When do male goldfish develop breeding stars?

[Smurfishy 26]

I believe my 3-4" oranda is a male but no breeding stars, although he is mostly white so maybe I just can't see them? Can he be a late bloomer? Last night he was chasing my female fantail, but so wasn't a few other of my fish which I believe were all female. My black moor is the only other male in the tank and he wasn't chasing her. I have 2 comets in there that I havent been able to sex yet because they are always dashing about.

Edited June 12, 2012 by Smurfishy

[kortniee 452]

I know very little about the sexual development of goldfish, but Peanut got breeding stars after I put a heater in his tank. It was really almost immediate. The heater wasn't even set higher than the tank's normal temperature, but I got it to keep the water more stable over time than it was without any heater, so the temperature was not changing so much at night and during the winter. So basically what I'm saying is it might not be wholly related to age, I guess.

[Finnage 6]

I actually thought my fish was a female until I install an aquarium heater one day, set it to 72 degree, then boom, breeding star galore. I think it might be the temperature rise that made it appear.

It has since fade, though not completely gone, with a stable temperature.

[Golden fishy 10]

My tele has them since I had him. I think it partly depends on the fish.

[Smurfishy 26]

I just realized he has stars on atleast 1 pectoral fin! Yay! lol

[shellbell4ever 1,381]

My Ollie (big red guy) showed his breeding stars last december and i haven't seen a sign of them since, and I keep my temp a 74 all the time

[koko 14,341]

My Myng only shows two stars on one fin. So yeah they sometimes come in alittle different.

I call Myng the 2 star General in the tank

[Smurfishy 26]

Does size or age have any factor? Like when is the soonest or latest they can reach sexual maturity? Is breeding stars the tell tale signs of this or can they be mature before then? Or is this a grey area where there is no clear cut answer?

[koko 14,341]

Does size or age have any factor? Like when is the soonest or latest they can reach sexual maturity? Is breeding stars the tell tale signs of this or can they be mature before then? Or is this a grey area where there is no clear cut answer?

Well normally fish at the 3-4" mark are ready to breed. Breeding stars are the show sign of breeding and that the male is ready. Some goldfish show there stars all the time and never turn them off. While I have seen other fish that show then and then turn them off later. Just depends on the fish.

[demonspawn 0]

+1 I agree with koko. Some of my male comets stars come and then fade away in the fall when the water temp starts to drop. Temperature is definitely a key factor in the prebreeding stage. However a few of my male hibunas stars never completely disappear even in extremely cold conditions.

IME fish that are genetically closer to the wild gibel carp will keep their stars year round. I can't say for sure that this is true in general or just my isolated case.

[koko 14,341]

+1 I agree with koko. Some of my male comets stars come and then fade away in the fall when the water temp starts to drop. Temperature is definitely a key factor in the prebreeding stage. However a few of my male hibunas stars never completely disappear even in extremely cold conditions.

IME fish that are genetically closer to the wild gibel carp will keep their stars year round. I can't say for sure that this is true in general or just my isolated case.

You are right, the temp also triggers there stars. This is most likely why Myng only has 2 of them, since I keep there tank at 75F all the time

[Smurfishy 26]

My temp is usually 72 degrees, as thats what I set my furnace at, but in the summer it gets into the 80s. I don't aircondition the house.