I've been looking around the site for information on coloring changing goldfish. I found some of the things I was looking for (i.e. an explanation why my oranda, Jupiter, had lost most of his black coloring), but what I couldn't find for the life of me, is why one of my black moors, Io, is turning gold. The best thing I could find was that black moors are supposed to be black. They shouldn't change colors. Which is why I started getting worried. Jupiter turned from a lovely black and orange to almost all orange in a matter of a month or less. However, it was only about a week ago that I started noticing Io changing colors also. My other moor, Lunar, isn't changing colors and is keeping his steady black.

The only things I'm feeding them are flakes and pellets and I've only had them about a month or so.

Here are some pictures of Io. I purposefully took him out of his tank and put him into a bowl so that I could take the pictures (I'm not skilled with tank shots).

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a196/muf...veryone/Io1.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a196/muf...veryone/Io2.jpg

Hi and

all moors have some bronze color on them. it just depends on the quality of the fish. the less bronze, the higher quality.

if he is changing colors, he isnt a moor. hes a telescope

Just curious, what's your set-up like? I mean how big is the tank, what filter, what lighting, how many fish, etc?

I know they have some bronze, I can see it showing through a little bit beneath their scales when they swim, and a little more so on their undersides. Is there any other way I can tell if he is either a moore or a telescope?

I have a 29-gallon tank. It was a starter kit, so the filter is the one that came with it, as well as the light. My room (where I keep the fish) isn't all that bright, but I leave their light on all day and just turn it off when I go to sleep.

As it is, I only have the three fish. I don't want to get any more, because I know that the moores (or possibly the telescopes) are just babies right now, and will get a lot bigger. The oranda is going to get bigger too, he's only about 3" at the moment (Io and Lunar are about 1 and a half inches).

Thank you very much for your advice and insight.

I don't know if it means anything or not (it may just be a mutation with himself), but his caudal fin is not forked and the bottom sections of it curl more than seems necessary.

i dont think there is a difference other than one stays black.


i dont know any thing about the fork, but the curled tail could have been from high ammonia levels at one time.

I looked up both telescope and black moore information, and they both say they're supposed to have the split tails, so I don't really know what to say about that. But as to the curling tail, that seems to make sense. As to what I found, no, I couldn't see any real differences between the telescopes and the black moores except that the telescopes come in other colors.

Thank you very much, I'm not so worried about him now as I was before.

A black moore is just a black telescope. I don't know how the they came up with the name moore. But it is just a black telescope.

His tail could be just the way he was born. Not all fancy goldfish are born with fantails or perfect tails some have single tails and deformed tails. He could have been lucky and missed the cullings.

That's so awesome that you only have 3 fish in your tank. They'll be so much healthier and grow so much bigger because of it. Lucky fish you have.

Ya know- my Punch use dto have a black mustash, and black in the tail and such- and as hew grew older that went away- I have been told that higher intensity - Natural bulbs closer to sunlight seems to keep the colors longer- I have since chsanged- and it has been noted that outside goldies - fancies hold their various colors much longer.

The black pedigree is very difficult to maintain, so don't feel too bad if your fish are losing it. I bet they're still as cute as a button.

It is very hard to maintain the black on moores, it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with your fish. The fish in my display pic is George, my moore. We had a heat wave one summer and he quickly turned orange.

Chrissy

Ah really? I actually like that bronze tint on mine It's purrrdy.

when you look at the back of the fish, does his tail look kind of like an up-side-down 'V'?

They all seem to get to a point that they are certain that they are as "cute as a button" at that time when they wrap us around their little fin - as their slaves lol

I know exactly what you mean Eric. I saw that video of you and your Punch. That was by far the cutest thing I think I've ever seen.

As for Io's tail, it looks like an upside-down W more than a V. \|/ <-- like that

ok. hmmmm... do you have a pic of his back end?

Here is a picture of his tail that I took tonight. I know it doesn't look like it, but it /is/ a top-view of it.

^-^

-insert currently not working url here-
(right now my computer is being stupid and I have to go, so next time I get on, I'll post the RIGHT picture)

That's Lunar in the background and Jupiter is the big orange blob.

(Oh, and I got some more fish by the way... -sheepish grin- I couldn't help myself...)

My little Moor Ziggy is changing to Gold, too. When I got him a year ago he had the faintest gleam of bronze showing through his underside. Gradually it has crept up to his mid-line so that now he is looking like a panda telescope. His eyebrows are black and orange and I'm starting to see lines of gold in his tail.
From what I know, black is a very unstable colour. In this case, I don't think it should be cause for worry; I think a colour change has more to do with the 'pedigree' than the fish's health.
I wish I'd kept a log of his gradual transformation but will try to post some pics anyway.

Alrighty! Here's the link to the picture of his tail.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a196/muf...yone/IoTail.jpg


Pixie, in regards to your comment. You said your moore changed over the course of a year. My concerns were based around the fact that Jupiter lost his black in less than a month (he has a couple very small black dots now), and Io's is showing a lot more gold than Lunar, and they were almost identical when I got the them (the only visible difference was the split in the tail.)

Try looking in 'Articles' - there is a piece there on changing colour. Daryl says it's basically a question of genetics. Many people here have posted about their fish changing colour. I don't know if the speed it happens is relevant in any way. Maybe one of the experts will jump in.......

sorry i didn't get to your reply sooner. your moor just has a deformed tail where its webed at the top. nothing major. goggles, my moor that just passed away had a webed tail.

My one Moor has a fused tail as well. I think it's more beautiful then the split tail that Spook has (my black, orange-eyed telescope)

But don't tell Spook I said that.....