Please tell me how old my fish or fry is.

[larryngu 31]

I made this video last week before Goldy's little run in with the filter. Goldy's is getting a salt treatment now.

The original intention of the video was to do a before and after comparison. I will film another video in a few months.

Now I just want to know the approximate age of my goldfish.

Ms. Fang saw another not so up close video and she guessed six month. What is your guess now Ms . Fang?

Can anyone tell me her approximate age?

Without further ado.......my goldfish.

http://youtu.be/i_5rGpoIZ18

Edited October 27, 2012 by larryngu

[LovelyChaos 869]

I would say 4-6 months. It is sometimes hard to tell with how they are stocked in fish stores, as that can stunt them sometimes (: But usually fish will not be sold as fry, and will be sold around 3+ months. One of mine is stunted, and I have had it since january, meaning it is probably just about a year now, even though she is only about 2 -3 inches long (:

[larryngu 31]

@Lovely, only time will tell if Goldy is , indeed , stunted.

To me, she look like she grew a bit since I got her.

If she remains this size, I wonder if she will ever produce enough ammonia for the tank to be cycle. She lives in a 20 gallon. She will remain an only child.

Edited October 27, 2012 by larryngu

[LovelyChaos 869]

She will indeed produce enough ammonia to cycle, but it may take a lot longer than the fishless cycle (: La, who is my stunted fish, has grown very slightly since getting her, but her companion/sister Tui is around twice her size (: It will take time to find out! Goldy is a very cute fishy nonetheless

[larryngu 31]

Goldy is a very cute fishy nonetheless

Thank you LovelyChaos.

[4prettyfish 2,702]

I was asking the same question when I first came on this forum. You can find more info. on my acct. in one of my topics. I was told also about the stuntness and that fish sold usually are not less then 3 months old. My little black moor might have been a stunted fish. He's not very big and finally I've seen some growth the last couple of weeks. Some/A lot of people might take their date of purchase of their fish as the fish date of birth. Or you can just add on several months. One person said you can tell the age of a fish by his/her scale?????? Interesting topic. I thought you could just tell the age of a goldfish by the size of a goldfish. Not really. Other factors come into play. P.S. Your one and only fish is cute and has a big home to swim in alone.

[shakaho 6,312]

A small, slow-growing fish is not necessarily "stunted." I have a 1 1/2 year old fish (Bitsy) who is less than 2 inches (standard length). His/her siblings are all 2-3 times as long. They grew up together. A year ago, the largest fish in that batch (Golden) was half again as long as the average sib, and more than twice as long as Bitsy. She's no longer the biggest, and seems likely to be an average-sized fish. Bitsy would fit right in to a typical group of 5-6 months old fish.

That's why we can't tell you how old your fish is.

[dnalex 13,633]

Shakaho, this is very true, but would it be safe to say that the fish is not 1 month old? This is what the OP has been saying.

[shakaho 6,312]

Shakaho, this is very true, but would it be safe to say that the fish is not 1 month old? This is what the OP has been saying.

On another thread, I assume? Of course we can put a minimum age of about 4 months on a pet shop fish.

[rainia00 1]

Out of curiosity, how would you know whether or not a fish is stunted before you purchase them? Is this more common at chain petstores?

[number20121 2,663]

Out of curiosity, how would you know whether or not a fish is stunted before you purchase them? Is this more common at chain petstores?

It is not uncommon that fish already arrive at the LFS in stunted condition. They may have lived in overcrowded conditions at the mass breeder for an extended period of time, or spent a long time at the LFS in a much too small, too overcrowded tank.

Sometimes you can not tell, but when you see a small fish that already has for example a huge wen or fins that are proportionally way too big, or eyes that seem very large compared to the fish's head, then these are often signs of stunting.

Edited October 28, 2012 by Oerba Yun Fang

[shakaho 6,312]

Large eyes may be a sign of stunting, but I don't buy the long fins. I picked Butterfly out of the $0.13 tank at petsmart because she was the smallest fish in there with the longest fins. She was about half as long as Valentine, who I got from the same tank. Their size ratio stayed the same for about 6 months, then Butterfly underwent a huge growth spurt. She is now an average-sized fish with very long fins.

What's wrong with a small fish anyway? They take up less space and need less food.

[dnalex 13,633]

Shakaho, this is very true, but would it be safe to say that the fish is not 1 month old? This is what the OP has been saying.

On another thread, I assume? Of course we can put a minimum age of about 4 months on a pet shop fish.

Yes, in a couple of other threads. So I just wanted to make the point clear that while it's not possible to estimate the exact age of the fish, we can say with quite a bit certainty that it's not a 1 month old fry.

[DieselPlower 2,123]

That fish is at least 6 months in my opinion. I have raised nearly 100 fry from birth. Both in ponds and in a tank. They grow much faster in the pond than in the tank.