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Hi' I'm new to this forum.I have a question about goldfish colour,One of the fish turned from gold to white which I know happens but my question is,can they turn back to gold again,and can you feed them anything to encourage them to go back to gold?I did ask in another part of the forum but no-ones answering

i would think if anything he might get a few orange spots, but not back to golden color.

Welcome to the site .

Unfortunatly it's not as simple as that. No one is exactly sure what causes a fish to lose it's deeper gold color, but it happens rather frequently. Diet and low light levels are some of the main causes. There's no way to my knowledge to reverse it.

Stress (too small a tank, temp swings, poor water quality ect) can cause a fadeing or dulling of color, but that is regained when the stressors are eliminated.

I have one goldfish that started as a deep orange, almost red who's been white with the smallest hint of orange for the past 2 years.

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The original phase of goldfish isnt gold really, more of a brownish bronze, so most modern pet goldfish are really selectively bred genetic mutants as regards colour. Since goldfish are not subjected to constant environments multigenerationally it is unlikely that there is any evolutionary perogative for colour mutations to stay stable, except during the selection process at a breeders. If you took a selection of modern goldfish, threw them in a lake and came back in a thousand years , you would probably find that most surviving fish would be back to the original browny bronze colouration.

As with most creatures the amount of melanin in the skin combined with the refractive surface of the scales is what gives them their colour. This is controlled by vitamin stimulation, sunlight (or the lack of it) hormones , blood circulation and various trace elements. The actual colour of a goldfish is hereditary to some degree, although there will always be variation and throwbacks when the genepool is not closely controlled.


The colour change in your fish is probably down to hereditary traits and hormonal changes with age, there may be a few more variations, but as it ages you will have a better average idea of its permanent mature colours, and yes , its probably gonna be silver.

If youre looking to promote redder colours naturally , choose a food that contains significant amounts of beta carotene.This works on most fish to some degree, but if your hoping for your red fish back, youll probably be disappointed.

Last edited by longhairedgit at 19-Oct-2005 23:13

Oh well,I'll just have to be content with a siver fish with gold highlights!thanks for all the advice.