Do koi and fancy goldfish interbreed?

[Gregory]

LOL, hopefully this is not too dumb of a question, but I have 2 koi, a fancy comet, a couple fantails, a skubunkin and a black moor in a stock tank in my greenhouse and now 2 of the fantails are in a very family way and I am wondering what kind of babies to expect. I am hoping for some interesting looking babies.

Greg

 

[chilligirl]

They *shouldn't*. They're different genus and species (same family), so they shouldn't be able to interbreed. If they do manage to hybridize, the offspring shouldn't be fertile.

However, your comets, fantails, shubunkins, and moor should all be able to interbreed. Fancy (doubletail) goldfish and single tail goldfish are the same species. Meaning it's like Chihuahuas to Rottweilers - look different, but genetically the same species and able to interbreed.

 

[Gregory]

Thanks for the response, I knew the goldfish would have no problems, but I am kind of new to koisince my last house had an outdoor pond and after trying one Koi and having it only last a couple weeks before it was eaten I have just kept feeder goldfish in my outdoor stuff since then and my stock tank in my greenhouse has been the first safe place I have had for koi. I am one of those stubborn people who refuse to cover my outdoor water features.

Greg

 

[Shaeward]

From this site: http://www.aquatic-oasis.com/articles.htm (scroll down to "Koi? Where did they come from" then scroll a bit further to the "Butterfly Koi..." section)

Koi and goldfish being closely related will readily interbreed but the resulting progeny are unattractive, mostly resembling wild carp with very little color. In our experience so far, they are always sterile and offer no hope of continuing selective breeding.

 

[Airic]

Is this for real, Long Fin have only been around for the last 12 years? I didn't realize that this breed was so new.

 

[Shaeward]

Not sure hwo much truth there is to it but I've read that in several different places.

 

[BennyLava]

Well I think mine did. Although I may be wrong, and I'm not sure the goldfish are what you would call "Fancy" goldfish. Before I had any experience with a pond, I was afraid to buy expensive koi for my new pond. For fear that they would die due to my inexperience and I would have wasted the money. So, I went to the local bait shop and bought 5 goldfish that were to be sold as bait. When I put them in there, they were about 3 centimeters long at best. Now they are 7 inches long. But they never bred, till I finally put this one butterfly koi in there. He is solid white, with a big red dot on his back, just like you see all the time. Then, the fish spawned.

Now, what makes me think that the koi bred with the gold fish is, two of the babies are all white, with a big red dot lol. Then there are two black babies, and two calico colored, and two plain old orange fish. So did the koi breed with a bait store goldfish? Hmm, who knows?

 

[ZmanArt007]

I've heard that they can and I've seen pictures, many crossbreeds of koi and golfish look pretty cool. I was wonder what a cross between a koi and say, a lion head, or a bubble eye, would look like. Any ideas?

 

[koikeepr]

Yes, they call koi-comet interbreeds "koimets."

And, yes, butterfly koi started in the 1990's at the Blue Ridge Fish hatchery. As I said in recent post, the Japanese do not consider long-fin koi to be a true koi breed at all and scoff at them. There are many purist koi keepers here in the USA that refuse to keep them for similar reasons. Additionally, they are not allowed to be entered into serious koi competitions (tho a few competitions have recently started a long-fin category).

Americans seem to love butterfly koi and they sell very briskly in the USA. I just love them flowy fins....so pretty.

 

[BennyLava]

Could you guys maybe do me a favor and post a few pics of large, adult butterfly koi?

As well as some koimets? I searched around but I think most of the pics must be on specialty sites or something.