Lionhead Progress (3rd Month)

After another month (30 days) the lionhead goldfish are still gaining weight. I did get concerned with Pocky's dramatic color change this month so I put them on a strict pellet diet for the most part. I was a bit lazy doing water changes this month as every week I usually change out 25% of the water, but this week it turned into 25-50% water changes every 10-14 days. I think it basically averaged out in the end but the lionhead do seem to get a bit irritable when I wait too long to do a water change (as they'll act skittish and hide).

Sumo, Pocky, and Ramen (left to right)

This month Sumo is still the slimmest at 34g, which is a 10g gain from last month. Ramen weighed in at 37g which is a 12g gain from last month. Pocky weighed in at 41g which is a 13g gain from last month showing that he is in fact still one healthy goldfish. Which means on average these fish gained around 0.39g daily this month which is significantly less than last months at 0.52g, and shows me why Ramen has been looking straight up at the waters surface for more food lately. In terms of weight gain for the past 3 months these fish are averaging 8-9g every 30 days.

Although my lionhead are still rapidly gaining weight it seems I should probably up their food intake for the month ahead.. or I could choose to lower the water temperature (the tank is usually kept at 78F) a bit and put them into a mild winter fasting which may be the natural solution for them. Judging by their weight in comparison to my ranchu's when I got them I would now estimate that my lionhead are around 7-8 months old (almost nisai time for all 2014 goldfish!).

Who's the New Fish?

It's Pocky!

Recently one of my lionhead goldfish starting going through a dramatic change which happened in under 2 weeks (mostly within a week).

Before and After

My fastest growing lionhead 'Pocky' has rapidly lost his orange coloring. Overall Pocky's behavior has not changed and none of the other lionheads have yet to show any dramatic color changes. I can not pin-point the exact cause of Pocky's change although it could be due to... a lack of light (so I started leaving the light on at night where-as before I didn't really use it), low acidic pH (I have fairly high pH at 7.4+ which makes my water alkaline), food (I had started mixing in OmegaOne pellets last month which could be a possible cause), disease (so I treated the tank as a preventative), or age (I have had these lionhead for under 3 months now).

Before and After (mid transformation)

Whatever the case may be.. at least it is easier to distinguish Pocky from Sumo currently as it's almost like I have an entirely new fish. The little bit of orange that is currently left on Pocky is still rapidly disappearing so, we shall see what happens with Pocky over the next few weeks but I honestly feel this may only be age or gene related (which may perhaps mean that one of Pocky's parents was of the lemonhead variety, and if that's the case I believe Sumo is its sibling so I would perhaps anticipate Sumo changing colors as well).