# goldfish growth?



## squeekee35 (Feb 9, 2010)

right now i have my goldfish in a 10 gallon aquarium. but i did not know that they can grow to be 6inches or more. if i keep him in the 10 gallon will he eventually grow.......or will his size be stunted by the size of the tank?

--angel


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

is it a common goldifish or a fancy goldfish. if properly cared for a common goldfish can reach 16 inches and a fancy can reach around 12. they may get stunted its not gaurenteed but when they do get stunted they will still be to large for the tank and basically they are just a ticking time bomb waiting to die. most goldfish that have their growth stunted from what ive learned from people keeping them in too small of tanks only live 2-3 years when their average lifespan is 20+ years.


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## squeekee35 (Feb 9, 2010)

right now he is about 2 inches long. he is an orange fantail goldfish. i am going to be moving him to a bigger tank soon. i had no idea that they get so big! or that they can live so long! i hope to have him around for a while.


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

lol here are some perfect examples
heres a fancy goldfish








and a common goldfish


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## squeekee35 (Feb 9, 2010)

Jeeze.............what size of a tank does a goldfish that big need? like 100 gal? or something bigger????????


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## squeekee35 (Feb 9, 2010)

why do they sell these things at pet stores and not tell you the potential size? if you get one they will sell you a golfish bowl and tell you that is all you need. they should really tell people about the potential these fish have.


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## pinetree (Nov 29, 2009)

I wish I knew the answer to that. As a goldfish lover and keeper, I am really frustrated at the number of people who post here with goldfish problems that usually start out with "I have 4 goldfish in a 10 gallon..."

Fish stores should give some basic education to their customers regarding fishkeeping in general, but they rarely do anymore.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

The economics are backwards. The best fish to keep in small tanks have small numbers of fry and that makes them pricey (you need lots of small tanks to make lots of babies). Fish that get huge, thrive in outdoor ponds and make 10,000 babies from one spawn are the cheapest fish to raise and sell. Store can justify carrying fish that get big as "feeders" and say they get eaten and don't grow up, but they know a lot them to go tanks as people's first fish. The stores don't want you to spend your money on fish, they want you to buy tanks and supplies. The cheaper the fish, the more you have left. Even stores that are honest and don't want to sell goldfish with bowls end up doing it. All the little plastic tanks have pictures of goldfish on the box and say clearly they are perfect for 6 godfish, even if the thing is a 2.5 gallon hex. And you really can't refuse to sell stuff and expect to stay in business. I really don't want to see silly laws like the place in the UK that got a fine for selling a fish to a 14 year old without a parent. I'd like to see the industry step up and get responsible and honest with truth in marketing. But globalization has destroyed any hope of "gentleman's" agreement by the big suppliers. If the big makers and LFSs don't offer the dippy, tiny tanks, people will still get them from wal-mart and e-bay from China.


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## Peeps (May 24, 2010)

Goldfish are messy, that is why they need a big tank, lots of water changes and good filtration. You need a bigger tank as you can see, lol.


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## squeekee35 (Feb 9, 2010)

does anyone happen to know the rate at which goldfish grow....is it like 1 inch per year......or faster or slower.
just wondering.


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## pinetree (Nov 29, 2009)

Definitely faster than 1 inch per year with proper care.

I bought two baby orandas at the end of March that were approximately 1 inch long then and they are both about 4 inches long now.


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

squeekee35 said:


> does anyone happen to know the rate at which goldfish grow....is it like 1 inch per year......or faster or slower.
> just wondering.


really it is kinda limitless it just depends on how much you feed them. they will eat as much as you feed them and can grow at exponential rates. IMO one of the fastest growing fish. A good example is before we set up our koi ponds for the year my boss set up a pond indoors with his "show koi" haha and he got them at about 3 inches well now at the end of the year they are maybe 4 inches tops and we feed them only a hand full of pellets a day. well shortly after he got his about a month or two we set up the koi ponds outside. thats when i started buying most of my koi that were about 3 inches. except i will sit and feed my koi for 15-20 minutes at a time only difference is at the end of the year all those koi i got at 3 inches are now between 7-9 inches. i feed them a lot on purpose to boost their growth rate. It just requires a lot of water changes.


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## squeekee35 (Feb 9, 2010)

are you the same revolution from the tarantula.us forums? if so  i go to that forum too 

if not then oh-well just wondering

--Angel


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