How do you tell Goldfish Genders??

Question

I have always wondered what gender my goldfish are and if I've named them appropriately. I'd like to know if anyone knows of tell-tale traits or behaviors that would help determine what s*x they are.

If you know anything about that, I'd love to hear about it. Thanks!!!

Answer 1

You can really only tell once they reach breeding age, which most sources say is around 3 years old.

My fantail goldfish are around three inches long and are ready to breed.

I named my first fantail, Patrick because I just figured it was a boy.

Three months later, turns out Patrick is a girl.

I had never had it around other fantails so I couldn't tell whether it was male or female.

A few weeks ago, we got a new fantail and I thought it was a girl, so we named "her" Dixie. Well, Dixie was a Dixon after all.

The males will develop breeding tubercles, or "Breeding Stars" on the cover over their gills. They look like white pimples or sort of like Ich but it's only on the gill covers. Females might get them sometimes but if they do, it's generally only one or two at a time while males have much more than that. Near the anal fin [the one right under their tail] their "butt" is either convex or concave. Female fish have a convex opening while males is concave. Meaning, the female's sticks out while the males is even with the rest of his body.

Another thing, when a female is full of roe [eggs] her belly gets bigger. Look at the fish from above, if it's fatter on one side than the other, chances are, it's because of eggs.

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Answer 2

if it is a male it will have white spots on its gills

Answer 3

the male when spawning will get white tubercules on his gills which are white little pimples. when the 2 goldfishes breed the male will chase the female goldfish and then in a month or so the female will get a big tummy. though to determine the gender the golfishes they have to be mature enough which is when theyre spwaning and breeding.