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A horrified woman says a two-inch long goldfish she won at a carnival has now grown into a huge flesh-eating monster.

Alexandria Miller, 28, brought Gerald the goldfish home in July 2018 when he was just a guppy.

She thought her new pet was a standard size, but says he just kept growing and now measures a whopping 12 inches.

Now Alexandria, from Chicago, USA, says she has to keep him isolated from other fish as he has eaten several of his tank mates.

He has already outgrown two of his tanks, costing her £1,000 ($1,300) to replace.

(Image: Caters News Agency)

"When I first got him, he was in a plastic bag and was just under two inches," Alexandria said.

"He just looked like your regular goldfish and I thought they grew to their environment so I was expecting him to just stop growing but within a month of me having him he was already getting bigger."

The huge goldfish likes to make it known when he is hungry, Alexandria says.

(Image: Caters News Agency) (Image: Caters News Agency)

"He does lay around a lot but it seems when he's bored or hungry, he jumps out of the water and likes to grabs the thermometer inside his tank," she continued.

"He'll click it against the glass till he's got our attention - he's food motivated but can be calm until he's hungry.

"Then he seems to get grumpy towards me- but if I put a smaller fish in there with him, he will eat them which he has done several times."

(Image: Caters News Agency)

Gerald shows no sign of stopping growing and his owner is already looking for his next tank.

"He's so hard to measure - even when we were putting him in his new tank, my friend commented on how much bigger he looks in the flesh," she added.

"I can't hold the tape measure next to him, and after moving him into the big tank he won't even let me touch him.

"I've been luring him to the glass with food to try and get his size.

"We think he's about two years old but we've got no way of knowing for sure - and some people think he's stopped growing but I'm not convinced."