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The original was posted on /r/tifu by /u/kasjssb on 2025-05-18 17:05:50+00:00.

So I’ve been keeping fish for years, and have been “rescuing” sad looking fish at pet stores for a while now. A few months ago, I rescued a sad little goldfish from a dollar store tank situation. Poor thing was pale, skinny, and obviously was not being taken care of. I brought it home, got it set up in a 70L tank by itself.

So this is where I fucked up:

My 7 year old little brother is autistic. He’s very particular about colours. His favourite colour is white. Not off-white. Not cream. White. When he saw the goldfish, which at the time was still pearly white, he instantly fell in love. He then declared it his fish, and I just kind of laughed it off and told him he can be it’s owner if he takes care of it properly.

He named it Snowball (which I thought was pretty cute). He fed it daily, watched it swim, even told it little stories. He was obsessed. I felt like the best big sister ever to be honest.

But then, a couple weeks ago he went away for a week on a school trip. And during that week… Snowball turned orange.

I knew it could happen, goldfish often change colour as they mature, especially if they’re rescues who were underfed or poorly housed. Better diet, proper lighting, and reduced stress bring out their natural pigment. But try explaining pigment development to a heartbroken 7-year-old. He came home, ran to the tank, stopped dead in his tracks, and stared. And then he burst into tears.

So now he’s mourning Snowball like he died, even though the fish is literally right there, swimming around and living his best orange life. I tried to explain, I even showed him old pictures, but he just whispered, “That’s his cousin,” and walked away.

TL;DR: Rescued a white goldfish, gave it to my autistic little brother who loved it for its colour. It matured and turned orange while he was away, and now he believes his fish has been replaced by an imposter. Trust broken. Fish thriving. I’m on thin ice.