My calico oranda goldfish used to have a lot of black and a little white in addition to his orange... now he simply looks orange!! Excapt for Some black on his tail!! Help! What did I do to my baby?? 
HELP! (oranda goldfish)
- Thread starter HardkorLungfish
- Start date
I'm not sure how that's even possible? It almost sounds like someone replaced the fish without your knowledge. There are a couple of reasons that I say this; in common and some of the solid colored gold fish there are 2 sorts of scale types mat or metallic. In goldfish with mat scales ," this is gene isn't as common as the metallic in home tanks," they often times will start out black and turn to an almost white color as they age and it's perfectly normal.
Calico's however are another thing toatally! I'm not sure about in fish but in mammals calico's are all females with a mutation. Instead of the normal XX they have XXX chromosome on each of these x chromosomes there is a gene for a color all of which are expressed," show up", in the critter. In other words normal girl cat for example ,"XX" can be black and white but not black, white and orange . I may be way off base with your goldie but, as I guess I'd say you bought it when it was very small and it wasn't really a calico but was another mat scaled fish where more of the white was still showing as black and the black just naturally faded as it got older.
Also it really needs to have a bigger tank I know orangas don't move around too much but, goldies make a lot of waste. I wouldn't put that big boy in anything less than a 45 gall myself if you give it a happy home you might keep it for 25 years or more.
hth
chris
P.S. This should apply unless fish genetics are very different from other critters. I know that there are some male gold fish that do come in two colors but , the other color is usually white and that's just exhibiting a case of partial albinism. Ok, I'll stop now.
Calico's however are another thing toatally! I'm not sure about in fish but in mammals calico's are all females with a mutation. Instead of the normal XX they have XXX chromosome on each of these x chromosomes there is a gene for a color all of which are expressed," show up", in the critter. In other words normal girl cat for example ,"XX" can be black and white but not black, white and orange . I may be way off base with your goldie but, as I guess I'd say you bought it when it was very small and it wasn't really a calico but was another mat scaled fish where more of the white was still showing as black and the black just naturally faded as it got older.
Also it really needs to have a bigger tank I know orangas don't move around too much but, goldies make a lot of waste. I wouldn't put that big boy in anything less than a 45 gall myself if you give it a happy home you might keep it for 25 years or more.
hth
chris
P.S. This should apply unless fish genetics are very different from other critters. I know that there are some male gold fish that do come in two colors but , the other color is usually white and that's just exhibiting a case of partial albinism. Ok, I'll stop now.
Well, I bought him when he was big actually he hasn't grown THAT much since I have had him... I feed him and change his water often... not to mention I have a filter in there... I would think he would be completely healthy.... Ive had him for quite a few months now... and when I got him there Was a teeeeeny bit of white on the tip of his tail... and he had lotsa black... now he's mostly orange... mb he was orange and black and not calico... but I swear he had somewhite... anyways... I still don't understand why he's turning orange? I am just hoping he's not sick...
Oh! and btw... my boyfriend got me a new BIG tank... I just havent updated my sig with its new specs yet
EDIT:: http://www.goldfishparadise.com/images/rb_oranda.jpg he used to look JUST like that!!
Oh! and btw... my boyfriend got me a new BIG tank... I just havent updated my sig with its new specs yet
EDIT:: http://www.goldfishparadise.com/images/rb_oranda.jpg he used to look JUST like that!!
Last edited:
Lol,
Your Oranda has grown up It sounds as tho your oranda was a metallic scaled fish. Calico fish have a mixture of metallic scales and matte scales, the white and blue is usually where the matte scales are and the orange/red is where the metallic scales are and the black is usually sprinkled over the metallic areas.
Most metallic scaled orange/red goldfish go through a colour phase as youngsters, before they go orange they go dark/black, this can look very attractive as the black and orange are a beautiful combination, but is not permanent colouration
I've even watched a beautiful Black Moor go Black/Yellow after a particularly hot summer ( had to put bottles of Iced Water in the tanks ) and a lovely Blue Oranda turn completely white Apparently part of the colour change can be due to temperature of the water and partly due to age (breeding comes into it too). Its one of those things you can't predict in shop-bought fish. If you can find a breeder of Show Goldfish then you are more likey to find a fish that will 'hold' its colour as the breeders try to breed fish that have good colour and keep it - but there are no guarantees.
Your Oranda has grown up
It sounds as tho your oranda was a metallic scaled fish. Calico fish have a mixture of metallic scales and matte scales, the white and blue is usually where the matte scales are and the orange/red is where the metallic scales are and the black is usually sprinkled over the metallic areas.Most metallic scaled orange/red goldfish go through a colour phase as youngsters, before they go orange they go dark/black, this can look very attractive as the black and orange are a beautiful combination, but is not permanent colouration
I've even watched a beautiful Black Moor go Black/Yellow after a particularly hot summer ( had to put bottles of Iced Water in the tanks ) and a lovely Blue Oranda turn completely white Apparently part of the colour change can be due to temperature of the water and partly due to age (breeding comes into it too). Its one of those things you can't predict in shop-bought fish. If you can find a breeder of Show Goldfish then you are more likey to find a fish that will 'hold' its colour as the breeders try to breed fish that have good colour and keep it - but there are no guarantees.