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Is it possible to tell the gender of a gold fish? if so how do you tell?
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Gender: Can be determined by small white bumps (tubercles) on male's pectoral fin and gill covers. Males will be more narrow, females broader.

This is taken from their profile found [link=here]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/goldfish.xml" style="COLOR: #EB4288[/link] .

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But just so you don't assume you have all girls - males only have the tubercules when they're spawning, thinking about spawning, etc. So all the time. No, kidding, you'll often see them after a big water change or during a spawning run.

-Molly
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Here's what the tubercles or bumps look like on the gill cover (below).

This is one of my males, Hisoki (Flame). I brought them home in the spring and instantly extended their days when I put the tank light on for 12 hours and off 12 hours . They had only 8 hours of "daylight" at the petshop. This tricked them into thinking it was spring. I discovered that my so-called, 6 month old goldfish were old enough to spawn, and produce fry, which they did. It was rough on poor Peaches. I later lost her to internal bleeding and often wondered if they didn't pound her to death. Unlike other fish, the chubby goldfish males aren't capable of wrapping their tails around the females body to squeeze out the eggs. So they corner her and keep nudging her belly with their mouths and I don't mean gently. Ideally, I would have picked two females and a male so one female could rest while the other gets chased. But, I wound up with two males and a female.

I have a bachlor pad now and no tubercles. Those disappeared after about 2-3 months, can't recall. There are none now.

I'm curious whether they will develop them in the spring again, with no female in the tank. There's no doubt the ladies produce an attractive "scent" which drives the males nuts.

The tubercles you see are supposedly to help with the nudging process



Cory_Di attached this image:


Last edited by Cory_Di at 19-Nov-2004 21:31[/font]

interesting, however i dont see any bumps on any of my goldies

The bumps on the gills, which resemble pimples (and often mistaken for ich), only appear when the fish is in breeding condition or mating season. Spring can be simulated, like I did inadvertently, by prolonging daylight hours. What you can do is reduce the daylight so that you are only giving them light 8 hours a day, then after a few weeks, increase it to 10, then 12. Feed them several times daily with high protein food, like mosquito larvae, brine shrimp, etc. This too simulates the abundance of bugs in springtime. Water changes with slightly cooler water also helps as it simulates spring rains. However, you must be careful with this as a sudden drop of 4-5 degrees even, can bring on ich or velvet. I would stick to just 2F changes.

serious... i want baby goldies im gonna try it. i havnt seen any sign of white spots on my fish yet