Common Goldfish - Tips and Characteristics

Everyone knows that common goldfish are colorful, inexpensive and with no other modifications from their ancestors other than their color. It's quite obvious, this is one of the hardiest goldfish varieties and are recommended for beginners.

Clearly common goldfish are easy fish to keep as they eat almost everything offered. They are very similar and often confused with the Comet goldfish.

This variety has an elongated and flat body. Its head is wide but short and has a smooth tampering body shape from its back and belly to the base of the caudal(tail) fin. Its fins are generally fully erect and the edge of the dorsal fin is slightly concave.

Most varieties of fancy goldfish were derived from this simple breed. It's a rather hardy goldfish that can thrive and live happily in an aquarium or pond. The average goldfish lifespan is 10-15 years and they come in a variety of colors including red, orange/gold, white, black, chocolate, blue, yellow or lemon.

You also need to know...

They are very undemanding of food and water temperature. They can thrive in aquariums and ponds as long as the environment is safe and their tank mates are friendly. Over 80% of the aquarists owned the Common goldfish as their fist fish.

Common goldfish are active, fast and can get along well with Koi. It's very usual for the Common goldfish to reach over 12 inches if kept in a spacious pond.

Mixing

You have to be careful when mixing goldfish. The best tank mates for the Common are other single-tailed varieties like the Comet and Shubunkin goldfish. Single-tails are much faster than Fancy or twin-tailed goldfish.

Many new aquarists tend to mix Common goldfish with twin-tails and the result is bullying, stress and sickness for the twin-tails like Black Moor, Oranda, Fantail or Bubble Eye goldfish.

Love to you,
Flo

Image credits to: DianesDigitals @ Flickr.com