I love the pet goldfish we have at home. Did you know that the goldfish was one of the very first to ever be domesticated? That's true. And even today, the goldfish is still one of the most popular and commonly kept aquarium fish.

The goldfish is actually a member of the carp family. You might say it's the smallest of the brood, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate either. History says that the goldfish is actually related to the dark-gray carp that was first found in east Asia before it was introduced in Europe during the 17th century.

You may not believe this, but the goldfish can grow to be nearly two feet long or about 59 cms. The biggest goldfish has been measured to weigh about 9.9 pounds of 4.5 kgs. However, the average goldfish is usually about half the size of these whoppers. The world record for the oldest goldfish is 49 years old, but they typically can live to be more than 20 years old. On the other hand, household goldfish that are kept in aquariums usually live only about six to eight years.

The goldfish first became popular during China's Tang Dynast when it was in vogue to raise carp in ponds. Because of mutation, some of these carp actually turned to gold (which is really yellowish orange, to be clear) and not silver, which was the usual color of carp during those days. The gold variety captured the imagination of people and they soon started breeding this gold strain exclusively, then putting them on display in small containers. The containers were only a temporary house since the goldfish were usually moved to ponds except that they were still put on display in small containers for example if visitors came along.

In 1162, a pond dedicated to collecting the red and gold variety of carp was ordered by the empress of the Song Dynasty in China. The goldfish were associated with royalty at that time and people outside the royal family were forbidden to have them.

There are many varieties of domesticated goldfish. These include Common, Black Moor, Bubble Eye, Celestial Eye, Comet, Fantail, Lionhead, Oranda, Pearlscale, Pompom, Ryukin, Shubunkin, Telescope Eye, Ranchu, Panda Moor and Veiltail.

Kadence Buchanan writes articles on many topics including Pets, Aging, and Gemstones

Back to Article Index