Hi,
Just read your post re J. Shubunkin - what is the age of her? I have a Bristol Shubunkin who is 16 yrs old. He's mated with a regular red/white pond goldfish several times. She, too is 16-17 yrs old now. She has lost all her color and is 100% white. The shubunkin male used to have black patches (his name is Patches) when he was young -now he has lost all the black and is red/white - do you find as these fish age, they lose coloring? I have 1 baby from the two of them - he/she is 4 yrs old and is solid red/orange color. Thanks for the interesting info.
Holly

Congrats on keeping your fish alive for so long.

Goldfish have decoloring genes that kill pigment cells. Black is the first to go and the most difficult to keep, the reds and yellows.

One of the most common mistakes in keeping pond fish is to let the shubunkins and sarassas cross. The problem is in the offspring the black in the calicos is killed by the black decoloring gene in the sarassas and the metalic in the sarassa is killed by the calico in the shubunkin. You end up with a bunch of sakura (red and white nacreous fish) which in my view is less than the two parent strains. If I'm going to have a red and white fish in a pond I want it to be metallic and sparkle and I want my calicos to be calicos not just red and white.

How did you get a Bristol Shubunkin 16 years ago? It must have been some of the earliest imports. Do you know which strain of Bristols you've got? Where did you get them?

Great information, ichthius.

Thanks.

Let me add to this:

Goldfish have decoloring genes that kill pigment cells. Black is the first to go and the most difficult to keep, the reds and yellows... This can take years and years so often times you've bred the fish and have multiple generations before the original fish turn white. White is the lack of all other pigments, excluding guanine which is the silver and is generally very stable as it forms a crystal where as the other pigments are in modified nerve cells.

Here are all my Bristol shubunkin posts.
http://goldfishgarage.blogspot.com/search/label/Bristol%20Shubunkin

My Parker strain of Bristols produces transparent fish as well as transparent colored mattes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Goldfish Garage Bristol Shubunkins

Your website is phenomenal! I love these fish so much, I could live in the Goldfish Garage! Great site! I live in CT/USA. I found my Shubunkin, Patches, in a large barrel at a grain and feed store in Mass. The barrel was labeled Bristol Shubunkins so I always believed that's what he is. I had done some limited research over the years and thought maybe he is an American rather than a Bristol Shubunkin. He's approx. 17" long and has very long fins and deeply forked tail - his body is not stout enough to be a London and his fins and tail are too long I think. If I could email you a photo, would you be able to tell me what type you believe he is? Let me know where I can email you a photo and I'll send one there. Thanks so much for sharing your in-depth knowledge of the coloring aspects of these wonderful fish. Patches eats Cheerios from my hand - perhaps that's the secret to his longevity.
Holly

Hi Holly

Thanks for your kind comments. I've asked around and it seems the time frame matches up for your fish and the original imports but it would be amazing from them to be in a feed store but there are breeders in that area and could have sold them to the store.

You can send me an image to goldfishgarageATgmailDOTcom.

Bristols get very large heart shaped tails so a picture from the side would be best for id. An american/japanese shubunkin has a comet tail.

Best fishes
David