So are these 2 short tailed males?

[Shine]

What do you think Gremlin.... am I right? Are these two orange commons short-tailed males? I see the tubercles(sp?) on the gill plates... They are both about 5 inches long, possibly 6 with the tail

This other one (red+wh) has the look of a male--the long fins etc, and he has showed breeding stars before too, although he isn't in this picture. He's bigger... probably 6-7 inches without the tail

 

[Aquarist]

Good morning,

Beautiful Goldfish! Love the photos.

Ken

 

[Shine]

Thanks Ken These are my biggest three.

I had been assuming the pair of orange fish were females... till I spotted the breeding stars. My others are too young yet to sex (well, I thought I knew, till the stars showed up :-\) they are about half the length of those pictured above. Its funny though; the sarasas (red/wh) large and small, are far more 'sociable' and way less skittish then the orange commons. Any clue why that might be?

 

[gremlin]

As for the skittish-ness, sarasas are bred and kept in better conditions than most "common" goldfish. The sarasas can be sold for more, so they are kept in better conditions whereas the orange common goldfish are generally bred and sold as cheap feeder fish. Breeders will only provide the minimum necessary care since they can't get as much out of them.

The white and orange one is a male - look how deeply forked the tail is.

The two orange ones may be young males. The tails and fins are still more rounded than full grown males, but they do have a deeper fork in the tail (at least the one in the front does). Also, the dorsal fins are a bit larger and more angular than females. They do not appear to have reached their full "plumage" yet though. The fish in the back looks like it is starting to grow out the tail fin a bit. You can see a hint of white at the tip of the top half of the tail. A lot of times, that means that the tail fins are still growing.

 

[Shine]

Thanks for looking in They really confused me when I spotted the 'stars' on fish I had assumed were female...... I'd love it if the two of them would grow out their tails. The large orange male with white on the tips of his tail from your photo album is gorgeous! (not as much as your black though )

I've pretty much gotten all my goldfish from the 20c feeder tanks. I assume then that the sarasas in there are 'culls' .... makes you wonder how they choose which ones they keep? Just by size maybe? I've seen some pretty markings on feeder fish

 

[gremlin]

All of my fish came from the feeder fish tanks. I'm not sure what criteria the breeders use for if a fish goes to the "Sarasa Comet" tank or the "feeder fish" tank. If you want to guarantee a male, you can pick ones that already show the pointed deeply forked tail. It is difficult to guarantee a female when they are that young because the males don't always develop their fins and tails when they are that young/small.