How to Sex a Goldfish

How to Sex a Goldfish


Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmKkuf9_5CU

It can sometimes be tricky to tell the difference between male andfemale goldfish, but there are a few different indicators you can use. Taken individually, each one can be a little unreliable, so it’s best to consider them as a whole when trying to determine the sex of yourfish.  And of course, the most reliable way is to actually witness yourfish spawning.

Breeding Stars/Tubercles
Breeding stars or tubercles are small white nodules that appear on the rays of the pectoral fins, on the operculum and face, and sometimes even on the body of male goldfish.  In some rare cases, breeding stars appear on female goldfish too, but mostly they appear on males.  If I see a fish with breeding stars, I automatically assume it’s a male until proven otherwise, because it is so uncommon in females.  Here is my video all about breeding stars with lots of examples and good information.
 

Vent Shape
Typically males have a more elongated and narrow vent, while females have a rounder vent.  Male vents also tend to be “innies” or concave, while female vents tend to be “outies” or convex.  You can typically see the convex female vent from a side-view.

Body Shape
This is probably the most unreliable method for fancy goldfish sincethey have such a modified body shape. But in general, females have a wider and deeper body when compared tomales of the same type.  Sometimes theyalso tend to have an asymmetric belly when viewed from above.  Males tend to have thicker leading rays ontheir pectoral fins.

Behavior

And finally, you can observe their behavior around spawning time.  A few weeks before spawning, males will start chasing or following females around.  They usually stay just behind and below the female while chasing.  Chasing will become more obvious as spawning approaches, and when they do start spawning, the male will chase and sort of “push” the female into soft plants where she will then lay the eggs while the male fertilizes them.  Here is a video showing some butterfly telescopes spawning.

9 Comments

  • Carlos Silva Posted January 20, 2023 4:33 pm

    can i breed goldfish with my janitor fish? My other goldfish died because my cousin overfed it

  • MrBubbles Petchicken Posted May 6, 2023 7:05 pm

    Usually goldfish from a pet store are a month or two when they arrive the medium ones are a little older by a couple months and the large ones are most of the time sexually mature

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  • Unknown Posted September 21, 2023 8:06 pm

    I just bought a oranda and it’s pushing my telescope into plants, swimming under it and nipping on its side?

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  • John A Posted November 8, 2023 11:29 pm

    This is my first time i visit here and I discovered such a significant number of intriguing stuff in your blog particularly it’s dialog, much obliged.

  • Erin Horsfield Posted November 15, 2023 9:48 pm

    i have six goldfish and i need to know the genders of them. How can i tell the differance between them?

  • Erin Horsfield Posted November 15, 2023 9:50 pm

    i got four comet goldfish, a fancy i got from meijer’s, and an algae eater

  • Beatrice Walker Posted December 27, 2023 8:32 am

    how can I how many months my goldfish is if the pet store didn’t know?

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