldie’s “gammy gill” and working with one fin smaller than the other, he’s also survived two house moves and currently lives in a tank with a broken filter and no pump (which Leach hopefully intends to repair).
“He’s a tough cookie. I’m attached to him. I speak to him and he greets me. He’s close to the kettle so when I get up in the morning he comes to life,” Leach said.
His daughter, for whom he won the prized pet, is now 19 and has said that she can’t remember life without Goldie — who she’s renamed about five times, though Leach said he can’t remember any of the previous monikers.
Meanwhile, Goldie only gets fed every three to four days “because that’s all he needs.”
But behind Goldie’s longevity may be a gruesome truth: His previous three tankmates died after the goldfish reportedly “stressed them out.”
“He was constantly picking on the other fish,” Leach said.
“Hector the fish survived so we bought him another tank and they were side-by-side. Goldie would go up against Hector’s tank as though he was trying to get to him. He’s got serious issues.”
“He’s like a dog,” said Leach. “He’s after attention and fuss. I give him a little sprinkle of food and he’s good as gold.”
“When he passes it will be a sad day.”
