Goldfish And Koi

[sakaspuds]

i know this must have been asked a million times, but can goldfish breed with koi or large carp?

the thing is i was recently given 5 baby goldfish, they were very small right out of a pond containing a few shubunkins, a few comets and 1 very large dark grey carp (i'm told its a koi, but it could be a wild type carp)

3 of the babies are clearly goldfish, they have recently turned gold from the dark silver colour, 2 of the babies have remained dark silver grey, one is much smaller than the goldies and has a koi lookinf face (whiter than the body, a little like a ghost koi) the other is massive way bigger than the goldfish, none of them have whiskers like a carp, but they really no not look like goldies, which leads me to believe that they are a cross breed part goldfish and part koi carp, is this possible?

i would take photos but my memory card for my camera is buggered

 

[The-Wolf]

an ex colluge of mine has stated on many occasions that his koi and goldfish have successfully bred.
I didn't get the chance to see any fish in person, so I can't say with any degree of posativness.

scientifically I can't see why not as goldfish and koi all come from the same carp.

 

[sakaspuds]

thats what i thought, they are closely releated broth from the carp family goldfish from crucian carp (carassius carassius), and koi from common carp (Cyprinus carpio). i was lead to believe it wasnt possible, but the fish i have make me think it is, ghost koi are koi carp bred with common carp, so that got me thinking it was possible for closly related carps to breed, i will have to wait a few years to prove it for myself, my own goldfish are big enough to breed but i have 1 big koi, its about 14" and several very small koi, i got some very nice ones just this weekend, 3 butterfly koi for £24 and 2 normal ones for £12 they are very small though under 3" and i have 5 ghost koi that i got last year they are about 6" at the mo

 

[black angel]

Yes they can interbreed and the big grey fish sounds like a tench.

 

[sakaspuds]

its not a tanch i have 3 of those in my pond my dad caught me and a few roach i think, also one fish i got from a local stream that was really small when i got it, stickle back sized, now its about 7 or 8" still not sure what it is, but someone once said it was a dace? yep i have just looked at an adult dace and it is one of those

 

[black angel]

Well, whatever it is would like to see pics of the fish you have got from the pond.

 

[sakaspuds]

i will be getting myself a new digicam soon, i have been wanting to get one for ages, i will take photos of all my new fish, and update my tank and fish info