Loaches Online Forum

Hi there I'm just wondering I notice that my baby red cap fancy goldfish gill movements seem to be faster then the baby blue oranda I also have.
It doesn't seem sick its active eating alert & seems happy enough, but I noticed this with the gills, it this okay? I never had a baby goldfish before its about a 1cm long.

I have it with a baby oranda, an 18 month oranda x2 yr old black moores.
They live in a 200L tank at the min also has very good external filter & 50% water changes twice a week.

Cheers in advance

Same species, same tank, smaller fish will have more rapid gill action than a larger fish.
Breathing is a coordinated effort of mouth, surrounding muscles, and gills. Mouth opens, then closes, and surrounding muscles condense, and gills open. Net result is the water is pumped through the gills.
While this happens faster in smaller fish it should not look stressed. No gasping or gaping mouth, nor wide flapping gills. Faster, but still a smooth, calm, coordinated action.
More active fish, playing or chasing each other will result in faster breathing, too, but it will calm down in a few minutes.

Cool I will keep an eye out, does look very fast it doesn't seem bothered its swimming eatting & chasing the other baby goldfish so must be okay.

There soooo cute I love them!

Thanks Diane