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Common Goldfish

Family: Cyprinidae

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Carassius auratus auratus Photo © Animal-World: Courtesy David Brough

Goldfish are fun! Just look at all the different colors of these beautiful fish!

   The Common Goldfish are colorful, inexpensive, and readily available. For about 90 percent of all aquarists, their first fish were Common Goldfish won at the local faire or obtained from the pet store in town. They can be quite personable and are delightful to watch.

   One of the hardiest of the gold fish varieties, the Common Goldfish are recommended for beginners. They are an easy fish to keep as they are not picky and will readily eat what is offered. They are active and can swim fairly fast. They are also very social and thrive well in a community.

Common Goldfish Comet Goldfish

   The Common Goldfish is very similar to, and sometimes confused with, the Comet Goldfish. The Comet Goldfish is a further development of the Common Goldfish. Both these fish have an almost identical body shape but the fins on the Comet are much longer, especially the caudal (tail) fin, and it is more deeply forked. Also, in the standard orange color the Comet is generally a more reddish orange while the Common Goldfish is more orangish. The adult size of the Comet Goldfish is smaller too. On both these fish the caudal (tail) fin is held fully erect.

   Another goldfish that is almost identical to the Common Goldfish is the 'London' type of Shubunkin Goldfish. Both these fish have virtually the same body and fin shapes, but the London type Shubunkin Goldfish has a totally different body color. While a good specimen of the Common Goldfish will have a bright orange metallic color, this London type Shubunkin goldfish can be speckled or have a variegated color pattern.

   Along with the other elongated goldfish, such as the Comet Goldfish and the Shubunkin Goldfish, Common Goldfish make good pond fish. They are hardy and can tolerate cold water temperatures. They are active and fast and can get along well with Koi, but they will readily spawn so can quickly overpopulate your pond.

For more Information on keeping this fish see:
Guide to a Happy, Healthy Freshwater Aquarium

Distribution:
   The Goldfish, a wild carp originally known by such names as the Crucian Carp, Gibel Carp, or Golden Carp, was described by Linnaeus in 1758. They originated in Asia; Central Asia and China. Today domesticated goldfish are distributed world-wide. These fish inhabit the slow moving and stagnant waters of rivers, lakes, ponds, and ditches feeding on plants, detritus, small crustaceans, and insects.
   In the early 1600's these fish were exported first to Japan and then to Europe and were developed into the wonderful colors and forms of gold fish we see today. The Common Goldfish is one of the more than 125 captive bred varieties that have been developed.

Status:
   This species is not listed on the IUCN Red List, and presumably there are no wild populations of this captive bred variety.

Description:
   The Common Goldfish is an elongated, flat-bodied variety of goldfish. The most distinguished specimen is a bright orange metallic color. The head is wide but short and it has a smoothly tapering body shape from its back and belly to the base of its caudal fin (tail fin). The caudal fin is forked. Its fins generally stand fully erect and the edge of the dorsal fin is slightly concave.

Size - Weight:
   The environment the Common Goldfish is kept in is a determining factor on whether your pet grows to its full potential size or is somewhat smaller. In an average 10 gallon tank, if well cared for and not crowded, they can grow up to about 4 inches (10 cm), while in a larger uncrowded tank they can grow larger generally reaching about 7 or 8 inches (17.78 - 20.32 cm). If kept in a spacious pond they can reach over 12 inches (30+ cm), with some hobbyist reporting their Common Goldfish reaching up to a whopping 18" (45+ cm)!

Care and feeding:
   Since they are omnivorous, the Common Goldfish will generally eat all kinds of fresh, frozen, and flake foods. To keep a good balance give them a high quality flake food everyday. To care for your goldfish, feed brine shrimp (either live or frozen), blood worms, Daphnia, or tubifex worms as a treat. It is usually better to feed freeze-dried foods as opposed to live foods to avoid parasites and bacterial infections that could be present in live foods.
   Common Goldfish are some of the hardier species of goldfish. They are very undemanding of water quality and temperature. Many people try to keep goldfish in small one or two gallon bowls with no heater or filtration. But for the best success in keeping goldfish, provide them the same filtration, especially biological filtration, that other aquarium residents enjoy.
   The shape and size of the aquarium is important and depends upon the number of fish you are going to keep. Goldfish need a lot of oxygen and produce a lot of waste.

