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My pearlscale gold fish will just be swimming around and then they will stop moving breathing and everything and if I tap on the tank they come back to life but what could cause this behavior and is it bad for them to do this and what can I do to be normal

Pearlscales are a fat, superdeformed, selectively bred goldfish with misaligned muscles and a high level of spinal curvature, they also usually have at least partial swim bladder compression,and they have the aerodynamics of a brick, especially compared with a comet goldfish for example,and their fins are so overdeveloped as to be not a great deal of help with graceful , effortless swimming.

Consequently swimming is a great effort for them, they get tired easily with the effort, much as the fatter veiltails do, and these guys have even less flexibility in the body. Its "normal" for them to stop and rest. They havent stopped breathing, they just arent hyperventilating to the point they have to keep flapping their gills.

What your probably seeing is a fish that still thinks its attached to a normal body taking a break, which under normal circumstances would just slow them to a cruise, and they would continue to glide through the water, but with a pearlscale they pretty much just come to a rapid halt, and some may even start to float, sink, or tilt. A lot of fish behaviour is innate, they are unable to really compensate for inbred inadequacies as mammals are, and will react and behave as if their body was still of a normal type for the species.

Don't tap the glass, fish hate that. Let them rest when they wish to.Tapping the glass will keep them in a permanent state of panic. Some fish arent supposed to keep moving indefinately, they arent sharks , they are supposed to stop and rest occassionally, or take the odd catnap.


If you think there may be a problem with their health (well, aside from being a pearlscale goldfish that is, lol) give us your tanksize and stocking level, filtration, diet, and water quality details , as im sure there may be something that will reveal itself. Possibly the level of oxygenation may be at fault.

Because of the selective breeding ,over generations they have become a less efficient fish, exercising, breathing, and feeding have all become more problematic for them, and for the owner, keeping them successfully means big tanks, loads of oxygen, excellent filtration and temperature control, and a rigorously controlled diet. If any single component is missing, they wane, or become obese, and eventually fall foul of swim bladder failure, so how you keep them is always worth a quick review and a few pointers.