our changing goldfish
- Thread starter ballsmcgee1234
- Start date
how much light is the goldfish recieving? if its in the dark most of the time it will get lighter in color
Most fishes color will vary some depending on tank settings (color of gravel, lights...etc). Nearly all goldfish I've had more then a year have either slightly changed their color or totally changed to another. Most non-orange will change to orange as they age.
Actually in goldfish's cases, lighting does matter as one of the several factors to change their colors aside from foods and genetics. In sun litted areas, most black goldfish can retain their colors as a result of melanophore migration wherein the melanin is retained as it fades due to the presence of ultraviolet rays by the sunlight. This is one reason why most Asian countries were able to obtain rich black collections of goldfish particularly ranchus and orandas.
I obtained both myself and they remained black so far although I shifted my ranchu to a dark litted tank before to allow it to recover from loss of appetite and it turned chocolate in some body areas as a result. I have another oranda that was originally black but he/she seems to gradually change to chocolate.
I have another case where my female watonai was yellow before. She changed to dark orange after a long stay in my pond with green water and direct sunlight. I wish I didn't because I preferred her yellow color than the sickly orange which isn't her type of color at all. It made her look like she got tanned in a beach for a day.
My lionhead also had a pure white wen before but the wen is now orange in some areas. Oh well...At least, he is unique in a way. His wen still looks cute even when it is already orange than the pure white which I much preferred.
I obtained both myself and they remained black so far although I shifted my ranchu to a dark litted tank before to allow it to recover from loss of appetite and it turned chocolate in some body areas as a result. I have another oranda that was originally black but he/she seems to gradually change to chocolate.
I have another case where my female watonai was yellow before. She changed to dark orange after a long stay in my pond with green water and direct sunlight. I wish I didn't because I preferred her yellow color than the sickly orange which isn't her type of color at all. It made her look like she got tanned in a beach for a day.
My lionhead also had a pure white wen before but the wen is now orange in some areas. Oh well...At least, he is unique in a way. His wen still looks cute even when it is already orange than the pure white which I much preferred.
