New Zealand goldfish rescued after 134 days in earthquake-hit office

Two goldfish have been found "happily swimming" in their central Christchurch red-zone tank – 4 1/2 months after they were last fed. On Wednesday last week, Quantum Chartered Accountants staff returned to their Cashel St office for the first time since the February earthquake and found two of their five or six goldfish alive. Company director Vicky Thornley said an engineer accompanying them noticed the survivors in their tank in the reception area.

"They were happily swimming around so he [the engineer] said he had to rescue them," she said. "We managed to find a bucket with a lid, so they were transported in that. [Afterwards] we picked my son up from school and he held on to the bucket as his special job. Joshua was very excited about getting the fish out." Thornley said the weed in the tank had been stripped bare, one dead fish was floating and the other fish "were nowhere to be seen and seemed to have made the ultimate sacrifice".



"Finding them alive was the highlight of our day," she said. "It was amazing really." The 100-litre tank had helped ensure Thornley's survival, she said, as she clung to it during the February quake. "It lost about a third of its water, mostly on me, but it did the job very well," she said. Animates fish department staff member Andy Spall said the endurance of the goldfish through 19 weeks without being fed was "remarkable".

"Fish can generally last a few weeks with no food and they would've nibbled on their friends, but that's remarkable that they've lasted so long." If the pair were slowly transitioned into a new clean-water tank, they should live a regular goldfish life, he said. The fish now live in a tank at Thornley's home with Joshua's fish, Fred and Scooby. Joshua, 5, has since named them Shaggy and Daphne.