Koi Fish Information Centre

The reason I used the term “jittery” is because you said she freaks out whenever anything comes near her or touches her… I call that pretty jittery since goldfish are usually very social fish and during feeding, they’re like piranha… swimming, flipping and crawling all over each other. LOL Female goldfish should grow to around the same size as males except they will be a little plumber when carrying eggs. Many species of fish actually have the females getting bigger than male fish of the species but I haven’t seen this with goldfish.
As far as the stunting… it’s absolutely, positively, definite that she’s stunted right now… but whether it’s permanent and to what degree is something we won’t know unless or until she’s in a large enough water space and then see how she grows out. I’ve seen some fish that were severely stunted, start growing fast again when moved to a proper sized home where other fish did not. I rescued a common pleco from a 10G tank back in 2005 and it was only 4″ long after two years in that 10G tank. I put it in my 65G tank and it grew to 10″ in the next 18 months where it was then getting too big for my 65G. Since Katrina hit and I haven’t been able to upgrade my tanks (and have actually downsized the numbers), I rehomed the pleco to my LFS for $25.00 store credit and they sold him the next day to a BIG tank owner.. I think they said a 150G. I probably should have tried to stay in touch to see how he’s doing but I certainly wouldn’t want to hear that he died or anything like that so I’ve stayed out of the loop.
I can tell you that two year old comets in a pond (not overstocked) are a foot long or more. Tank kept goldfish do not usually grow as large as pond kept goldfish due to the stunting issues we’ve already discussed. Normally, goldfish should grow to around 80% of their expected adult size in the first 2-3 years… some faster, some slower, based on genetics but more commonly having to do with water quality, overstocking, etc… but the biggest growth spurt happens in the first year, then fast growth still happens in the 2nd and 3rd years at pretty fast rates and then slows down dramatically for the next 20 years… kind of like humans who grow from a couple of cells to near adult size in 18-20 years and then not much more over the next 50+ years… well not much more bone growth at least.. only bigger around for some of us. LOL
I’ve never come across a well studied goldfish growth chart.. mainly because there are still so many goldfish being kept in undersized homes… but here is a Koi Growth Chart http://www.coloradokoi.com/koisize.htm which shows how fast they grow in the first few years and reach 30″ in the first eight years… but Koi live much longer than goldfish so they are slower growers by proportion, but if you use proportional math where a common goldfish lives 20+ years and a Koi lives 60+ years, then the goldfish should reach near full size in the first 2-3 years where a Koi reaches near full size in 6-8 years (27″ after 6 years and 30″ after 8 years, so only 1″ per year in years 6 and 7, where their first two years saw 8″ per year average).
Here’s a snip from my own article condemning the so-called 1″ rule that kills so many fish, yet permeates due to bad fish store advice given to people and posted in so many websites.
http://goldlenny.blogspot.com/2007/02/new-rules-guidelines-to-replace-1-per. html (START SNIP) Proposed MINIMUM recommendations for aquariums with multiple fish. These MINIMUMS do not work when only one LARGER fish is alone in the tank… in that case, use the “Tank Size Guideline” below:
Small Fish - 1 Gallon per adult size inch for fish up to 3 inches as adults. (This is the only type of fish that fits in the 1″ per gallon rule. Fish that will be small even as adults.) (Also see Hailey’s 10 Gallon Tank Stocking List And Suggestions )
Medium Fish - 2 Gallons per adult size inch for fish 3″ to 6″ as adults. Minimum Tank Size - 24″ to 48″ long (6X to 8X longer than longest expected adult sized fish in the tank)
Medium Large Fish (including most Fancy Goldfish) - 3 Gallons per adult size inch for fish 6″ to 10″ as adults. Minimum Tank Size - 48″ to 80″ long (6X to 8X longer than longest expected adult sized fish in the tank).
Large Fish (including Oscars, Common Pleco’s, Comets and Common Goldfish) - 5 Gallons per adult size inch for fish over 10″ as adults. Minimum Tank Size - 80″ long and UP depending on expected adult size of fish using the basis of 8X longer than the longest expected adult sized fish in the tank. Koi should really be in a large pond since most aquariums are not large enough unless you have a HUGE tank.
NOTE - When measuring your fish, do NOT include the tail. Measure from the base of the tail, where it connects to the body. We are more concerned with body mass for figuring out bioload in a tank. Some fish like Angelfish, Discus, round-bodied Goldfish, etc., should probably have the length and width added together to come up with a more accurate comparison to long-bodied fish. (END SNIP - see link above for full article, comments, etc.)
Lenny Vasbinder Fish Blog - http://GoldLenny.blogspot.com (Links to any articles referenced in above reply are listed on the right side, alphabetically under Labels and also under Archives by Year, Month)

Category: Philippines Internet Koi Society