Gilbert the Goldfish

I have a pet goldfish. A girl actually gave it to my brother to ask him to a Valentine's dance a couple of years ago, but it's kind of turned into the family fish. My brother is serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Tampico, Mexico; so he isn't there to take care of the fish anymore. My sister named the fish Gilbert because it has gills...smart right? (Just so you know, she was 19 at the time!)
I think Gilbert is a special goldfish...first of all he's over 2 years old! That has to be getting close to a record for the longest living goldfish ever! Another special thing about Gilbert is he can "play dead". About a year ago, I walked into my brother's room for something...not sure what....and noticed Gilbert floating belly-up on top of the water! I got a sick feeling in my stomache and thought, "Oh great, he's dead, and I'm the one that found him!" I went over to the tank and looked at him, and I noticed that he was still moving his fins, and didn't look completely dead. I called my dad into the room (dad's are great to take care of dead animals and spiders and other things like that!!). My dad poked Gilbert, and he started swimming like nothing was wrong!! That crazy fish does it all the time now! I think he's decided it's a lot easier to just lay at the top than try to swim around all day! (He's getting a little on the chubby side though!) I have a theory.....maybe most goldfish can do this, but people just think they are dead and flush them, so it is a myth that goldfish don't live very long.....just a thought!
Gilbert is the only "pet" we've ever had, and he's a cute, chubby, little guy! The day that Gilbert isn't "playing" dead anymore will be sad....butthe way he's going, he may still have another 2 years in him!