Five million goldfish prepare to die as Iran marks new year

[abe hoezi]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050309/od_afp/irananimalsoffbeat_050309124047

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran (news - web sites)'s love of goldfish as a table-top symbol of good luck costs the lives of five million of the creatures every year.

From March to early April, when Iranians celebrate Norooz -- or the new year in the Persian calendar -- millions of the small fish are bred in unsanitary pools and transferred in buckets and tanks to the big cities.

But according to the Shargh newspaper, five million of them do not survive the journey to the Iranian home, where they feature alongside eggs, wheat, garlic, apples and coins as a sign of fertility, health and good luck.

Those that do survive are sometimes kept as pets or otherwise released into the wild -- frequently ponds in parks -- where their chances of survival are also low.

 

[Fatso]

Yah some of them die so quick, 2 years ago the fish I bought died on the way home, and it was only a 1 minute walk.
A couple years before that though I had a goldfish that lived for 2 years and then I got sick of it and gave it to someone else, and I think it's still alive which is amazing for a goldfish.

 

[Pirouz]

Yah some of them die so quick, 2 years ago the fish I bought died on the way home, and it was only a 1 minute walk.
A couple years before that though I had a goldfish that lived for 2 years and then I got sick of it and gave it to someone else, and I think it's still alive which is amazing for a goldfish.

my record is also close to two years. I had a lot of goldfish, and the big ones ate my small ones
One actually commited suicide by jumping out of the tank onto the kitchen floor overnight.

 

[biAzar]

I had one living almost 4 years.

 

[abe hoezi]

A couple of years ago, we had a few gold fish. They all died of a strange disease. One by one they started going crazy. All of a sudden one would start swiming extremely fast as if it was being chased by a shark. Then it would float a little bit, and then it would swim fast, until it would get too weak and then it died. This craziness happened to every single one of them.

 

[P_O_P]

loool at Pirouz

one of mine commited suicide too. he had jumped out and some crazy way n got stuck
on the wall behind the table of sofreh-ye-haftsin!
In the morning when we got up it wasnt in the bowl so we looked on the floor and
eventually on the wall, and there it was like glued to the wall!

 

[Ali(ISP)]

our goldfish back in iran, which we bought last year are still alive (2 of them). the problem is people in iran dont feed the goldfish, and i reckon 90% of them die because of that lol.

 

[Payam]

Plenty of mine have committed suicide...

My longest fish i had was 4 years, and then one night after i finished cleaning Payam Jr. Jr. Jr. Jr. Jr. Jr.'s tank, i went to sleep. When i woke up, the lid was still on the tank but i didnt see him in it, so i wasted like 20 minutes looking inside the tank... I don't know how dumb i was but i just sat their wondering where he went because the lid was on and i thought it was impossible for him to jump out.. And then i finally looked on the ground and there he was! The Fat Fish was stuck to the carpet

I also had another fish that i had for two years, that one died like 2 months before the one above... He died of old age, i bought him when he was a big fella, and he lost one of his fins or whatever and he would always float sideways; pretty funny until one day i saw him stuck under the rocks not moving...

 

[Niloufar]

our goldfish record was 2 yrs too. back home..
we would even change his partner every few months or so to not be alone!!
but I guess he needed Viagra after 2 yrs and not good food,clean "hoz" in ground level and all that!!!

 

[General Parsaian]

A fish not thinking of anythings becouse he know evrey things

 

[Pooya]

our goldfish record was 2 yrs too. back home..
we would even change his partner every few months or so to not be alone!!
but I guess he needed Viagra after 2 yrs and not good food,clean "hoz" in ground level and all that!!!

i have always said it, "Good sex is the key to long life"

 

[R.BAGGIO]

my record is one year, well almost, he died 3 days before the next norooz

i put him outside on the balcony, to get some fresh air you know , then forgot to bring it back in. he poached under the unforgiving sun of south-central Tehran. May his memory live on through the limbo of his fish comrades subconscious.