Mystery fish

[lamby]

I'm hoping that someone can identify these fish for me. Three years ago, I decided to try fish in my pond. I purchased three tiny ( each about half an inch long ) baby shebunkins from a large aquatic garden store. By the following spring they had multiplied but some were a solid battleship grey colour--quite ominous looking, sort of like baby sharks! Sadly, herons have gobbled up several fish but three shebunkins remain, along with the gray ones. In terms of size, they now vary in length between 4 to 8 inches. I have just added a few ordinary goldfish. All three varieties get along well but I would really like to know how I ended up with these grey guys. Any suggestions?

Yikes--having difficulty uploading the video that I took. I'll try again in a second. I'm hoping that it will work better if I do it from my cellphone. Stay tuned...

 

[lamby]

I’m not able to attach the video so here’s a screenshot

 

[j.w]

Shubunkin goldfish will change color as they grow but I think they should have changed by now. Wonder if there was some comet goldfish mixed in the breeds when you first got them? All you can do is wait to see if they turn all orange like a comet or start to turn calico like a Shubby. My guess is they will turn orange like a regular goldfish but then who am I

 

[JRS]

That can be a natural goldfish/shubunkin color. I have some of last year's pond babies, most likely shubunkin male and red/white female, that have not changed color yet and almost 4 inches. Years ago I did have a natural color goldfish turn all white at about 4 inches.

 

[j.w]

That can be a natural goldfish/shubunkin color. I have some of last year's pond babies, most likely shubunkin male and red/white female, that have not changed color yet and almost 4 inches. Years ago I did have a natural color goldfish turn all white at about 4 inches.

Guess there is hope then that the fish may turn a prettier color!

 

[Lisak1]

We get lots of black/gray/silver babies - some turn white, some turn gold, some turn deep orange. The true shubunkins that we've had born in the pond are all tricolor pretty much from the moment we can first see them.

 

[lamby]

Thanks to each of you for your responses. I don't know how to tag people's posts, so this is the best I can do to express my appreciation. I just hope that the population doesn't get taken over by the grey guys because they really look scary and are harder to see.

 

[j.w]

Thanks to each of you for your responses. I don't know how to tag people's posts, so this is the best I can do to express my appreciation. I just hope that the population doesn't get taken over by the grey guys because they really look scary and are harder to see.

If you want to tag someone just type @ and then their forum name like this @lamby .
Will be interesting to see what color those fish turn if they do. Might take a long time tho as I had black goldfish that stayed that way for years and then whamo they started to turn to orange, orange w/white and pure white. None of mine stayed black forever tho.
Never had any Shubunkin fry, only the adults and they never bred for some reason.

 

[Mmathis]

This could just be the natural color for the young fish. Some goldfish start out dark (it’s part of their natural camouflage to keep them safe from predators — dark colored fish are harder to see). Right now I have a bunch of yearlings (comets, no Shubies). Most of mine are white or colorless, there are a few gold ones, a few gold and white……and when I feed, if I look very closely, I can find about 3 or 4 dark ones. I like the dark ones…..but they eventually change into their “whatever” color.

 

[lamby]

Thanks @j.w !!!

Hope this works

 

[j.w]

Thanks @j.w !!!

Hope this works

Yep it worked!

 

[addy1]

I have a lot of the gray, gray gold, fish. Some almost black, some have not changed years later.

 

[rubyduby]

I started with 4 multi color 2 inch shubunkins two years ago...NO other fish were ever added...Now I have about 25 and the six "battleship gray" ones are still solid battleship gray...I can hardly see them....

 

[GBBUDD]

I'm hoping that someone can identify these fish for me. Three years ago, I decided to try fish in my pond. I purchased three tiny ( each about half an inch long ) baby shebunkins from a large aquatic garden store. By the following spring they had multiplied but some were a solid battleship grey colour--quite ominous looking, sort of like baby sharks! Sadly, herons have gobbled up several fish but three shebunkins remain, along with the gray ones. In terms of size, they now vary in length between 4 to 8 inches. I have just added a few ordinary goldfish. All three varieties get along well but I would really like to know how I ended up with these grey guys. Any suggestions?

Yikes--having difficulty uploading the video that I took. I'll try again in a second. I'm hoping that it will work better if I do it from my cellphone. Stay tuned...

For the video upload it to YouTube then once that's done copy the address and post it in the reply box

 

[j.w]

I started with 4 multi color 2 inch shubunkins two years ago...NO other fish were ever added...Now I have about 25 and the six "battleship gray" ones are still solid battleship gray...I can hardly see them....

Check this out:
Blue is the most prized colour in Shubunkins. Calico originally denoted three coloured varieties of goldfish that did not include blue. The best blues are produced from line breeding of good blue specimens of Shubunkins. Sometimes good blues may be obtained by breeding bronze (metallic) with "pink" (matte-scaled) goldfish, but a grey slate colour may result instead.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shubunkin