Goldfish

How to Pick a Goldfish

1. Determine what kind of goldfish you want, fancy or common. Both can grow over a foot in open, outdoor ponds with fancies being a little bigger.
2. Unless you're feeding your fish to something bigger and don't care who long it lives, buy it at an aquarium store. These stores tend to sell healthier, thus longer-lived, pets. Small, independent stores will offer as much advice as you want.
   
   General independent pet stores may also work fine. Just make sure the tanks are pristine and not overcrowded.
   
   If money is an issue and you're experimenting with goldfish for the first time go ahead and hit one of those big-box pet stores. They have excellent return policies and will likely replace the first few failures (ie, deaths) of your new hobby.
3. Look for healthy, active fish. Don't take home a sleepy, laggy, sad looking goldfish. Yes, you may feel sorry for it but start out with a strong, healthy pet. Besides, if you're buying more than one it might infect the others with something nasty.
   
   Signs of an unhealthy fish: Cloudy eyes, gills, fins, or a weird shape/ deformation. Odd behavior such as swimming at an angle, upside down, sucking air from the surface, and rubbing on things.
4. When mixing different types of goldfish, be careful that you don't put a happy-go-lucky common in with a mean, aggressive (but extremely beautiful) Ryukin.