Goldie The Goldfish Is No Sucker

The biggest attraction at the Golden Green Chinese Restaurant on the Central Coast, is a fish that will never swim in sweet and sour sauce. That’s because eighteen-year-old Goldie does two amazing tricks. She swims around the tank with a pacifier in her mouth, and dances.

Not a day goes by that curious faces aren’t pushed up against the tank to gawk at Australia’s brainiest fish.

Goldie learnt the trick by having a pacifier coated in honey and fish-food placed near her mouth. Soon, Goldie began to associate the pacifier with a treat and now happily sucks it all day.

DANCING

The owner of the restaurant, David Choy, said customers are amazed at a goldfish sucking a dummy. “A guy from the local pet-shop offered me $500 for her, but there’s no way I’d sell – she’s part of the family.”

Goldie’s dancing evolved from her owner placing his hand in the tank and waving it quickly. The clever fish caught on fast, and now imitates the movements with her tail.

Goldie - who looks like a goldfish but at 3.5 kilos is the size of a human baby - is weighed every three months and kept on a diet so that she doesn’t explode.

“It’s important not to over-feed a goldfish, David said. “We regulate Goldie’s diet so we don’t cause her any harm.”