I just picked up some fry from a local guy. Told him I wanted ones with mixed colors and long tails. He tells me they usually start in a dark color and the tails later grow in. I wasn't certain if that was true because the fish he sold me were either orange or black color. Also I had a few fries of my own last year and some were black, some gold and others mixed. None are showing signs of significant tail lengths yet either after a year. How long before I can tell if they will be short or long? They are around 2-3 inches.
Fish fry myths?
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Mmathis
TurtleMommy
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Are you talking about koi or goldfish?
Mmathis
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The only thing I know is that GF that will grow up to be “normal color,” usually start out as an olive color with non-descript eyes — very drab. They can be very dark, almost black before they “turn,” but not always. If they will be Shubunkin they’ll start out pink with black eyes. As far as fin/tail length, I can’t help there. All of the babies I’ve ever raised turned out to be commons, comets, or Shubies — or hybrids, but I don’t recall anything in particular about fin/tail length — when that became evident, etc. I have 3 very dark GF right now that have been almost black for about 2-3 years — all spawned in my pond. Two of those have a bronzy-cast, but “normal” looking tails, and one is more true-Black with a longer tail. I keep expecting them to change color any day, but I’m pretty sure the fin size is whatever it’s going to be by now. They are probably in that 3” range.
When I raised my fry a few years back, I did a LOT of research on colors, etc., trying to anticipate what my babies would turn out to be. There’s not a whole lot of info out there, but you might try a Google search and see what results you get. It is interesting, but I can’t tell you if what the fish guy told you is correct or not.
I don't know about goldfish, but when I purchased my 2 Shubbies they were less than 2 inches long and didn't really show much color pattern, but I could already see that the fins (particularly the tails) were longer than average