here he/she is!!

not a great shot, but since it's going straight into a makeshift pond (for now), and people wanted to see what mirrorscales are like I thought I'd take a pic while it was still in bag.

second pic was just too funny not to post, it didn't like being in the small plastic bag and was being really difficult to catch on film! This is like "hey lemme outta here!"

Was talking to my local goldfish guru, and he reckons it's not a koi hybrid, but a crucian carp mixed with a type of prussian carp (that has that mirrorscale trait), I'm still out to lunch as to how they came to be, I'm just so happy to have found such a lovely specimen, -not all mirrorscales have such a nice even line of mirrorscales all the way down the lateral line like this guy!

Wow!

Nice!

WOW! nice scale!
First time seeing this kind of scales.

Amazing!!! I have never ever seen a mirrorscale and yours has a perfect row of them. He's lovely and is going to look fabulous in a pond

WHOA! That fish just.........................OWNS LOL! Thanks a lot for posting his pics and congratz on him/her. He/her is AMAZING !

We will want many photos of that fish!! Fascinating look!

Great looking goldfish, I have never seen one before and you picked out a beauty. Hope to see more pics.

Oh, your right, that second pic is wonderful, looks like hes saying, "What are you waiting for???Get me out of this bag"!

- gorgeous fishy - the 2nd pic !! - submit submit .... too funny !!

Interesting. Is this a goldfish mutation? Or some type of cross with doitsu koi?

Nice goldy! Great scales.

Thanks for all your comments guys! lol, I floated out a whole heap of duckweed on his holding pond yesterday, I got up this morning and it's almost all gone! s/he's a hungry little thing!

It's eventually going to live in my tank! But for now I've still got double-tailed varieties living in there, so it's going to be living outside for a while, along with my other comets, until forces of nature has it's way on all my sumo fish (I swear I'm never getting another!)

Kelly:

What's a sumo fish?

Congratulations on finding such a unique looking goldfish. Very cool! I haven't seen anything like it before. Well, some koi come close but not goldfish.

cool! What niffty scales he has!

Ah, it's a term me and Dave came up with, it's like a BIG goldfish, that you buy in the store, that's been fed up to grow as big as fast as possible and consequently has such a weak immune system that it gets sick easily and carks it very early in life (similar to sumo wrestlers), I have had no luck with these fish. They look fantastic, perfect shape and finnage, 6"plus in store, usually only 6-12months old, cost a small fortune and die within about 4-8months of owning them. -I've got lots of smaller fish I bought who have been raised in the same tanks as these sumos, and they've all out-lived/never been as weak as the big 'uns. I've kept 8 sumo fish over the last 1 1/2 years, I've currently got two left. One that's got dropsy again, I saved her from septicaemia about 8 months ago, but since I had to move her into my main tank (all tanks are now dismantled except for one (impending baby etc)) and I had a fluke outbreak, her weakened kidney's are starting to give up the ghost again! And another one that may or maynot make it.. All in all I've spent almost $1000 on these 8 fish, not including all the medicines that I've bought to treat them and all the heartache I get when I constantly lose the battle with these fish.. Spendy and not fun!

When the baby comes I'm just not going to have the time or mojo to have 5-6 QT's set up all the time I've got a fantastic set up, tank is 7'x2'x2', massive filtration and uv and heating for winter.. all I want is a hardy lot of goldfish that doesn't get sick so often, -it's been a good learning experience, but now it's time to have an easy, enjoyable tank. I'm over fighting to save weak fish all the time, it's not what I signed on for when deciding to go back to keeping goldies from keeping trops.

Sorry I'll stop whinging now....

I think I know what you mean. A baby will take up a bit of your time.

The Ryukin are my first "fancies." Before I had Common, Sarassa, and Shubunkin.

I'm hoping that being in the half barrel from when they are little will help them grow up healthy and hardy.

Time will tell.

That is an absolute gorgeous scale pattern! Are they just big scales going down the side in one line or several rows that look like they are one big scale over another? Beautiful though... Oh you are going to have a baby? Cool!!

Ahhhh that is what the lilypea thingy is .... Man, I can be clueless at times!

Congrants
Cattrix

lol, yup Cat! I'm on the verge of dropping! any week now!

and yes, the scales are like a single line of really large scales that go down the lateral line, there's also some odd sized scales near the dorsal fin and the underbelly.

On a sad note, the little blighter died overnight! Water params perfect (apart from like a shade of green in the ammonia kit which I took to be the degeneration of the fish). Fish looked perfect from the outside, just not breathing gills nice meaty red, robust stature, hmmn, I'm perplexed! Was fine yesterday lunch when I checked in on her.. (She looked like a female) First I thought an animal had piddled in the container that I was keeping her in, but there wasn't enought ammonia to warrant that.. then I thought pH crash, the pH was slap, bang on 7.0! Sigh. I hadn't even thought about giving her a name yet. no nitrites or nitrates (was a new set up, been doing daily waterchanges til I was going to move her into the main tank.)

