Sexing goldfish (with photos)!

I bought all my goldfish when they were under 2 inches long. From my experience, that means they would have been between one and three months old, since most feeders are raised in ponds or large tanks with ample growing room and ample food. That's how I know how old they are. If you buy goldfish when they are older, from an LFS rather than a breeder, then it can be much more difficult to determine age. Size will vary widely depending on environment and genetics.
Breeders usually keep track of the age of their fish, so buying from a breeder has more benefits than just good broodstock.
 
I bought comets (1.5")the spring before last, this last fall I had babies in my pond. The parents could have only been a year and a half tops.
 
My goldfish aren't very big, between 2-3" at the most. Although I just bought yesterday a Shubunkin and a Comet that are much bigger.
 
I don't keep goldfish, but that was interesting anyway.
I know they live a long time, but I'm surprised they can take take three years to reach breeding age!
 
I used to think goldfish were just worthless, ugly, and only good for feeding to much larger fish---

BUT.. since becoming a member of this forum I have seen some really beautiful speciments, combined with some interesting facts about size and longetivity.

It almost makes me want to go buy another tank for some goldies (the woman would kill me, as she almost did when I brought home the 2nd 55g lol) but.. they are acctually a very cool fish-- and are worthy of much more than being in feeder tanks, and tiny fishbowns around the world
 
You know, I went into a pet shop called Bizarre Pets this week, and one of the bizarre pets was feeder goldfish!

(They also had stick insects, bush cockroaches, ducklings (!))
 
Do the males keep their tubercules all year round? Mine have just spawned and I've been examining them closely but can't decide which are which - I just can't see any. Also, how often do they spawn? The last time they spawned was a few days ago, but they're all chasing each other around like crazy now - there are six in the tank, four comets, one common and one oranda, and the only changes I've made in the last few days has been the addition of a new white light. They've never spawned before, but I thought that was just because they are all small and too young to spawn (or so I thought!). The largest is about 2.5 inches.
 
After viewing this thread, I checked my tank and now realize that my dear Lorraine is a boy! =)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom