Sexing Goldfish
Of course, one of the first things to do is to sex your fish. Goldfish need a male and a female to create fertile eggs.
There is no 100% accurate way of sexing a Goldfish, unless you see a female lay eggs, or a male spray milt, there's always the odd one that doesn't conform to the expected standard! But we'll have a look at the most popular, accurate and safest ways to sex Goldfish. Once your Goldfish is mature (over one year old) you have and much more chance of sexing accurately.
In combining these methods (and doing lots of practice), you should be able to reliably sex your Goldfish.
Vent sexing is relatively accurate. The vent of a male will generally be smaller and more oval than a females and will have no protrusion. As breeding time comes around, these differences will become more and more noticeable.
There is no 100% accurate way of sexing a Goldfish, unless you see a female lay eggs, or a male spray milt, there's always the odd one that doesn't conform to the expected standard! But we'll have a look at the most popular, accurate and safest ways to sex Goldfish. Once your Goldfish is mature (over one year old) you have and much more chance of sexing accurately.
In combining these methods (and doing lots of practice), you should be able to reliably sex your Goldfish.
Vent sexing is relatively accurate. The vent of a male will generally be smaller and more oval than a females and will have no protrusion. As breeding time comes around, these differences will become more and more noticeable.
Male Goldfish get what we call breeding stars or breeding tubercules when the female releases "come get me" pheromones. They look like tiny little zits (not to be confused with ich, pictured above on Simba's operculum) on their gill plates and the leading ray of their pectoral fins. Some Some fish get them on on the scales on their body and on their faces too.
The leading ray on the pectoral fin of the male will often be thicker and longer than a females. The anal fins leading ray is usually thinner than a females.
Males are said to have slimmer and longer bodies than females too. Whilst this is more prominent when the female is full of eggs, after a meal, my boys can certainly look rounder than my girls! Age and genetics will also play a role in the overall shape of a Goldfish, so a chubby, round Goldfish isn't a sure fire way to sex.
Look underneath your Goldfish, can you see a midline ridge? Males will have a more pronounced ridge and females will be fainter, if non existent.
Males are relentless sex pests (Goldfish, that is!). They are school spawners, so a group of Males will chase one female. If you have fish that will not stop chasing another, the likelihood is the chaser(s) is male.
The leading ray on the pectoral fin of the male will often be thicker and longer than a females. The anal fins leading ray is usually thinner than a females.
Males are said to have slimmer and longer bodies than females too. Whilst this is more prominent when the female is full of eggs, after a meal, my boys can certainly look rounder than my girls! Age and genetics will also play a role in the overall shape of a Goldfish, so a chubby, round Goldfish isn't a sure fire way to sex.
Look underneath your Goldfish, can you see a midline ridge? Males will have a more pronounced ridge and females will be fainter, if non existent.
Males are relentless sex pests (Goldfish, that is!). They are school spawners, so a group of Males will chase one female. If you have fish that will not stop chasing another, the likelihood is the chaser(s) is male.