Pearlscale goldfish???

Just like many other types of Goldfish the Pearlscale Goldfish grows relatively large and requires at least 10 gallons of water if you want to keep it in an aquarium.You can also keep it in a pond. The more room, the better, and your Pearlscale Goldfish will most likely do much better if you provide it with more room than the 10 gallons which should be considered an absolute minimum. You can house your Pearlscale Goldfish with other goldfish varieties as long as they are not to fast, since fast fishes may snatch away all the food and leave the Pearlscale Goldfish starving. Comet goldfish, Waking Goldfish and Shubunkin Goldfish are all examples of fast fishes that are unsuitable company for a Pearlscale Goldfish. Keep in mind that the Pearlscale Goldfish is big and egg-shaped and not really suited for fast-swimming. You have to handle your Pearlscale Goldfish very carefully, since the scales can fall off from rough treatment or sharp objects in the aquarium or pond. Breeding damage can also cause the scales to drop from the fish. If a scale falls from the Pearlscale Goldfish, it will not be replaced by a similar scale. Instead, you will see the common flat scale found on all other types of goldfish. Some breeders claim that the Pearlscale Goldfish needs more calcium in the water than other goldfishes, to keep the scales intact. This is however yet to be proven.

Your Pearlscale Goldfish will happily eat most types of food, but you must restrict its diet a bit due to the unnatural shape of this fish. Since it is so rounded, the internal organs are quite cramped inside its body. A Pearlscale Goldfish should therefore not be fed unsoaked dry food ,such as pellets and flakes. If you Pearlscale Goldfish eats unsoaked food, the food will absorb water from the internal organs and swell inside the body of the fish. The expansion will cause pressure on all the surrounding organs and especially the swim bladder is vulnerable to this easily damaged. Constipation can also occur. If you want to feed your Pearlscale Goldfish pellets or flakes, make sure the food is really soaked. Since the Pearlscale Goldfish is prone to constipation even when kept on a correct diet, you should include deshelled peas in its diet at least once a week since the peas will prevent and treat constipation. Bloodworms, brine shrimp, daphnia and vegetable food like cucumber and lettuce are also suitable food for a Pearlscale Goldfish.

Hope this helps.

Pearlscales can get to the size of a baseball or a small orange and should have the same requirements as any other fancy goldfish, 15 gal for the first and 10 gal for every fish after. They're very prone to swim bladder diseases so be careful what you feed them.

Aren't the ones shaped like that typically identified as Tikus?

Somervell is correct. They're tikus. There is another classified as crown pearlscale/hamanishiki. These ones have wen growths as their prominent feature aside from the white beads raised on their flanks. There are plenty other crosses especially the famous Malaysian black ranchu x pearlscale and telescope x pearlscale.

In my experience, they are incredibly very slow and easily outcompeted. I would not suggest combining them with the likes of telescopes/demekins, some young orandas, ryukins, fantails and even pond types such as wakins, watonais, etc as already mentioned earlier by theicequeen. I tried combining them with my ryukins, orandas and a few others with very poor results. They were unable to get their share of foods.

For foods, considering pearlscales are often known to have extremely round bodies, they are indeed predisposed to buoyancy issues which is why floating foods particularly flakes should be avoided completely. Sinking pellets that do not contain too much starch will work just fine although a few unlucky ones will still suffer buoyancy issues regardless of the commercial foods you provide them. I fed mine with Hikari Lionhead and shrimp pellets with no issues aside from homemade gel foods. They can eat chopped earthworms, bloodworms, mosquito larva and other natural foods just fine. Add extra aquarium plant cuttings in their diet as fiber to help discharge the excess foods.

Hope this helps.

I absolutely would not keep pearlscales in a pond, personally. They are too slow to defend themselves against predators, and need a little bit warmer temps than commons, comets or shubs.

Pearlscales can reach softball size.

I have three - two hamanishiki and a tiku. I got them at around an inch big, they have about doubled in size in the last month. As already stated, they can be prone to buoyancy issues so I feed only homemeade gel food.

As far as tank size - saying that you need 15 gals per goldfish and 10 gals per additional can be misleading. In my opinion, no goldfish should be kept in less than a 55 gallon tank. Second, no goldfish should be kept in a group of less than three. I also feel that 10 gallons per goldfish is adequate, AS LONG AS your tank is 55 gallons or larger and your maintenance is up to par - that means 2-3X filtration, and 1-2 times weekly water changes. For those newer to keeping goldfish, barebottom tanks are the way to go.

Kristina

That would be my opinion, GER. 55 gallon tank, 3-5 pearls (you can mix lionhead or ranchu with pearls too, they are dorsal-less varieties and move a little slower also.)

Kristina