[Ranchugirl]

Goldfish of the month: The Black Moor
The black moor is a very popular goldfish breed, and can be found all over the world in millions of collectors tanks. He is easily available in most areas, and is not a too delicate fish.

Coloration
The black moor is only allowed in, well, black! And unlike most other goldfish breeds, he stays pretty true to his black color. He can change over time, especially with old age, but most black moor stay black. Its one of the the few breeds where it can be said that the black will most likely stay.

Body features
The body depth should be greater than 2/3 of the body length. The caudal fin should be double, and the lobes 90% or more forked, as well as nicely rounded. The black moor has a dorsal fin, which should be 1/3 to 5/8 of the body depth. Pectoral and pelvic fins are paired, and should be equal in length. Anal fins are paired as well.
His most distinquished features however are his eyes - they are protruding, and should be of equal size and shape, well matched with each other. Unlike the Celestial, which has eyes going upwards, the eyes of the black moor are going sideways. The color, as mentioned above, is always black, and it has a deep velvet look to it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/Ranchugirl/Wakin-Celestial-Veil-bubbles-telescopes/OskiTricolor.jpg
(Going through a color change)

Variations
Besides the different kinds of caudal fins available, there are not that many variations to the black moor. The fish comes in broad tail, ribbon tail and butterfly, which is especially pretty when viewed from above. In earlier times, around the 1930s, there was a very gorgeous veiltail moor vastly appreciated in England, but unfortunately they are not available anymore to my knowledge.

Environmental needs
The black moor is not doing too good in a pond, but will be a very happy fish in an aquarium. Due to his predominant eyes, he has a bit of a hard time seing his food, and needs some extra time when it comes to feeding him. Therefore
it is recommended that he is being kept with other eye handicapped fish like celestials, telescopes or bubble eyes. That way he has an equal chance to find food.
His eyes are also a big handicap when it comes to tank ornaments and some kinds of plastic plants, especially the ones that come with sharp edges or spikey leaves. His eyes can get damaged or even fall off, for that reason great care has to be taken when deciding what kind of tank decor goes into his tank. Silk plants are a much better choice, and tank ornaments in general should be much better off in tanks with other goldfish breeds.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/Ranchugirl/BlackMoorVeilDandyO.jpg
(Black Moor with veil tail, courtesy of Dandyorandas.com)

Lunch time!
When it comes to feeding time, a black moor is just like any other goldfish - a pig! He eats almost anything and everything thats easily available on the market - pellets (sinking prefered), flakes, frozen foods like daphnia, shrimp, bloodworms, pre-cooked cocktail shrimp, freeze dried foods, fresh veggies like lettuce, cucumber, peas.....
And again, because of his eye shape, he will have a harder time finding certain foods, especially the ones that tend to float around in the tank a while before they settle down - flakes and the frozen foods. He needs some extra time with those, and surely appreciates it if some faster oranda does not take away his dinner!

This post has been edited by Ranchugirl: 04 August 2008 - 06:07 PM

[emmahj]

I never used to like moors much - I thought they looked a bit sinister! - but ever since I got my moor Damon, I wouldn't be without one! :lol:

Damon's such a happy, handsome little fish and he still manages to boss the others around despite being half-blind, bless him. He has a little trouble finding his food, but he learned to hand-feed within 2 days so he certainly gets his share, in fact he probably gets extra! :D

[Ranchugirl]

Josh, your Nala and Chester look very pretty, but I can't seem to get in Bob.
Emma, having any pics of Damon around? From the name, he sounds like a spunky fish! :lol:

[emmahj]

I haven't got many pics of Damon (he's too speedy to photograph easily! :lol: ). I'll see if I can find a non-blurred one tonight. :)

[Tanya_woz_ere]

Black moores are such Beautiful Fish, they are so common were i live and are a big hit with little children. When im in a fish shop theres always little ones buying them with there parents ... but then again i bet they take them home and plop them in those horrible bowls :cry1 poor things.

[Devs]

:D Nice write-up Andrea! Very informative!!! Black Moor's have always been one of my favorites,along with blue orandas,chocolates,etc.

[Black oranda]

Great information Ranchugirl,i have 1 black moor
Accalia, to bad i don't have a picture of her.

