Shubunkins changing colors

[MajorDan]

We have two sunrise shubies with yellow on top of head, white body and orange near the base of the tail. We called them the twins. Then just recently one of the twins lost all of the Orange. It is now a white goldfish with a yellow head. So it has a new name, blonde of course.
So this brings up the topic of goldfish changing colors as they age. That makes me wonder if the color change is diet related and will changing their fish food to the ones that claim to enhance colors will bring back the orange?

 

[Lisak1]

I have to say I have never had a shubunkin change colors, so that's a new one. I wonder if these "sunrise" shubunkins are somehow different than your run of the mill shubbies, as calicos are known for being relatively stable color wise.

 

[cas]

I have a shubunkin that has lost a lot of it's black markings and his colors have become lighter as he has gotten older. He is 14 years old this summer.

 

[j.w]

Me too have some that have turned more faded w/more white now then when I first got them. They are only a few yrs old.

 

[MajorDan]

So blonde is only about 5 inches long I got a closer look at her and the part that was bright orange is now a very, very light pink. From a distance it looks white. I imagine she is much less than a year old but then I haven’t a clue on how fast they grow. All of them were 3” a few months ago when we got them. They have really grown a lot since then.
I just got back from pet store with some Hikari Goldfish Gold supposed to enhance color just to see if the orange comes back.

 

[Somethin' Fishy]

My fish have been changing too @MajorDan . I haven't changed their diet, but that's not to say that the things that they eat that are occurring in the pond naturally and seasonally aren't playing a part in it. As far as commercially available diets that claim to be color enhancers, I don't put much stock in them unless there's a high shrimp content or something like that.

Our starter fish, which was a rescue from the feeder tank at a pet store, was a sharp orange and white pinto pattern. Now I find that the orange is blurring into the white. Another feeder goldfish which was orange and white with black across its back now only has a few speckles of black left. And the shubbies, they seem to change all the time. My sunrise was just pinky/white when I got her, and now she has beautiful pearl blue patches, and recently a few black speckles. One of my calicos has more orange than it ever had before. And the babies keep getting more interesting all the time. The weirdest one is my 2 month old that hatched in our container garden. At a month old it was already an inch long and brown. Within a couple weeks it got larger and turned to a splotchy white/black/brown. Now it is 2" long, white with black speckles, a dark smudge on it's head, and a small spot of orange on its face. At two months old it is as big as last season's babies that grew up in the pond! I have no idea what it ate in that tub to get so big so fast!

 

[BKHpondcritters]

In my personal experience, with both koi & goldfish, orange is the most unstable color. Many, many times I've had a really pretty little fish turn white (or mostly white) as they grew & matured. At this point I've eliminated all but one (token) goldfish from our outdoor pond, so we'll see what random spawning brings in the seasons to come.