Categories
Breeding Goldfish Goldfish Goldfish Care How To

Sexing Goldfish- Differences Between Males and Females

Goldfish sexing is what most aquarium or fish pond hobbyist would like to know sooner or later. Goldfish breeding is the answer why they want to know the differences between male and female goldfish. As people get more into their hobby they would eventually like to see their fish breed. Here I am going to tell you and show you how to tell if your goldfish are male or female.

How To Tell The Differences Between Male and Female Goldfish

Female Goldfish

1. Females are generally bigger then the males and are they’re more plump. The reason for this is that there abdomen is all full of eggs when it comes time to breeding.

2. Females abdomen is also more soft and squishy then of the males.

3. They also have rounded and shorter pectoral fins.

4. Females also have a larger rounder anal opening with it slightly protruding as well.

Male Goldfish

1. Male fish develop breeding tubercles on their gill plates which are most commonly mistaken for the goldfish disease commonly known as Ich. They also get these small white pimple like spots on their outer ridge of their pectoral fins as well. These breeding tubercles appear during spawning time showing they’re ready to breed.

2. Males also have larger longer pectoral fins as well. The pectoral fins are the ones right underneath their gills.

3. They also have a much firmer abdomen then the females.

4. Males have a smaller more oval anal opening then the females.

5. Males are more torpedo shape then females.

These are how to tell the differences between the sexes of male and female goldfish. Here is one of the biggest ways that you can tell as well is when breeding begins to happen you will see the males chasing the females. This is a sure way to tell the differences whether it’s a boy or girl. It’s much the same as real life dating the men usually chase the women 🙂 I will later add some goldfish photos of breeding tubercles of males and pictures of females as well for everyone to see the differences.

Categories
Breeding Goldfish Goldfish Goldfish Care Goldfish Diseases Ich White Spot Disease

Breeding Tubercles Not White Spot Disease (Ich)

A common mistake that goldfish owners make which is quite easily done is treating their fish for ich when in fact it’s breeding tubercles. On the photo above you’ll see breeding tubercles on this goldfish fantail Gill plates cover. Proper diagnosis in identifying diseases can save you time, money, and eliminate stress on fish. These breeding tubercles that you see appear like pimples on the gill plates. Lots of people mistaken this for ich when in fact it’s not.

Male goldfish develop these breeding tubercles several times throughout the year. This symbolizes that the goldfish are ready to breed. A good way to tell whether it’s ich or breeding tubercles is to observe the rest of the body. If the white spots or pimples are only on the the gill plates then they are breeding tubercles. If there are spots elsewhere that appear on your fish then you have ich. If it turns out to be ich then I would suggest getting ready to start treating your goldfish for whitespot disease.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
“Helping Goldfish Owners With Advice, Fish Care and Fish Medication Treatments for Goldfish Diseases, Illnesses and Parasites”