Do goldfish turn dark with age?
- Thread starter Tesla_HV
- Start date
The boss got feeder goldfish for the concrete pond outside in the patio at our workplace. Most are now about 2 years old (some more, some less) and all +4" long. They are slender but maybe an inch wide; they look firm and healthy. They started out variations of carrot colored, and some had black-tipped fins or even black spots. The blacks eventually turned all carrot-colored. One carrot turned whitish (I thought it was ill, but it has been that way since the spring, so...) and now the white one is getting a yellow head. Another carrot is blotchy white; maybe it wants to be all white, too. Some have taken on black-tipped fins, and some are deep carrot colored, others lighter. I think they are just happy in their algae- & minnow-infested water in the middle of Albuquerque and they change color as nature dictates. Soon winter will hit and they'll be in the shade & under ice on & off for several months. Hope they survive again; it's supposed to be a hard winter, and the filter/fountain isn't working as well as it did last winter...
Goldfish change color as they age with the most drastic changes coming within the first few years. Changes thereafter are ussually on a much smaller scale. I have had goldfish born and raised in my pond that have changed outrirght one year to the next till an overall coloration "stabilized".