NEWS 115
28
eneral
Goldfishes and Koi are the oldest
ornamental fishes of all. Goldfishes have
been bred in the Far East for ornamental
purposes for around 1,000 years,and Koi for
even longer, 1,500 years. It should be noted
that this breeding was originally mainly for
religious reasons. The Goldfish is a mutant
of a cypriniform species that is native to
China and has the scientific name
Carassius
auratus
. The maximum length of the basic
Goldfish forms is around 30-40 cm, while
Veiltails and other fancy forms grow to 10-
20 cm long. The Koi is a colored cultivated
form of the Common Carp,
Cyprinus carpio.
Hence maximum length in Koi is normally
around 60 cm, with 80-90 cm being
attained extremely rarely. Carp are river
fishes and require a certain degree of water
quality, and for this reason, and because of
their size, Koi are by preference kept in
ponds. By contrast, Goldfishes are members
of the Crucian Carp group, which are
specialized for life in small bodies of water,
oftenwith very poor water quality,and so are
also very good for the aquarium. Koi and
Goldfishes can easily be told apart externally
by the fact that Koi have barbels at the
corners of the mouth and Goldfishes don't.
Important requirements
The long period for which these fishes have
been captive-bred has produced strains
that are very undemanding and well-
adapted to maintenance in captivity.
Goldfishes and Koi are domesticated and
Since 1st August 2014 new animal protection legislation has been in force in
Germany, under which the vendor is obliged to provide every new customer
with extensive written information on the newly purchased animal.In the case
of fishes that is totally impracticable for every individual species.For this reason
AQUALOG has developed "Profile" sheets to complement its ”Labels”system,in
order to comply with the legal requirements and cover each individual fish
group. Labels and Profiles are an unbeatable "dream team". Here is the Profile
for " Goldfishes and Kois”.
Profile:
Goldfishes & Koi
by Frank Schäfer
Cold water
G
A high quality tricolor Koi, a so-called Sanke. All photos: Frank Schäfer
Koi and other carp always have barbels.
genetically very tame,plus they don't readily
succumb
to
stress.
However,
Koi
fundamentally require clean water, a soft
