Fancy Goldfish Sizes

[Platiesareawesome]

Hello! I am thinking of getting some fancy goldfish soon, and I was wondering what the average size certain types of goldfish get to be. The tank will be a 40 breeder or a 50 gallon tank. Four kinds of goldfish I like are fantails, ryukins, ranchus, and pearlscales. How big do they get? Thank you!

 

[Alasse]

I have a large fantail who would be just under a foot long, not finished growing yet i'm sure

 

[jlk]

What exactly do you have in mind?

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...uire-big-tanks-visual-perspective-265871.html

 

[Platiesareawesome]

What exactly do you have in mind?

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...uire-big-tanks-visual-perspective-265871.html

What do you mean by that?

 

[jlk]

I am curious what you are considering in order to offer more information. You can mix fantails and ryukins likely without major issues but I would keep pearls and ranchus as breed-only tanks. True ranchus are not sold in most stores but can be purchased online or from breeders. Pearls are not the best choice for a first goldfish as they can be very difficult to keep.

Size considerations are grapefruit(+) sized plus fins for pearls, ryukins and ranchus. Regular fantails can grow quite large as Alasse already pointed out- easily to foot or more as they have length while the other breeds you mentioned grow large girth.

 

[Platiesareawesome]

I would like to have breed of goldfish that is relatively small, that will comfortably fit in the tank size I am considering. The tank would be species only. So I guess pearlscales are out of the question because they are more difficult to keep. Fantails would be too large in a 40/50 gallon tank, correct? So that leaves ranchus and ryukins. How big do they get? Also, could you give me some information on butterfly-tail and veiltail goldfish? Finally, how many goldfish could I comfortably keep in a 40 gallon breeder? 50 gallon? Thank you!

 

[Alasse]

My fantail lives comfortably in a 60gal tank with 3 smaller Orandas. Now just gotta wait for the orandas to catch up size wise

 

[Greta1981]

Hi Platiesareawesome

Everything I know about goldfish I've learned from JLK. She's a goldfish guru supreme.
The typical rule of thumb for any fancy goldfish is 55 gallons per adult fish. Juveniles you can get by with 30 gallons for the first fish and 10 to 20 for each addition. That said, they grow fast and the bigger the tank you can get, the better. It'll save you money in the long run so you don't have to keep upgrading. Goldfish that are in too-small tanks may become stunted, meaning their outsides stop growing, but their insides don't, which is, of course, very painful.

For example, you could have two fantails in a 100+ gallon. Some people have more, but they have to be religious about water changes because of the amount of waste the goldfish produce. 10 times the volume of the water is recommended for filtration. So a 100 gallon tank would need 1000 GPH filtration.

Basically, bigger is better when it comes to goldies. Bigger tank. Bigger filtration. Equals happy, healthy fish. It's totally worth all the work and initial investment though when you see those beauties swimming around happily, their gorgeous fins waving.

 

[Roz]

Wow - I thought I would be able to get away with a 300-400L tank in the next upgrade for my goldfish - not sure how I could accommodate more.

 

[Greta1981]

The way I see it, we do the very best we can by our goldies and they're far better off with us than they would be in any pet store. If we have the ponds that they're honestly meant for, wonderful. If not, just regular water changes and water testing and whatever else we can do to keep them as healthy and happy as possible. I mean 100+ gallons (400 liters) is better than 40 comets crammed into a 30 gallon. (Yes. I have seen this. )

 

[Platiesareawesome]

Hi Platiesareawesome

Everything I know about goldfish I've learned from JLK. She's a goldfish guru supreme.
The typical rule of thumb for any fancy goldfish is 55 gallons per adult fish. Juveniles you can get by with 30 gallons for the first fish and 10 to 20 for each addition. That said, they grow fast and the bigger the tank you can get, the better. It'll save you money in the long run so you don't have to keep upgrading. Goldfish that are in too-small tanks may become stunted, meaning their outsides stop growing, but their insides don't, which is, of course, very painful.

For example, you could have two fantails in a 100+ gallon. Some people have more, but they have to be religious about water changes because of the amount of waste the goldfish produce. 10 times the volume of the water is recommended for filtration. So a 100 gallon tank would need 1000 GPH filtration.

Basically, bigger is better when it comes to goldies. Bigger tank. Bigger filtration. Equals happy, healthy fish. It's totally worth all the work and initial investment though when you see those beauties swimming around happily, their gorgeous fins waving.

55 gallons per FANCY goldfish? That does not seem right to me. With common goldfish I can see that being the case, but with FANCY goldfish? I thought it was 20-30 gallons for the first fancy goldfish, and 10 gallons for each next one. That is at least what others on this forum have informed me with. I realize that larger of goldfish breeds like fantails can get very large, but what about the smaller breeds like ryukins and ranchus?

 

[Roz]

Yeah, I think that's what I have been advised before - so, my tank would need to be a min. of 20 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 50 gallons or 190 litres for 4 fancy goldfish. I was going to go higher to give them more swimming space, because they are so active at certain times of the day (around feeding time!!).

 

[Platiesareawesome]

So, does anyone know about how big ranchus and ryukins get?

 

[Roz]

No, I'm sorry, but I think it would all depend on their genetic inheritance (how "pure" they are), and their environment.

 

[Greta1981]

The 55 gallons per fancy is recommended for adults. The 30 gallons per fish, 10-20+ for each additional fish, is recommended for juveniles. Not everyone agrees with those numbers and that's fine. I learned them from someone who raises and sells goldfish. But everyone has the right to their opinion about what is best for their fish. No offense at all intended.