Hello... I have had my 3 fancy goldfish for between one and three years. There is a calico, black moor, and a chinese doll. I am wondering how fast they should be growing. They are in a 45 gallon tank (they were in a 30 but got an upgrade recently) with some apple snails and a male betta. They are only about 2.5-3.5 inches long... Should they be bigger and will they continue growing their whole lives? I feed them flakes, shrimp and cichlid pellets, frozen blood worms and brine shrimp as well as a vast array of vegetables. I see big ones in the pet stores and mine just aren't getting there. They are very active, have always been very healthy, and have what I read as being "healthy poop." I am wondering if I should be increasing their food or temperature or something. Is this smaller size a problem? MRSQ

G'day mate

Ur tank seems big enuff, and u feed them a lot of varied food. So my guess is that ur fancies are the runts of the litter. They are meant to be small doesn't matter how much u feed them. It's not a problem whatsoever

You think? I am glad to hear it is okay... I always worry that I am not giving them what they need but don't really know what else I can do... MRSQ

They could be runts, or they could just have been stunted at an early age (b4 you got them), from overcrowding in raising tanks... this wont hurt them much, but they may just stay small. -How often do you change your water? Goldfish contiually growth inhibitors into their water this stunts their growth. I've heard of experiments, I think it was from a post from Ranchugirl, that they did experiments with periods between changing of water, and there was a definite difference in the rate of growth of the fish. Siamese dolls are always slow to grow, they often don't get very big at all, infact, I don't think I've seen one over two inches.. (but would love to see pics of any out there )

Hey.. I do lots of water changes!!! I have a good filter which I don't overclean, I have very little substrate to help with cleanup and I probably change, aprox. 75-80% of the 45 gallons every 2 weeks.. If I am working on another tank I always also give the goldie tank a freshener too of at least 25%... Water wise, them and my Oscar get the most changes so I don't really think that would be it.. I am so careful about it, knowing how much crap they excrete... who knows.. I am glad to know that they could have been stunted before I got them and it isn't what I am doing.