Welcome to AA!!!
I will try to help a bit! From your pics, your fish appears to have matte scales. It's not unusual to have nacreous mixed in with matte though. I can not see the orange area clearly to be able to tell. He or she is quite young and I would not classify her as a calico as I expect she will be completely white in the future. She's just in a transitional stage of coloring.
Whether there's any correlation between scale type and growth, I am unaware of it. Genetics and breeding are half the picture in determining possible future growth and the other half is care. An excellent diet, constant big water changes and copious amounts of water are huge factors in potential growth.
The button eyes and association with buoyancy issues is another theory I have to question as I do not expect her to keep her black eyes. She may but even if she did, I do not see how eye color relates to buoyancy issues in any breed of goldfish. I am curious where you read this and a scientific explanation for such a cause and effect?
In respect to gender, only time will tell! Goldfish are quite difficult to gender ID as juveniles but are much easier as older fish that are sexually mature. Hope this helps a bit! Feel free to ask any questions!
Hello and thank you for the welcome!!
Also, thank you for moving my thread! I did not see this section
Yes, I assumed she was pretty young- she had an adjustment period to the current in the tank
Really got thrown around the first couple of days, I tried to lessen it. How old would you guess she is?
I'm not sure if I am able to post links, but they weren't really backed by any studies which is why I am inquiring. All I could find really on matte goldfish mostly came from culling guides saying they are weaker and often culled, and a couple of forum posts talking about those guides. I will post some quotes at the end, so they can always be googled for the full articles.
The button eye question is the same thing- articles but no real research, but also very little information comes up when I search "button eye". There's one article on picking healthy goldfish that I will quote below, and then a forum post asking about a similar claim. Many members said that they had button eyes with buoyancy issues and they wonder if that's why.
As to her keeping the eyes or not, I thought matte goldfish only had black eyes? It's hard to get photos of her- she just kind of glows. All I can say about the orange patch is that it's very vibrant compared to the rest of her, and it has some shine to parts of it which is what makes me think she's not fully matte.
Quotes in question:
"Real matte goldfish are for experienced fanciers only and are usually not available commercially." - Page 92 of "The Everything Tropical Fish Book" viewable online.
"The Matte scale group are fish with transparent scales. The usual matte is called a pinkie matte fish. It is virtually transparent with no reflective scales. With almost no guanine in the scale this has been linked to a weak fish very difficult to grow to size. The matte scale is produced from a nacreous spawn and used to cross to its sibling metallic to produce 100% nacreous offspring. The matte fish carries all the colors genetically but USUALLY expresses none of them. The matte is homozygous for its trait. The use of matte to metallic for reproducing nacreous is not understood or in use by the American farms. It is difficult to maintain mattes to adult hood for this cross" - Goldfish Culling - Scale Types By Dave Mandley
"Fish that have “button eyes”, or eyes that are completely black, sometimes experience buoyancy issues by the time they are roughly a year old. They tend to “go heavy” and sink to the bottom when not swimming. The problem is genetic and euthanasia is the only solution, as eventually they can’t get to the food source. Therefore, it is a good idea to be aware of this fact if a fish keeper decides to purchase one." - Choosing Healthy Goldfish from Puregoldfish
@Leomorales- I'd love to see a picture of this twin!