Fan tailed goldfish

[eric2]

Hi
does anyone know how big these grow? i have had one for a few years now and recently he seems to of got allot bigger in a shorter amount of time

[sezzy5889]

don't goldfish grow depending on the size of the tank, like nearly all other fish?

If you expand the space, they'll grow bigger

[(¯`·._.·[Samm]·._.·´¯)]

Ye, all fish grow to the size of there encloser... specialy gold fish

[copigeon]

Myth, fish will outgrow thier tank, some people will tell you they will only grow to the size of the tank as a way of selling you too many fish for a too small tank.
In general cramped conditions will effect any animals growth, but fish dont just adapt thier size to thier container.

Ive had blackmoores/oranda/fantailed bobby things grow to in excess of 6 inches (lips to tail).

[(¯`·._.·[Samm]·._.·´¯)]

Ok, to be fair
Some do outgrow

How big is the tank?

[sezzy5889]

yeah but it seems Goldfish grow to fit the enclosure, i had goldfish for years on an aquarium that grew to about 4-5inches, when i put them in the pond they took off, and grew to about 10 inches.

Tropical fish and fish like plecs etc are known to keep growing, as for goldfish it seems they can stop growing

[copigeon]

Just because an animal can be stunted doesnt mean its healthy to stunt it. Goldfish will grow slower, in a smaller environment but it is a myth to say they will only grow to the size of thier container. They grow slow, but they will continue to grow. And it doesnt do the health of the goldfish any good to keep it in such a tank that causes that effect.

A goldfish is a variety of carp, and can get to over 6 inches. If you want whats best for the health of your fantails, I would recomend an aquarium large enough to allow them to grow as they should.

[sezzy5889]

No one mentioned any stunted animals, or the fact it is healthy to do so and are doing so, don't know where you got that from, and no ones saying their tank is not big enough

[copigeon]

sezzy5889 said:

and no ones saying their tank is not big enough

No and that was never implied. But for someone to say "a fish will grow to the size of its container" implies false advice (choose which size tank you want your fish to grow to fit).

If a fish stops growing at an unatural size then yes you are stunting that animals growth.
Stunted fish.

Not to imply your fish (sarah) were ever in that situation.

But when someone asks "how big does a fantail get mines suddenly started growing" and is answered by "they grow as big as the tank".
This sort of comment must be corrected.

[sezzy5889]

copigeon said:

sezzy5889 said:

and no ones saying their tank is not big enough

No and that was never implied. But for someone to say "a fish will grow to the size of its container" implies false advice (choose which size tank you want your fish to grow to fit).....

But when someone asks "how big does a fantail get mines suddenly started growing" and is answered by "they grow as big as the tank".
This sort of comment must be corrected.

I never even said they did, hense the question mark...

and i think anyone else would agree, i have not said for deffinate in thiswhole thread that fish only grow to the size of their container.

[copigeon]

Deep sigh.

Let me reiterate.

I was just correcting a myth, which was mentioned (more than) twice. By whome I couldnt care less, the elephant man and his friend tony the mushroom could have said it, I didnt really notice, but it was said.

Now instead of picking holes or viewing this and my previous posts within this thread as relating to yourself personally (which could not be further from the truth) rather than the false information some of the comments implied; unless you have anything remotely relevant to add?

[Val]

I have never personally seen one larger than about 5"

Val

[eric2]

thanks for the advice everyone it is still in a larger aquarium than i think he needs for now
i will try and get some pics of it (not sure if it is a he or she) we used to have two but one had problems with its swim baldder i think and died

[y2daz]

Hi Eric

Well all I can say is this.

We keep cold water fish , 1 of them is a Comet Goldfish which was less than an inch when we got him ... he went into a community 3ftx1ftx1ft tank along with a few others and a fan tail fancy goldfish which was about an inch.

They were fine in that tank for about 12 months but they were growing , the two fish mentioned above had grown the most .. comet was at around 3 inch and fan tail wasn't far behind so we got a new tank which was 4ftx1ftx1ft which was ample for another 12 months but again those two fish in particular had out grown the tank... comet at around 6 inch and fantail at about 5 inch. We couldn't afford anything bigger at that time and had to wait but they carried on growing and it got to a stage where the comet was sticking out of the water if he dived for gravel rooting so we had to find the funds and purchased a 4ftx2ftx2ft tank which was well expensive. Now they have plenty of room but are still growing. Comet is currently at about 9 inch and fan tail is about 7 inch , so yeah that's my experience with growing fish. I don't think they'll out grow this tank , not unless I've got a record breaker on my hands anyway.

Hope that helps a little.

Cheers

Daz

[KathyM]

If it helps, I've read the minimum tank spacing for goldfish is 20g for the first fish and a further 10g for each fish after that. That is a bare minimum from what I've read though. Apparently this is not just due to the size, but because of the huge waste output of goldfish species, so superb filtration is a must too.

On the subject of the advice of fish only growing to their tank size. This may be the case with many fish, but is it really advisable considering it causes poor health, deformed growth and a much shorter lifespan?

[LisaLQ]

sezzy5889 said:

yeah but it seems Goldfish grow to fit the enclosure, i had goldfish for years on an aquarium that grew to about 4-5inches, when i put them in the pond they took off, and grew to about 10 inches.

Tropical fish and fish like plecs etc are known to keep growing, as for goldfish it seems they can stop growing

Was just reading this thread through again and saw this. Wouldn't that suggest that the tank they were in was too small and stunting them - and if so - why would that be ok?

[sezzy5889]

do you mean the tank the goldfish were in before going in the pond?

If so it was a 3x1 foot tank and the 2 goldfish kept in it were 4-5 inches when they moved out into the pond, that doesn't seem too small to me

[Val]

No it isn't too small, a 3' tank is ample size for 2 goldfish to live in, I have 1 fantail goldfish in a 30" tank, he is happy and healthy and I have had him for many many years.

Val