It's not yet been a week, my younger daughter is all over my case, and the upshot is I think we'll be getting a new tank shortly after we move on May 18. The 7 salt water tanks are history, though - new house is just not well set up for lots of big tanks.

I think I'll be easily able to fit a 90 or perhaps a 6' 110. But I do not want to get into the same situation - huge common and comet outgrowing their tank yearly. I immensly enjoyed the personality and the persistance and perseverance of Dory and Nemo, and I think orange fish are pretty - though I must say I have always wanted a calico as well.

I know nothing of fancies - never had need to learn - but I will go read some.

In the meantime, please tell me some of your favorites and why, bearing in mind that 12" and 2 lbs. is right at the very upper end of what I'm going to be able to house.

thanks!
Dave

Well the only gold fish I have ever had was a couple of black moors I had back when i was a teenager. Those two where nothing but big goof balls. They use to make me laugh all the time chasing each other around the tank (which I now know is breading behavior) and the fish I have now my calico oranda. Curly is always quit active and seems so happy anytime someone walks up to the tank. I know it may sound silly, but I think she likes to know what is going on out side the tank.

I mayself prefer fancy gold fish. I just like there shorter rounder bodies. And I know this may seem a bit selfish. But the fact that I can keep more per volume makes me happier. I love watching fish, expesally when they interact with each other.

Much as I like commons, and miss the 5 I had to give to bigger homes, I think that some of the fancy breeds can be just as much fun. I have two telescope eyed goldies atm, one is a black moor, the other a calico. I have found the fancy goldfish are a bit more gentle and easier to hand feed/less wild.

Of the other fancy types I like the lionheads and the pearlscales. The lionheads bacause they often have the cutest/ most interesting facial expressions, and the pearlscales because they really do look like golfballs that have tails and swim.

I would strongly suggest sticking to either commons/comets or fancies and not mixing them. I am watching the last common we have in my tank and he is just like a big puppy that has no clue what he is hitting/knocking over with his tail all the time. He often will accidentily push one of the two fancies in the tank into the gravel or the tank wall. He is moving to a pond when the weather gets warmer here.

Having had both I almost think that the fancy breeds can be easier to take care of, and they don't need as much water so you can keep more of them per tank I also like the different colorations that can be found in the fancies.

Personally I love orandas, lionheads and ranchus best, although I do have a gorgeous big fantail. They get the fatty cheekies(not the fantails) and are so bumbling and cute. Their personalities are great too. You can get all colors.

Telescopes are my fav fancies. Although beware as some fantail types grow pretty big too.

i like my demkin the most (pic of him in my sig) and i like orandas,pearscales,lionheads

Ranchu is my fav, follow by Pearlscale...

Thanks for the suggestions! Now that you've named your favorites, please tell me more about the particular fishes in terms of how big they get, in particular.

I've pretty much ruled out commons and comets at this point just due to the size constraints. my two, Dory and Nemo were pushing 2lbs each at 3 years of age, and really needed a tank upgrade to about a 110 from their 58... I'm also not a big Telescope or bubbleye or Celestial fan - nothing against them, just not my style.

Keep the good info coming, and thanks!

Dave

Hi Dave,

Any fancy goldfish can grow large if you provide them with the right environment. -I guess it's just pot luck when you get them, as to how they were raised (if they were raised in cramped environments, often they have been stunted and will be slow to grow, often wont grow large at all, I've got a pearlscale that was stunted and he's no more than an inch long, other fish I've had as long as him have grown up to 3-4 inches, -this is not to say pearlscales stay small, I've seen ones the size of oranges, (although they aren't as long, they'd be the equivalent volume as your big comets!)

With fancy goldfish aesthetics, I reckon it's each to their own, you've just got to work out the characteristics that you like the most and go with those fish. There are lots of fans of the ranchu, especially in Japan and other asian countries. Wenned fish such as oranda's and lionheads are a big hit with people on this board cause they are deemed 'cute' and 'Puppy-like'. I used to be more of an eye person myself, loved celestials, bubble-eyes, frogheads, demekins, but recent years I've been attracted more and more to tails, I love broadtails, veil tails, tosakins anything with good movement and tail 'flow'.

If you're not sure which fancies takes your fancy, I can suggest spending an arvo flipping through the pages of "Kingyo-The artistry of Japanese goldfish" if you can get your hands on a copy, -the fish aren't all top quality, but the photos are fantastic and it gives you images of lots of different breeds of fancy goldfish in one book.

I love ranchus because of their puppy-dog quality. I have one that actually has a black spot where the nose of a puppy would be. Very endearing. However, I've found with ranchus that the more severe the curve on their back and tail tuck, the more problems they seem to have with swimming and SBD. I had a very cute chocolate Thai ranchu that was "the ideal" shape and it spent 99% of it's time on the bottom. Katalyst also had one from the same batch with the same problem. The other ranchus in my tank have gently curved backs and have never had a problem. I really loved the Ping Pong pearslcales as well. I had four of them. They all grew to about the size of a baseball and then began having SBD problems. Eventually, every single one developed dropsy and died, despite perfect water parameters in my tank. The other goldies in the tank were fine. I may have just been unlucky with the pearlscales I picked, but it seemed coincidental that only the pearlscales had problems. Just a heads up when your picking your goldies!

Angela

I think I like Black Moors and Orandas. Could 3 of them co-habitate in a 90 gal long-term?

Dave

90 gallons would be super spacious for 3 goldies for their whole lives. I have a black moor in with my poor vision fishes as he cant get the food as quickly. Youll have to watch out for that. Also you know they are telescope eye right?

I did not know Black Moors were considered telescopes. Learn something new every day. I guess there must be some variation to the size of telescope because the few I've seen it did not seem all that prominent.

And 90 gals would definitely be on the border of too small for 2 common/comets like Dory and Nemo, they were getting way cramped in an Oceanic 58 - I'm just not sure where I can fit anything bigger in our new house, so it's good to hear that 90 should work!

Dave

My favorites are long finned breeds, pearlscales, and orandas. They need 10+ gallons each so they would love your 90 gal.