My friend, Maria, told me a touching story about her family’s childhood goldfish and his silver fish friend. I’d like to recount that story.

Floyd was the goldfish’s name, and his silver fish friend was Yobi. The two fish originally belonged to her brother, Christopher, who had them for about a year, but he left them behind when times at college got a little too hectic. Unfortunately, Yobi had a short life and died not long after they got the fish, because Floyd kept eating all of the food. Floyd went on to live another three years, eating happily, until one December when Massachusetts had a drought and the city switched water sources. There was too much iron for poor Floyd to live, and so he moved on to a new life somewhere else. Maria’s father, being the hero of the family, flushed Floyd that December morning before Maria came down for breakfast.

Years after the incident, Ryan, Maria’s other brother, made a tribute video, entitled “flyod the goldfish”. It’s spelled Flyod, because one year all of the siblings were making Christmas ornaments and Ryan made one of Floyd, but spelled it Flyod.

What a great story. And now, we all get a first hand look at Ryan’s work of art.

Note: Goldfish have an average life span of between 5-10 years. The oldest known goldfish lived to be 41 years old. However, many goldfish die prematurely due to environmental changes.