i have 4 fancies im not sure how to sex them but 2 of my moores have a white tube ?

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Live Life To The Full

Males get tubercles on the operculum (gill cover), especially in the warmer breeding season, females have them as well although they are not as numerous.

There are other ways but not always a definite guide. In common goldfish, you can also tell by the shape of the ventral line between the vent and pelvic fins.

There are two sure-fire ways of sexing Goldfish, even at 8 - 10 weeks of age.

1. The front ray on the Pectoral fin is thicker in the male fish than it is in the female. (Tubercles on a fish do not determine the sex of the fish 100%). I have had females that are covered in tubercles and have spawned every four to six days!!!!.

2. The easiest way is to look at the anus of the fish, in females it is convex (slightly protruding from the line of the fish), in males it is concave (slightly indented from the line of the fish). This method is 100% accurate although you might have to catch the fish and turn it upside down to check in a fast swimming active fish.

I will post some close up photos of fishes bums over the weekend for you to see exactly what I mean.

Hope this helps with any future breeding projects you may be contemplating.

thanks x

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Chris, do you think it is true as one breeder of lionheads told me, that the longer a fish stays bronze (before turning gold) the deeper the colour will be? He reckoned that you get a deeper orange to red colour on 'late changers'.

Urgh them goldfish are disgusting!

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Dom

I heard from an experienced breeder of goldfish that it is true. The late changers are the best.

It depends on how long they take to change? Some fish will always remain the natural green colour, I have a spawning of Common Goldfish that after two years are only just 'turning' I have kept these fish as shape wise they are perfect and from a spawning of around 2,000 fry I have kept 10. The rest are in several pools around and about some have already changed colour to orange and some are still green with no signs of colour change. If I was to have kept the complete spawning and hoped, I would not have been able to have bred my show winners last year!!!

Colour Intensity depends on the line of the blood line of the fish and to an extent on feeding, and not on how long it takes to change colour.

The carotenoid pigments are responsible for the yellow, orange and reds.
Carotenoids are only derived from food. They are abundant in unicellular green algae, hence, why pond fish in green water colour up well. Daphnia fed on green algae are loaded with such carotenoid pigments.