Fish gender

Question
Hello. My daughter just recieved a gold fish as a gift. It has been two days. I am not sure if it is a goldfish or if their are just several types of goldfish. It is orange on top and white on the bottom. It also has long frilly fins. Her aunt said the label said gold fish. We just want to know how to tell whether it is a male or female and if you can tell if it is pregnant or do they lay their eggs some where. It looks like it got bigger and its only been twop days.
Please let me know

Answer
Hi Davina;

Goldfish are many colors, shapes and fin lengths. Yours is what is known as a "fancy goldfish". You really can't tell the sexes of them until the fish is mature and it is springtime.

To breed them you need a big tank. Even when you aren't breeding them, all goldfish need at least 5 gallons of water per fish if they are smaller than 3 inches long. Indoors as adults they get to be about 8 inches long. Because of this and the fact that they are deep-bodied messy fish, once they reach 3 inches they need a minimum of a 10 gallon tank per fish. In order to breed they will need lots of plants in a tank at least 30 gallons.

Here is a list of websites to learn more about their housing and care;

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/care.html
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=21&pCatId=957
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art3503.asp
http://www.petlibrary.com/goldfish/fishcare.htm

Followups welcome

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

Come on over and join us on the freshwater fish forum at About.com to get even more information too;
http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/questionsanswers/a/naavigateforum.htm