• A large surface area of water will help minimize goldfish suffering from an oxygen shortage. Surface area is determined by the shape of the tank. For the same volume of water, an elongated tank offers more surface area (and oxygen) than a tall tank. In a fish bowl, filling the bowl to the middle offers more surface area (and oxygen) than filling the bowl to the top. Always provide the maximum amount of surface area.
• Providing a large amount of water per fish will help dilute the amount of waste and reduce the number of water changes needed.
• A general rule of thumb for young fish only is: 1 inch of fish (2.54 cm) per 1 gallon of water. This rule applies only to young fish and is not adequate as they grow. Larger gold fish consume much more oxygen than young fish so maintaining this formula for growing fish will stunt them, and can contribute to disease and even death.
• Keep the tank size and shape in mind when you are buying your fish. To allow for growth, either buy fewer fish than the maximum number of fish (based on the above formula) or be prepared to get a larger tank.

   Because goldfish produce a lot of waste, good filtration is very helpful in maintaining the water quality of the aquarium. Regular weekly water changes of 1/4 to 1/3 is strongly recommended to keep these fish healthy.
   Use a gravel substrate and add some decorations that provide shelter for your pet goldfish. Driftwood and smooth rocks make good, safe decorations; and plants are especially appreciated, either live or plastic. A cover for the tank is desirable as it reduces evaporation and though they are not prone to jumping, on occasion some gold fish will jump out. Most aquariums come with a cover that includes lighting. It is not essential for goldfish, but will help if you have live plants.
   Goldfish are subject to the same diseases as tropical fish. A couple of the more common problems are Ich, Swim Bladder disease, and external parasites including flukes, lice and anchor worms. To learn about these and other diseases and how to treat them see: Aquarim Fish Diseases & Treatments.

Water Region: Top, Middle, Bottom:
   These fish will swim in all areas of the aquarium.

Acceptable Water Conditions:
   The Common Goldfish is one of the most hardy varieties of goldfish and can tolerate temperatures a few degrees above freezing, as long as the cooling drops only a few degrees a day. A quick temperature drop can kill them, so if you live in a very cold climate a heater is advisable.
   Temp: Goldfish are a cold water fish and will do best at temperatures between 65 - 72° F (18°- 22° C)
   Hardness: 5 - 19° dGH
   Ph: 6.0 to 8.0

Social Behaviors:
   Goldfish are very social animals and thrive in a community. Not only are they a great community fish but they are great scavengers as well. It is really not necessary to add other scavengers or other bottom feeders to the aquarium when you have goldfish.
   Most fancy goldfish will thrive in both freshwater and tropical aquariums as long as there are no aggressive or territorial fish in the tank. Some good tank mates for fancy goldfish are the Chinese Blue Bitterling and the Northern Redbelly Dace.

Sexual Differences:
   Although is it impossible to sex Goldfish when they are young and not in breeding season, the male is usually smaller and more slender that the female. In the breeding season the male has white prickles, called breeding tubercles, on its gill covers and head. Seen from above the female will have a fatter appearance as she is carrying eggs.

Buy Comet Goldfish From LiveAquaria.com

Breeding/Reproduction:
   Common Goldfish are egg layers that spawn readily in the right conditions. See Breeding Freshwater Fish - Goldfish for more information on breeding Goldfish.

Availability:
   The Common Goldfish is readily available and is inexpensive.

