how fast/large do shubunkin goldfish grow

[talal101]

yesterday i walked into the petstore and was expecting to buy a koi, i never seen any good ones so i just looked at the other tanks and from the corner of my eye i seen the tank full of shubunkin goldfish, i just had to buy some so i got 2, i have 2 regular comets and 2 sarrassa comets in my 55 gallon holding tank until i can get them out and into the pond.
my question is how long it will be before they grow to full size and how much growth i should expect to see per month? and also how large can they get?,
thank you
under ideal conditions of course.

 

[addy1]

over winter, they doubled for me i.e. 1 inch to two inches lol

 

[talal101]

wow that slow hey? i am thankful that summer is around because i sure as heck want them to grow a lot faster then 1 inch every few months lo

 

[addy1]

wow that slow hey? i am thankful that summer is around because i sure as heck want them to grow a lot faster then 1 inch every few months lo

wellllllllllll no food, 8 inches of ice, 32 degree water...............

 

[talal101]

wellllllllllll no food, 8 inches of ice, 32 degree water...............

hahah yeah that is true, its probabley even strange that they grew at all given our wonderful winter season

 

[shakaho]

It's going to depend on the genetics of the fish, the size, fish load, and water quality of the pond, the amount and quality of food, temperature, and several other things. One woman on another forum claims that her shubbie grew to 9 inches in one year in a 55 gallon aquarium with other goldies, feeding only a couple times a day. That's pretty incredible. The baby (< 1 inch) goldies I put in my pond last May now range from ~3 inches to ~6 inches. They might be bigger if I had a larger pond or if I wasn't too lazy to change water frequently.

Fish can continue growing throughout their lives, but will grow most in the first year, and less in each subsequent year. I've seen people claim that goldfish can get to be 2 feet long, but the largest measured size I have seen is 18.7 inches (Guinness), and that includes the tail fin, which is not normal measurement. 12 inches is a big goldfish.

 

[CometKeith]

Talal, I bought 3 shubunkins last summer that were around 1.5-2 inches. They are now each around 5-6 inches. I fed them 2-3 times a day, but again it depends on a lot of factors besides just feeding.

 

[talal101]

It's going to depend on the genetics of the fish, the size, fish load, and water quality of the pond, the amount and quality of food, temperature, and several other things. One woman on another forum claims that her shubbie grew to 9 inches in one year in a 55 gallon aquarium with other goldies, feeding only a couple times a day. That's pretty incredible. The baby (< 1 inch) goldies I put in my pond last May now range from ~3 inches to ~6 inches. They might be bigger if I had a larger pond or if I wasn't too lazy to change water frequently.

Fish can continue growing throughout their lives, but will grow most in the first year, and less in each subsequent year. I've seen people claim that goldfish can get to be 2 feet long, but the largest measured size I have seen is 18.7 inches (Guinness), and that includes the tail fin, which is not normal measurement. 12 inches is a big goldfish.

so would you recommend that i do weekly water changes or bi-weekly? and yes i do agree with you on the genetics part of it because that is true, but at the same time since these fish were most likely culled from a stock in a japanese breeders tank, they must have good parents and genes right? and also if they are mutts they have really mixed up genetics which means they could have genetics for larger growth mixed in from parants/grandparents/cousins...and i do agree with those people who say that goldfish can grow to 2 feet, their close cousins the wild carp can grow just as large but becuase we as humans have tampered with their genetics we have weakened them as a species and so it is truly rare to find such a large fish but not impossible.

Talal, I bought 3 shubunkins last summer that were around 1.5-2 inches. They are now each around 5-6 inches. I fed them 2-3 times a day, but again it depends on a lot of factors besides just feeding.

i would be happy with 5-6 inches i really would, i feed my fish 4 times a day with 4 different kinds of food {flakes,freeze dried blood worms, floating pellets and brine shrimp pellets and also a feed them frozen blood worms once a week} and yeah their is water chemestry,care,quality of food and the big huge one GENETICS

 

[shakaho]

I don't know if common goldfish are smaller than their wild cousins. Until someone measures a 2 foot goldfish, I'll doubt it exists.

Goldfish genetics is incredibly complicated. Hardly anything "breeds true."

People who "groom" goldfish for shows take such extreme measures as daily 100% water changes and feeding every hour during daylight hours to produce big fish fast. Some of them also say that show fish aren't good breeders and don't live as long as fish that grow at a normal rate.

If you are happy with 5 or 6 inches, you have no problems. That's normal growth.

 

[talal101]

I don't know if common goldfish are smaller than their wild cousins. Until someone measures a 2 foot goldfish, I'll doubt it exists.

Goldfish genetics is incredibly complicated. Hardly anything "breeds true."

People who "groom" goldfish for shows take such extreme measures as daily 100% water changes and feeding every hour during daylight hours to produce big fish fast. Some of them also say that show fish aren't good breeders and don't live as long as fish that grow at a normal rate.

If you are happy with 5 or 6 inches, you have no problems. That's normal growth.

i think your right, what i meant is that i think goldfish have the potential to be 2 feet not that there are goldfish 2 feet long so sorry about that, and yeah goldfish don't breed true unless you spend thousand of dollars and hours upon hours breeding goldfish that breed true and yes those are some extreme measures i would never do that.
yeah i am happy with 5-6 inches as long as the fish isn't thin and looks like it needs to grow a lot wider, as long as it has good body proportion to size im fine with that, but im happy to say that my goldfish who have shown no growth for the last 6 months have grown about half an inch longer in the last 2 weeks since i started feeding 4 times a day and also they have gone from being about half an inch wide to being an inch wide...but i think it could even be because they are females because only 3 out of my 4 fish have grown so much wider but i have seen no chasing or breeding behaviours...who knows i guess we will see soon right.

 

[addy1]

I have some shubunkins in my pond in arizona, they are about 8 yrs old and around 16 inches or so (pure guess in just looking at them) The goldies are about the same size too. But some of the others are under 10 inches and just as old. I don't really care about the size just enjoy the fish.

 

[mouseams]

I have some we got two years ago and they have not grown much at all, but one of the offspring is growing like mad. It was born the summer we added the fish and it is nearly half the size of the adults. The fish we put in were about 5" and like I said haven't changed much.

 

[fishin4cars]

I have a 4 year old Black and red goldfish I originally bought as a shubunkin but it lost all of it's blue sheen and just held the black and red colors. Doesn't show up real good but it's well over 14" and still growing. As for water changes, It's best if based on your nitrates, anything over 2ppm it's time for a water change, In my own pond with 22 9"-17" koi I do weekly 300-500 gallon water changes with pure rainwater catch when ever possible..

 

[talal101]

wow addy that sounds really nice, i would love to see my goldfish grow as large as your hopefully i will try my best to do weekly/ bi-weekly water changes of 20-30% and keep on my 4 feedings a day diet. and to mouse i think the adults may have been stunted in growth and therefore did not grow at all because if their offspring is growing mad then that would mean the parents could have grown just as large but have sadly been stunted, hahah fish4cars i got a shubunkin with deep deep black body with bright bright orange fins and bright orange mixed into the head and some silver patches on the lower part near the anal fin i love him

 

[addy1]

poor flowers. we are getting slammed by hail right now! and all my bulbs were starting to bloom.

I bet yours will do great tala, mine did grow nicely and I only fed them now and then. They ate mainly bugs etc.

I stick with goldies and shubunkins, easier to care for then koi, no need to bring in for the winter. And I like plants in my ponds without plant rings etc. My lilies did great with the goldies in arizona. Hopefully will do fine here also.