Is this an extreme reaction to a goldfish?

[NeverEscaping]

Family Goldfish passed away. Person was distraught, cried for hours. Then proceeded to dig a hole in the garden, an unused bed of soil, buried the fish inside their favourite tank ornament (an open barrel type thing it swam in and out of) below the soil. Placed a wooden post on top so as to remember the spot and plans to turn the bed into a memorial of sorts with lots of flowers planted.

Is this a bit of an extreme response to the passing of a goldfish or totally reasonable?

It doesn’t seem too extreme to me. Though I am looking at this through the lens of someone who has 2 goldfish which I have had for 10yrs. I know that likely there isn’t much time left for them now, they are old.

I can imagine being very upset when they die. I will bury them, I find the thought of flushing dead pets down the loo distasteful. Not sure I’d mark the spot or create a garden for them but I don’t judge someone who wants to do this.

I don't necessarily think burying a pet with some sort of pomp & circumstance is an overreaction. It's the passing of an era, so to speak.

Having the fish cremated, sent away and turned into a diamond signet ring might well have been...

Sometimes it’s just the straw that broke the camels back. Maybe they needed the symbolism of the burial and moving on.

My sister buried a balloon once. She was about 10 and it was a helium balloon. She put it in a shoe box, decorated it and made my dad dig a grave 🤣😂
Leave them to it. Yes, of course it’s a bit extreme for an adult but like others have said, mental health is very fragile right now

Something close to them has died, these are emotional difficult times for us all, it doesnt take much to affect us. It doesnt affect anyone else.

We once did a burial and funeral service for a guinea pig - but DS was 6 at the time and it was his pet. I can't imagine being attached enough to a goldfish to do the same but each to their own I suppose. On the basis that it's doing no harm I'd just accept that if it makes the adult happier then so be it.

We had a goldfish for 14 years, I felt nothing when it passed away. It had no character whatsoever, it just swam around opening and closing it's mouth.

Was it your goldfish OP

Goldfish have been shown to be quite clever and can be trained to do things

They are also known to recognise their owners

Yabu.

This is their pet. They are grieving the way someone would over their pet cat or dog

Reasonable apparently as there’sa thread in Relationships right now where someone has split up with her partner because he wasn’t sad about her rabbit dying

Bit ott, but I had different pet cemeteries in the garden for different pets including fish🙈

Goldfish can live a while so is it possible they eere really attached for some reason? I used to talk to my fish like therapists because they couldn't go and tell anyone after😂

Do you know my family?? we have a nature garden planned over the grave of our goldfish! All planned by our eight year old. I find it very sweet.

Ah go give adult person a squeeze OP. If someone wants to channel energy into something harmless then let them. You'll probably find the spring garden won't happen.

I don't see why you couldn't get attached to a fish the same as you might get attached to any other pet. Just because they're not cute and fluffy and have their own fishy ways, doesn't mean they're not potentially loveable by someone!

Not all goldfish are created equal.

I guess it was a pretty special goldfish, and I also think you sound mean. Not for you to judge what a thing meant to someone else.

I have tropical fish in a large heavily planted tank. I fish out any floaters, as I don't like looking at them, but I find that any small corpses hidden among the foliage vanish within a day or so, if I leave them. I think the other fish, including the offspring of the deceased, are making the most of the free protein. They probably get a bit bored with the algae flakes they normally get given.

doesn't mean they're not potentially loveable by someone!

When you see some of the people who have managed to find a husband or wife I think it's not unreasonable to accept that people can love a goldfish.

I think it's rather sweet. He/she obviously loved it.

I think it’s an over reaction, but I also assume that it’s a displaced reaction to a loss in the past.

I'd honestly be very concerned if an adult was behaving in this manner.

Complete over reaction but then I do absolutely not like gold fish. I find them very creepy.

YABU there's nothing wrong with mourning a pet.
Just because it's not a mammal, doesn't mean it wasn't special to someone. It also sounds like it will inspire a bare patch of earth to be turned into a nice part of the garden.

On holiday to see friends a few years ago. They took us to a family house for the weekend. They brought along their ds's goldfish which had spent 4 months in their freezer after dying earlier in the year. We buried it at family home, with a wee ceremony. It was beautiful

YABU. That person loved the fish so it's normal to grieve its loss, and I really hate the "it's just a fish" attitude too. Believe it or not it's possible to get really attached to pets, regardless of their perceived worth, and when they die it's sad. Plus many of us are not at our most mentally healthy right now so that might explain the "overreaction" as you put it.

Sounds like there's more to this than a fish. I knew someone who reacted like that to the death of a guinea pig with apparent extreme grief.

As much as she was of course sad about her GP, her reaction was actually more about the fact that she had a very deep underlying depression. Of course she felt sadness as a result of a dead pet but my guess is she would have struggled with anything equally seemingly trivial at that point in her life.The GP's death became somehow the lightening rod for all her feelings.