[blinky000]

whats the goldie for june? :D

[koko]

That might be alittle late, RanchuGirl is in the mist of moving so we might have to skip a month guys :o

[stitch101]

I've gotta black moor too called coal and he looks at his reflection in the tank and blubs at it :rofl2

[pipsxlch]

I found a single tailed moor at a lfs, looked odd poor guy lol. (well, he did try for a double caudal, but ended up with just a few extra rays alongside the single one he's got) The anals are doubled on this fish. Sorry for lousy photos.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v689/pipsxlch/100_2411.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v689/pipsxlch/100_2415.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v689/pipsxlch/100_2413.jpg

[RedTiger]

why does the first fish (image) have black/orange and white on him/her? i understand that its going through a color change by why white?

i'm confused on something else. it says "black telescope b/f". is that the same thing as a black moore goldfish? also, what's b/f stand for? thanks so much! :)

This post has been edited by RedTiger: 16 March 2009 - 05:39 PM

[RedTiger]

i forgot to mention: thanks for the pic of the veil tail! that tail is so pretty. :) too bad that they cannot be found anymore. wonder how that person got one.

[Lynda Von G]

RedTiger, on Mar 16 2009, 06:39 PM, said:

why does the first fish (image) have black/orange and white on him/her? i understand that its going through a color change by why white?

i'm confused on something else. it says "black telescope b/f". is that the same thing as a black moore goldfish? also, what's b/f stand for? thanks so much! :)

I'm not sure what b/f stands for. It's difficult to predict what colors a goldfish is going to take on during color changes or why. Gold/orange is the most common, but anything can happen. The first telescope pictured, at the period of its color change, should actually be referred to as a tri-color telescope. It is no longer a moor.

The origin of the word "Moor" came many hundreds of years ago when medieval spaniards and portuguese started venturing out of their own country and exploring the world. One of the countries they found was in northwestern Africa and was inhabited by very tall, impressive, strong, dark people. They named the country "Mauritania" after these natives and called the natives of the country, "Moors." In the Spanish language, the term for Moors is moro; in Portuguese the word is mouro. The original Greek for theses words is "maúros," which means "black."

A couple of centuries later, the English and other Europeans found their way into China and started bringing back goldfish. One style of goldfish had protruding eyes which the english called "telescope." The Chinese refer to them as "dragoneye" and the Japanese word for them is "demekin." So, the English named the black telescope/dragoneye/demekin, "Moor" as the fish tended to remind them of the Moors of Mauritania. Hence, by virtue of the history of the word, "Moor" implies black, so it is redundant to say "Black Moor." So, using black is not necessary when describing a black telescope/dragoneye/demekin. Moor, alone, will do, although black telescope/dragoneye/demekin is fully acceptable. And, it is inappropriate to use the word "Moor" when describing a telescope/dragoneye/demekin that is not black. There is no such thing as a calico moor, white moor, etc.

[ryukin girl]

I think (just a guess) that that photo was a part of a "before and after a color change" shoot and the "b/f" stands for "before." But I am not sure........

[nick11380]

After fish turns orange the tail will be white. That's what happened with mine. All black to orange with white tail.

[Lynda Von G]

ryukin girl, on Mar 17 2009, 01:22 PM, said:

I think (just a guess) that that photo was a part of a "before and after a color change" shoot and the "b/f" stands for "before." But I am not sure........

b/f... before... makes sense!

[RedTiger]

so then the picture that displays the goldfish of the month isn't the goldfish of the month, rather a different type of goldfish? :unsure:

AND when you buy a black moore goldfish, then you have no way of knowing if it will stay black forever? both of ours have a gold sheen undertone. does that mean they'll change colors on us?

p.s--thanks for the explanation on B/F.

This post has been edited by RedTiger: 18 March 2009 - 06:29 AM

[ryukin girl]

Let me see if I can find Daryl's explanation on Moores.....Ok I can't find it.....but I'll summarize!

The original black moore was a long bodied double tailed telescope that was black. This color was so "firmly entrenched" in the Moore line that they never lost their color.

When they started to get popular in the aquarium trade, the quality of the breed was compromised to make the fish faster to develop and have a more compact body (I think she said hardier?). This compromise was done by mixing non black goldies into the line. Therefore the black doesn't stay around.

She said that there must be some TRUE English Moores around still, but hasn't seen any.

So, almost 100% of the Moore will lose it's black color. Even the most velvety and pure black fish will eventually turn red, orange, white, or a combination.

I would hazard a guess that your Moore will turn orange in time.

Another reason you should never pick out goldies based on color, but rather body shape and finnage.

[RedTiger]

oh man, what a bummer. well thanks for letting me know! :)