# What Kind is He?



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

So the lady that I petsit for just got a new goldfish for her 45-50 gallon tank! She's only got 2 White Skirt Tetras (formerly GloFish that lost their color, one also has really bad cataracts) 3 Zebra Danios (1 long finned albino, 1 shorter finned and looks half way albino and one regular), and one Pleco of some sort which is only about 5-6 inches long and hides most of the day. So I'm not so much worried about the stocking for this tank but just about what kind of goldfish this is, he really is a cutie though.

Soon I'll actually be helping her clean this out (yay money!) so I've got to learn how to use a type of python hose system (won't be a python but the same idea). But I was just wondering of the type of this goldfish since I've got no ideas except comets.

The white skirt on bottom is the red one and it's got the cataracts on the other eye. Then the one in front is the green one, both lost colors and then the goldfish is in back there  Cutie.


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

I may be wrong, but just a colorful comet. I do believe the fancier types have longer finnage. Last fall I picked up 2 just like this one from the feeder tank at the grocery store.


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## Riverotter (May 15, 2013)

Technically, it's a Common, not a Comet. Comets have much longer fins and a slightly longer body.
The darker color will fade and it will be an evenly gold color soon. They are all born ranging from dull brown to copper, but then turn gold sometime between 1 - 3 inches. Even a lot of the red and white ones are born dark, usually darker. so if you ever see a tri-color in the feeder tank, know that 99% of the time the black will fade. It's just their normal, natural color process.


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## djembekah (Feb 13, 2012)

Also there does seem to be a stock problem. I'm 99% positive that all the fish in that tank need higher temps than the goldfish.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Thanks for all the info guys, I know goldfish need cooler waters but it's not my say with this tank. It is running at 76 though if that helps lol, better than 80 right?

Anyway thank you for the clarification! We've got comet's in our goldfish pond at my house so it's nice to know there's a difference between common and comet :-D


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## Riverotter (May 15, 2013)

They are mislabeled and interbred a lot. Ideally, a Comet's tail should be at least the length of it's body, if not longer.

 I've got a soft spot for them. I have a farm, and every spring rescue a few feeders, to live in the stock tanks and eat mosquito larvae and the bugs that fall in. In the fall, I sell them as decorative pond fish, because by then they've grown a lot!
I always try to pick out the comets, because they look so graceful as they grow.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oh okay! So then the goldfish we have in our pond probably aren't Comet's then, they have the longer body but not all of their tails are long and flowy, possibly just hybrids then?

We started out with three fish, one orange one white and one black and now have koi patterns all over. Are goldfish literally only supposed to be gold when they grow up or do we not actually have goldfish in our pond?! O.O The biggest one I've seen was about 9-11 inches in length at least from what I could see from the "shoreline" and that's not including tail length which was only about 3 inches more.


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

they can be gray or white too. I had a 6" white one a few years ago, I raised from a 1" feeder.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

That's what I figured but because he said that the color would fade from the brown and turn to gold so do they turn colors as they get older? Or is that just a certain type of goldfish? Yeah I've got no clue when it comes to goldfish except they are like surface vacuum cleaners when it comes to feeding time and they require colder water lol


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## Fenghuang (Dec 28, 2012)

I second Rivertrotter. We have one that is about the same size that could be his/her identical twin. S/he came from Petsmart as a $0.26 feeder (the lady was kind enough to let me pick them). I believe most of these goldfish grow out of the brown.


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## Riverotter (May 15, 2013)

She 

Gold fish can come in a lot of colors. White, grey, copper, red, yellow, black along with the classic orangey-gold. And some just stay the original plain carp brown.
But the VAST majority of them start out copper or brown and then go to gold, starting at the belly and fading up. Sometimes as it fades, the brown gets nearly black and is very striking looking. From the pattern on the little guy above, he is fading.

Most (but not all) colored ones also start out coppery brown. Red and white often start out very dark. This is a survival trait. Fry that start out with the bright, pretty colors get quickly eaten by their parents and faster-growing siblings.
This is why when people buy them for ponds, they generally want them 4 inch body length or bigger. By then the color has stabilized.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oh you she? or the goldfish is a she? lol

Oooh okay so that makes sense why many of our little ones are black/brown and then a few bigger are half orange and half black.

So is the color change go for all species of goldfish or just Commons? Like does it go for Comet's as well?


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## Riverotter (May 15, 2013)

All of them, even the fancies. But not the black moors, they darken instead of lighten, and I'm not sure about the shubunkins.
 and I'm the she, lol. You can't tell with a goldfish till they're bigger.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oh okay! Didn't realize you were a she haha 

Good to know thank you!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Well just found out that her tank is sitting at 70 degree's, I found a thermometer and stuck it in for a few minutes, the Zebra's love to nibble and it's so cute. I was trying to get the goldie to come up but he was a little too scared even after 10 minutes lol That's alright, so yeah sitting a 70 degree's....

I really hope she lets me help her clean it out, I can see she's never done a gravel vac before and it's been set up for about a year here....yeah....not good


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