Baby Help

[saltynay]

So genetic parent stock that possibly crossed are:
Shubukins
Orange commons
Sarasa comets
White commons

The babies are rather strange however although they may of come from multiple breeding pairs, broods ect. but still strange. 1 is pure snow white but I don't think its albino, 1 looks like it is infected with ich but that is the actual colouration so I am guessing shubukin blood, 3 have colouration pattern similar to adult gibel carp but belly is silvery with splashes of orange and back is dark red/pink, then 18+ are still dark with no visible colouration although I may just be seeing the same 5 fish repeatedly as its hard to tell. I haven't had colouration like this before having bred my goldies for 3 years, was hoping someone could shed some light on why they are quite radically different and what crosses might of caused this. I will try and get a pic tomorrow but its like trying to find a needle in a haystack especially the white one as it always safely near the lillies.

 

[Colin_T]

Virtually all goldfish have the ability to throw out different coloured young. The fry can be any colour that the parents have, or that their ancestors have. Basically if you have a black, white & orange shubunkin then the offspring can be any of those colours or combination of colours.

If you have bronze coloured goldfish then they are just wild coloured fish. Most baby goldfish start out bronze and change when a few months old. Some don't change at all and will remain bronze. Others will change when older (perhaps 6-12months).

 

[saltynay]

The main one I am intrigued by is the white one I didn't notice it as a fry (they are now 2+") so the colour change seems quite radical. I know they can get any colour from their genetics and colour changes over time but I have had 2 previous lots from the same parent stock with no similar colouration to this ever before. They are not conforming to the norm of the group whom all have the natural dark colouration of goldie young.

 

[Colin_T]

Fish produce heaps of eggs & sperm and you can have an unlimited number of colour variations, even from the same parents. If you only have a small number of young fish then you are probably missing out on lots of possible colours turning up. If you are getting lots of bronze young then the parents might be eating the brighter coloured ones.
Do you breed the adults in a separate pond? If not possibly try doing that next time and see how many different coloured young you get.

I have a similar thing happen to my canaries. I have a white male and a green female and so far they have produced several yellow, 1 brown and a couple of white & yellow offspring. None of the young looked the same as the parents, which is good because I can tell who is mum & dad and who gets sold

 

[saltynay]

I just leave them all in the same pond together apart from 1-2 which I move into the house to grow more rapidly in a 60 gallon tank if they intrigue me, been trying to catch the white one for ages to take inside with no luck.

In total I would guess I have around 30 atm and when spawned there were 45-50 I counted so a few have been lost, I thin you must be right the ones with lighter colours get picked out predators more rapidly.

 

[Colin_T]

if you go out and look in the pond at night, (an hour or so after the sun has gone down) then you should be able to use a flashlight and dipnet to scoop the white fish out.