What the? Sorry to hear your fish died already....That's a shame! He/she was beautiful too!

Oh Mads, hard luck. Sorry she's gone.

yeah, it was a bummer! I was really looking forward to keeping it. Didn't really have any time to get attached to it. I'm more disappointed than upset that it died. it's just my bum-luck...

I saw one of those at a lfs the other day. It was pure white. Very different, and pretty! As is yours <3 And I'm sorry to hear that he/she has passed

Oh my Gosh! That is just so disheartening! Dang it All... so sorry..

Are these Mirror scaled fish a variety? or flukes? I had never heard of them, but then that is not saying much as I am a rank amature... even though I have had fish off and on since I was a teen...
Well maybe you might find another one day...

on a brighter note... yay for the Baby!

Regards
Cat

Nah, they're a variety, I think that flukes (not the parasitic type!) do occur, but not usually with such ~perfect~ scaleage.

-Thanks re baby... I'm trying to remain 'yay' about it.. (I'm over it! )

Oh I am so sorry! That fish was really special!

Well,that was quick! Sorry Mads,as it was a very pretty fish.I hesitate my self when I see those "big boys" in the store all grown up and tons of wen when I know how young they are in the first place.I do much better with the scrawny little babies that I feed good from the start and see grown at their own pace.Maybe the store will give you credit for a replacement?

What a shame! I was hoping we would get to drool over that fish for a long time!

Well that wa a bummer, huh? That was a gorgeous fish. I had never seen one of those before.

LOL. When it gets here you'll be 'yay' again, then it will keep you up at night and you will be 'boo', then it'll sleep through the night and you'll be 'yay' again. Then when it's a teenager....

Oh, congrats on winning photo of the month! I voted for Hinty!

thats the coolest looking fish! very pretty and hes going to get big oh gosh i just read shes gone im so sorry...

Lol, yes it's gonna be a roller coaster ride for the rest of my life!


Thanks hun! It was a pretty funny pic huh? -So what's your user name on PB? (it gets so confusing when I get to know people only by their user id )

Sharon, I would ask for a credit at the aquarium but I've already bagged and binned it ( what an idiot!).. Oh well, I guess I wouldn't have been able to make it down there, I went to my physio yesterday and it looks like its bedrest and crutches for the rest of pregnancy for me.

Thanks for the condolences for losing the fish guys and dolls, you all rock!

Aahh a couple of weeks off KGW and I missed soo much!

Aiyah what a bummer about the mirrorscale, Mads. I think I saw that fish together with you (maybe?) at Subscape/St Kilda eh?

Aahh a couple of weeks off KGW and I missed soo much!

Aiyah what a bummer about the mirrorscale, Mads. I think I saw that fish together with you (maybe?) at Subscape/St Kilda eh?

Hey Riz, I was wondering where you'd disappeared to! -busy with study perchance?

-Nah, this one was at St K aquarium. Crazy fish, it's a shame they only had one of them when I went, she was a beauty.

-So you back on the board or just dropping by to procrastinate? Been missing your sense of humour on the board!

Lol my first post in weeks and I double-posted

Yeah mostly my studies. Better now but still hectic.

U know what, I went to look up "procrastinate" in the dictionary lol oh my limited english
I'm definitely gonna be more active but it'll be a few more weeks before I'm back to my usual posting habits hehe

Wow, what a beautiful fish!! Congrats Mads!

I have never seen a mirrorscale fish before, I'm very glad you shared them to everyone.
And your little guy is beautiful.

EmilyGrace

Ahh! it's YOU!!!!! lol! I should have drawn the connection, both Emily's! Geez I'm a thicko sometimes!

I am sorry Mads! I just checked in on this thread and just read about this beautiful fish passing away. And another dying for no reason to be seen, like my Lemon passing away, no indication of a problem. It must have been a shock for you, as she appeared so healthy.

thanks Loz!

Wow-mirror scales really do look a lot like koi x goldfish hybrids. He was beautiful. Sorry you lost him. Will you be getting another?

Not unless I find another one that's as good a quality as that one. I'm really trying to minimise the amount of fish I'm keeping at the moment with the baby almost due, but when I saw her, I knew I just had to have her. They only had one mirrorscale at my lfs. I will keep my eye out, but we hardly ever see such nice qual mirrorscales. I promise, one day, when I find one that can equal her I'll buy it and post another pic... -I waited for 2 1/2 years to find a mirrorscale like her, I'm sure I can wait a bit longer.

I stopped by our weirdo local pet store today. They had a heap of mirror scales labeled as Koi , at least 4 of them had the neat row of scales yours had. So you never know their mightve been a recent shipment come in.

Oh no I just saw that he passed. Guess that will teach me to post without reading through the entire thread first. Im sorry that he is gone, what a beauty he was.

That's cool Emma! -what size were the mirrorscales? 4-5inches? -it could've been from the same import! -They're great aren't they?

-Hey Erin, that's cool, I know you don't have oodles of time to check the board at the moment!

All sizes some were a good 8 inches long, most were 4-5 inches though.