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Latest Comments
I've had comets before (but didn't know what kind of fish they were because I was around 9 or 10 then) and have just received 3 new (2in) comets to keep my larger one (about 3 in-a-halfin)company. I have a half circlc shaped tank given to me by a cousin, it's about 11 1/2in long, by 6in (remember, it's a half circle). Plus, there are plants (both plastic and real, just incase one of my sisters forgets to feed them, for we feed them thrice a day). Is that enough room because it looks a bit crowded? And I think we need a filter, because we have something that just blows bubbles, which I think is just stupid, but my mom says that that's how it filters water, it doesn't make sense! Maybe that's why my other 3 fishes from when I was littler died in 2 months! I want these to last at least 2 years! erica 2009-11-01
Hey I'm Ally. I just won a common goldfish at the fair (the boy scouts had a booth where you could win goldfish if you won a coin toss game and I WON!) Anyway, I love him (or her, I'm not really sure)! His name is Scallop Elmo (my friend won one too and named her Shrimp Dorothy, so I'm not so crazy). I've been feeding him betta fish food because that's all I have and the goldfish foods costs too much. My friend just loaned me a tank that's a little more than a quart. He's an inch long, and I'm saving up to get a bigger tank so he can grow bigger. He is a proud one week old! Go scallop! Ally 2009-08-07
...wow. Uh I've had my 2 commons for up on 4.5 years now (through many 800 mile trips from college to home and back) and expect them to live much longer. A year is not a good lifespan for this fish, if your fish made it a year and celebrated, you're doing it wrong. My 2 started in a 5, moved to a 10, and now are about 6 inches long and living in a 29 gallon tank. I hope to get a 55 soon to watch them grow even larger. Good for beginners yes, but beginner isn't the same as lazy. Feeding once every two weeks is not enough at all. Mao 2009-08-03
Being proud of keeping goldfish alive for a year and a half is like being proud of keeping a cat alive that long. This species, with proper care, lives to be 15+ years old. Research before you obtain any other goldfish; keeping them in small, unsuitable conditions condemns them to a short, unpleasant life. ren 2009-06-05
I had 2 common goldfish plus my sister's 2 common goldfish all in a 2.5 gallon tank (yes I spelled that right 2.5). The largest being almost 4 inches and the others being no smaller then 2.5 inches. I did not have any routine water changes, I fed them once a week-once-every two weeks(sometimes longer), and they lasted over a year and a half! fish man 2008-10-27
Some of the coolest comments:
I don't understand how most of the people that have postd here are proud to have overstocked fish tanks / aquariums. A goldfish needs a minimun of 20 gallons for one goldfish and then add an extra 10 gallons for an extra goldfish. Some people are proud to have as little as 5 litres, 15 litres or 10 gallons, which none is goon enough even for 1 goldfish. If people bothered to read even a little about how to care for their pets (goldfish) they would not be so proud to learn that they're not caring for them properly and how misrable their poor fish must be. I can not stress enough how important it is to get the right size tank in orderto keep healthy goldfish and just because some goldfish manage to live for 2 or3 years in very poor conditions, it doesn't mean that those 2 or 3 years were not agony for the poor fish. I can't think nothing crueler than sujecting your own pet to that kind of torture. It would be more humane to acctually kill it than inflict all that suffering for that period of time. If you are going to have pets then the least they deserve is to be cared for properly. Please Please Pleae people read up on how to take care of goldfish properly Andres 2009-10-31
I enjoyed reading your interesting page about goldfish care (I found it while googling reproduction) and I decided to add my two bob's worth: yes, they are easy to care for as long as you keep them well fed and cleaning out their tank every few weeks. A good filter also really helps keep the water cleaner and aerated as well. We've got two fish - Wiggles, an ordinary goldfish and Dingleberry, a hyperactive Shubunkins. They both get along well together, really cosying up to each other at times... Another time we saw Dingleberry chasing Wiggles all around the tank - it was hilarious watching Wiggles frantically trying to escape his "amorous" attentions... Goldfish are also more intelligent than you might think; Wiggles and Dingleberry always know when it's feeding time and they get terribly excited when they see me approaching their tank around feeding time! We've just upgraded to a larger tank (15 litres) which replaced their old (and tiny) 5 litre job, and they just love it! I added a pictorial backing as well as more rocks and artificial weed for a more natural look and I also think that this more stimulating environment is definitely helping the fish as well as providing them with more room to swim and exercise. mason 2008-06-19
Comments Dr Jungle REALLY Likes to Hear!
I adopted a small goldfish from an ill relative this summer, did my fair share of newbie errors in the beginning, but now he's thriving with two buddies (veiltails) in a well-sized aquarium. There are a few comments here that implies goldfish cruelty by lack of knowledge, but all in all, it seems like more and more keepers are aware of how to treat their pets and wants for them to be happy. I guess I wanted to point out that we all have to start someplace, even though the best would probably be to gather as much knowledge as possible before adopting a scaled friend... Thanks for providing all this helpful information on goldfish care! anon 2009-09-17
Thank you very much for the informative pages on common and comet goldfish. I bought half-dozen "feeder comets" this past summer to put in a child's wading pool (with pots of emergent aquatic plants) to prevent mosquito larvae. When the cool of autumn arrived, I caught two to put in a 10-gallon aquarium in the house since my poor Plecostoma (Peter) had just passed away :-[. Both are the same color and size, but based on their tails I thought perhaps one might be male ("Bob") and one female ("Fanny"). Even though both were purchased as comets, I now think Bob is a common goldfish and Fanny is a true comet. Nevertheless, since they are both the same species and subspecies, I presume that they'll have no trouble breeding IF (50-50 odds) they DO turn out to be male and female. It would be helpful if there were a closeup photo of the head of a breeding male to illustrate the little whitish thing-a-ma-bobs that would be present. Otherwise, the information provided was very helpful. Thanks again! Tim, age 47 but still a kid 2008-12-07
I am about to get one or two common Goldfish. Your info is so helpful! Thanks! christina 2008-03-09

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Author: David Brough. CFS.