Where a red rose symbolizes love, goldfish symbolizes prosperity, so I loved both and gifted often to my fiancée (now my beloved wife) and even today I can feel the joy of someone whom I ever gifted a lovely goldfish. What made me fascinated to choose such a loving gift (goldfish), was an old belief that later turned to be a tradition in some parts of the world- gifting them to the married girls by their husbands on occasion of their marriage anniversary, as a symbol of prosperity in coming years. Actually the credit to develop and breed the various varieties of goldfish goes to Chinese, who centuries ago started domesticating them in temple’s pond and gradually learnt to cross breed them with other varieties of lovely fishes resulting in various new varieties. During the reign of Sung dynasty China (1162), goldfishes became the ornamentation of royal ponds for empresses and were banned for people in general. But like all the beauties fishes also managed to escape and spread to the other parts of the world, particularly to the western world where they got momentum and were cross breaded for developing market quality varieties. For USA it was Rear Admiral Daniel who got them elsewhere and brought to United States. And amazing fact is that today USA and Japan are the biggest breeders of goldfishes in the world. Most of the varieties of goldfishes are hardy cold water fish and can easily be breaded. Having longer life they can survive for 7 to 8 years in aquariums, however varieties kept in ponds have comparatively longer life of 15 to 25 years. The oldest known goldfish survived as along as 41 years. Although there are hundreds of varieties of goldfishes (of various color, size, forms) but some of them are most popular and common easily kept as pet indoor or outdoor in ponds, these are:

Oranda

Originated in China and Japan, Oranda is considered one of the most popular verities of goldfish. The flashy outgrowth on its upper half of the head and side view of its face makes it easily recognizable and distinguishable from other varieties such as Veil tail and Ryukin. It is a fancy aquarium fish which is little sensitive to cold water and can reach a growth of 8 to 12 inches. Its long and deep body is more beautified by a long quadruple tail. Available in variety of colors such as orange (most often), red, red-white, red-black, blue, black, bronze-white, or silver, Panda colored (black and white), calicos colored and chocolate, Oranda get better growth in about 65F of temperature.

Shubunkins

Originated in Japan, Shubunkins are hardy single tailed fancy goldfish with developed and even fins and streamlined body. They are considered excellent pond fishes reaching to a length of 9 to 16 inches in ideal conditions. Shubunkins are found in various colors with overlapping patches of grey, black, blue, white and red. However blue is most popular and sought after prized color in this variety of goldfish. Shubunkins attain maturity within 2 to 3 years of age and look very lovely due to the color contrast of their bodies. Now there are a number of western varieties also available in the market and get their name from the place of origin such as American Shubunkins, Bristol Shubunkins and the London Shubunkins. They differ slightly from each other and have distinguished quality as according to their cross breeding.

3. Pearl scale Goldfish

As the name shows these Pearl scale goldfishes have domed scale with pearl like appearance on their body. They are easily recognizable with their spherical body shape which sometimes looks like similar to golf ball. These fancy goldfishes are little sensitive and are prone to some fish diseases, so they need extra care. If proper cared they can amazingly grow up as large as an orange and can attain a length of up to 8 inches.

The Ryukin

Ryukins are fine fancy aquarium goldfishes that have pointed head and a pronounced hump in the shoulder region just behind the head. They look very beautiful while swimming with their long flowing fins. In Japan they are known as Onaga (long tail goldfish) or The Nagasaki goldfish, whether in English they are known as Japanese Ribbon tail, Veil tail, Fan tail or Fringe tail goldfish.

The Commons

Common goldfishes are for those who desire to tame an original goldfish without any cross breeding and modifications. They are the nearest goldfish to their ancestors, the Prussian Carp. They are one of those varieties of goldfish that are well known for their hardiness and can survive in different conditions, water quality and variable temperature. The Commons can easily be kept in both in the indoor aquariums or in outdoor ponds. Available in various colors such as red, gold, white, yellow, black and orange, they can live up to 10 years or more.

Comet

Originated in USA, they are much sought after variety of goldfish in USA. Comets have a long natural life and can survive for 7 to 14 years. These goldfishes are very hardy and active and can easily be identified with their yellow, red, orange and red- white colors with having long single fork shaped fins. They are developed particularly for outdoor ponds, pools and can grow to a length of about 12 inches in ideal conditions.

Bubble Eyes

Originated in China, one of the oddest fish they have large sacs or bubbles below the eyes. Being fragile, they are not good swimmers and need extra care as their bubbles sometimes get punctured if accidentally knocking against the sharp tank décor. However, the bubbles do not get permanently damaged and can re-grow again. As they are slow and less active, they need to be kept separately from other boisterous type varieties. Bubble Eyes can grow up to a length of 6 to 8 inches in ideal conditions.

Demekin or Telescope Eye

Also known as dragon eye or globe eye goldfish, Demekins are one of few rare goldfish, which have a strangle look. Available in many lovely colors such as calicos, black and white, blue, lavender, chocolate and blue, red and red and white, they are strange creatures with having protruding eyes. Demekins in black color are also known as Moors such as Panda Moors and Black Moors. They are fast swimmers with veil tail and remain active all time.