T' neighbour's house burnt down 3 weeks ago and she's since moved elsewhere – leaving (at last count) 53 goldfish of varying age and development along with countless toadpoles (baby toads) and at least one newt...

Since there's no power for the pond pump, the residual fishfood is rapidly diminishing, and the pond is getting well murky, I wondered if anyone had any thoughts about rehoming these fishy fellows (aside from CC's tummy)...

Anyone like some resilient and unargumentative fishy buddies (Royal Mail aren't reknowned for their fish transporting expertise, so a visit to sunny south Oxon would be necessary)?

Any suggestions about rehoming them afore they expire from murkiness or neglect most gratefully received...

'Phone the RSPCA in the morning, suffering is suffering and even fish deserve to be treated better than that. Even if they don't count as suffering animals in their eyes, I'm sure they will be better placed to re-home them than you are.

Good luck

Put them out for the birds.

Just to say, posting fish is fine.

Don't feed the fish for a good few days before posting them, and then pop down your local fish-store. They may give you some of the polystyrene boxes they use for their deliveries. Combined with a plastic bag it's just the job and the fish won't get too stressed in the dark.

p.s I would have taken them except I don't have a pond, or a tank big enough to keep gold-fish which sucks.

Also, perhaps you could check for a small man-hole near the pond (it may be covered of course), this will cover the pump and filters. You might find that it's possible to power them yourself for a few days while you find a home for the fish? The bacteria will be dead, but at least a bit of mechanical filtration and water-flow is better than nothing.

Gold Fish can withstand the worst water conditions of any fish and still survive. A goldfish can live in a 1 gallon bowl, with no aeration or filtering with infrequent water changes and still thrived! I would never recommend that anyone lets one live like this, but they are able to withstand horrendous conditions so dont panic. Will the neighbour's be returning once the house has been sorted?

I really take issue with this point.

I'd go so far as to say that keeping a Goldfish in a bowl is cruel. How long did your 'thriving' goldfish live for? A year, two years? In a suitable pond a goldfish should live for more than 5 years.

They produce an absolutely huge amount of waste, and their reputation of being able to live in small/unfiltered tanks is completely undeserved.

Agreed, and just because they can survive doesn't mean they should if an alternative can be found. People can survive some pretty shocking living conditions as well but you can bet there'd be uproar if they had to!!

Have you considered getting in touch with your local fish shop. It's possible that somewhere like the "Goldfish Bowl" in Oxford might be able to help put them up for a while, or even take them on as stock.

The point I was trying to make was don’t panic and if the house is being refurbished then they should survive with little to no attention and when the house is reoccupied hopefully the pond will be sorted.

No I did not personally keep a gold fish in a gallon of water (but it is a well known fact that gold fish are the most hardy)...... you may take issue with my post but if you read it correctly before jumping down my throat then you would have seen this part -

They're a kind of carp aren't they?

Anyone know what they taste like?

haddock?

Nick, we had a goldfish that lived in a gallon tank, and he lasted 5 years before he was poisoned by another fish.

Basically, we won him at a fair. After 5 years, we decided he was lonely so we went and bought another fish from Pets At Home. He lasted about 2 weeks before he had blue spots all over him. He died, and the other one did too.

He was very lucky. Was the tank filtered?

Regardless, I still consider it cruel and I'm glad giving them out at fairs is now banned.

Yeah, by a pump thing that sounded like a small jet engine.

It had a charcoal filter + this weird foam-like stuff.

That's the only reason he lived so long.

In the sponge was some bacteria which dealt with the harmful chemicals in the waste and turned them into much less harmful chemicals which the fish could handle. Then, when you changed the water you would remove those chemicals.

The carbon would have kept the water nice and crystal clear.