Goldfish young still black!?

[Telkwa]

Good morning!
We have some volunteer fish that have grown this summer to nearly the size of an adult man's thumb. Some of them have begun to show signs of the typical goldfish orange hues, but others are still black as coal.
Our fish are just comet and feeder fish mutts. Nothing special. What's the longest you folks have seen younguns keep their dark colors? I'm just surprised they haven't all turned yet.

 

[stroppy]

of the ones that were born last year (spring) i have one that is still all black

 

[koiguy1969]

with goldfish,it can take a couple years for some to turn colors... some never will (closer to their ancestors genetic pool) . and once they have colors those colors can change. with koi their colors arent set until they hit 12" +

 

[Telkwa]

Thanks for the replies!

This brings up a coupla things I've wanted to ask about.

#1 - Can shubunkins breed with comets?

#2 - Without human intervention, would you expect a group of goldfish and shubunkins to produce generations of duller and duller colored fish?

I was surprised to read on some website that koi will breed back to dull ancestral colors in a few generations if released to the wild. Of course, part of that could be the brighter colored ones all got picked off quickly...

 

[rdk]

I have one new baby shubunkin in my pond. I only have one large shubunkin so the other parent must be a coment. RKD.

 

[hewhoisatpeace]

All goldfish interbreed, as far as I know. All koi interbreed, to include some wild carp species also. Again, as far as I know.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

I just noticed tonight that I have a solid-black fish that grew out of this Spring's babies, which is about 3" long. I've never seen any all-black before now (except of course the babies under 1") so I'm hoping this one survives the Winter. The closest I've had before was one that was black except for an orange streak along its underbelly, but unfortunately it must have gotten picked off this Spring before I had a chance to get any size to it.

 

[schizm]

Has anyone seen an all white goldfish? I had one that was white with orange spots, but the orange spots faded leaving it all white.

 

[Lisak1]

@schizm Welcome to the GPF!

And yes. I have a few goldfish that have gone from black to orange with white spots to all white. I even have one that regularly changes from orange to white to back again. Color change in pond fish is pretty common and fun to observe!

 

[bagsmom]

I just noticed tonight that I have a solid-black fish that grew out of this Spring's babies, which is about 3" long. I've never seen any all-black before now (except of course the babies under 1") so I'm hoping this one survives the Winter. The closest I've had before was one that was black except for an orange streak along its underbelly, but unfortunately it must have gotten picked off this Spring before I had a chance to get any size to it.

Your black one with the orange stripe might still be with you! He may have shifted to all orange. I've had this happen two times already. The color change is fascinating to watch.

 

[addy1]

I have mainly shubunkins, but also getting a lot of plain black, golden colored long finned fish. Waiting to see if any color up or stay that way. They are part of the herd. You can see a few here.

 

[JamieB]

Has anyone seen an all white goldfish? I had one that was white with orange spots, but the orange spots faded leaving it all white.

My big male is almost white. I’d call him cream colored, it’s not a pure white color. Just a mutt fish, but a good share of his spawn come out white or mostly white!

 

[j.w]

Yep some of my oj goldfish ended up turning white or various shades of a yellowish or pinkish. Some stayed black for years and then wham they started turning orange.

 

[schizm]

I have 13 "babies" from last year's brood. they are over a year old now. One has turned completely white (like the adult), and two of them have not turned at all, they are still all dark almost black. The rest have turned to some iteration of orange. Is it normal for the 2 not to have turned any color at all by this age? The "babies" are a good 3 inches long now, the original adults are 6 to 9 inches.

 

[MajorDan]

Has anyone seen an all white goldfish? I had one that was white with orange spots, but the orange spots faded leaving it all white.

I have what was said to be a sunrise shubunkin, yellow head, white body and orange just before the tail. In the last month the orange faded and it is now white with a splotch of yellow on the head that looks like a little wig so we now call it Blondie. Who knows what it will end up being when it gets bigger. Have what was a twin when we got Blondie and it has remained the original color.