Shubunkin Goldfish Care, Feeding, Diseases, Breeding and more...

Three types of Shubunkin Goldfish are recognized: the London, Bristol and Japanese-American.

Introduction

All types of Shubunkin Goldfish have similar body shapes to their wild carp ancestor.  Their coloration is calico or nacreous, with a mottled appearance of multiple colors ranging from red, orange, black, blue, and white, with every variation in between.

Last updated: 01-07-2025 by Grant Lord.

Shubunkin Goldfish General Care Guidelines

Shubunkin require no special care.

• Give them enough room to grow; allow about 140 liters (30 gallons UK, 36 gallons US) with a filter installed for an adult fish.
• Make frequent large water changes, ensuring no large differences in water temperature or pH and chlorine or chloramine has been removed from the water.
• Feed them a variety of fresh plant and animal-based foods.
• Shubunkins are suitable for ponds.  They are hardy, active fish but tend to fade if exposed to full sunlight, so some form of shading is recommended.
• These Goldfish rarely suffer from digestive problems caused by poor food, which can lead to balance problems in the more developed varieties with short, round bodies.

Shubunkin History and Origin

All Goldfish varieties can be traced back to the Prussian or Gibel carp.  Through selective breeding of fish that developed odd genetic characteristics such as gold coloration and twin tails, all 100 plus different varieties have been created.

All Goldfish varieties have the same scientific name of Carassius auratus auratus var., not Carassius gibelio, which is interesting because no variety of Goldfish lives in the wild (unless introduced intentionally), not even the Common Goldfish.

The Shubunkin Goldfish lineage can be traced back as a direct mutation from the wild Goldfish (Huna).

Physical Characteristics

What Should a Shubunkin Goldfish Look Like?

All Shubunkins have body shapes similar to wild fish. 

London Shubunkins have short fins similar to that of Common Goldfish.  Bristol Shubunkins have finnage similar to the Common Goldfish except for the caudal fin, which has extremely rounded lobes.

A third variant, often described as the Japanese/American Shubunkin, has a caudal fin similar to the Comet Goldfish with pointed ends.

The best specimens have few or no metallic scales present, the gill plates are transparent, not metallic, and the eyes have no reflective surround, often called button eyes.

Many color combinations are possible on a single fish, but ideally, blue is the  predominant color.

Scale Types of Shubunkin Goldfish

Breeders aim to produce a fish with intense blue coloration, blotches of red, orange, yellow, and brown and a stippling of black dots over all the colors.

There is no color change in nacreous-scaled Goldfish.  As the fry get older, colors start to appear and become more intense.

Feeding and Diet

 Proper feeding is a must to avoid ragged or congested fins developing on the longer fin varieties.

Gel foods are recommended as they mimic Goldfish's natural foods, which are mainly soft and moist.

Live foods can include mosquito larvae, daphnia, earthworms, blood worms, white worms, and adult brine shrimp.

If live food is hard to find or grow yourself, many specialist fish shops have the frozen equivalent.

I wouldn't collect daphnia from the wild as parasites such as lice can be introduced into the aquarium.

Mosquito larvae are easy to raise, and Goldfish of all ages love them.  Check whether you are legally allowed to raise them, as you can't in some countries and US states.

How much, how often, and what to feed your Goldfish depends on age, season, or whether you are conditioning your fish for breeding.

Because Goldfish only have rudimentary stomachs, they graze continuously, which is why they always appear hungry.  Ideally, they should be fed 3 times a day, but for most, this is impracticable.

Adult fish should be fed between 1-2% of their body weight daily.  If only one feeding a day is possible, a good quality food that won't dissolve before the fish can eat it is needed. This is why a gel food such as Repashy Super Gold is recommended.

The danger of overfeeding is often the reason given to feed only what can be consumed in a few minutes.

Fact: Goldfish cannot be overfed!  Goldfish are slow eaters compared to some fish species because they only have a rudimentary stomach.  They force as much food as possible into their mouths and slowly chew and swallow it before looking for another mouthful.

During this period, dry, processed foods are dissolving.  When the fish are looking for their second or third mouthful, the food has dissolved into dust that can decay and pollute the water.

Tank Setup and Maintenance

Suitable Tank Size for Shubunkin

Shubunkins are active fish. 

Allow about 140 liters (30 gallons UK, 36 gallons US) with a filter installed for one adult fish.

140 liters is a good compromise between how big the fish will grow, how big the tank is to handle, water temperature swings, and the frequency of water changes needed to keep nitrates below 30 ppm.

For each additional Goldfish, another 45 liters (10 gallons UK, 12 gallons US) are required.

If your tank is for display purposes only, get a tank slightly taller than it is wide, as taller plants such as Vallisneria can be grown, and a taller tank has a larger viewing area.

Do not place your tank where it will receive direct sunlight or strong indirect sunlight.  Even strong artificial light can be a problem.  Tanks produce ideal algae growing conditions with their high nitrate levels; sufficient light is all that is necessary to produce an algal bloom.

If you have no option but to place your tank near a strong light source, you can always install a UV clarifier.

Maintaining Water Quality

Like all Goldfish varieties, the Shubunkin requires good water quality to thrive.  The difficulty with this is that Goldfish can become large given the right conditions; when young, they need a lot of food to grow quickly, which produces large amounts of waste.

The ideal water parameters for Shubunkin are:

• PH between 6.5-7.4
• Nitrates below 30 ppm (parts per million).  Very young fish (fry) require nitrates to be below 5 ppm.
• Ammonia needs to be at zero
• Nitrites need to be at zero
• Water temperature between 16-24^oC (60-75^oF)
• GH (general hardness) of 200 ppm or above (dGH 11)
• KH (carbonate hardness) of 143 ppm or above (dKH 8)

Most city water supplies fall into these parameters.  If your water source is from a bore, it will pay to check the water parameters, as nitrates and hardness readings can often be very high.

Some water supplies can be extremely soft, with KH 0-1 and GH 2-3.  If you want your fish to grow, the GH must be raised.

You will need a water test kit to check your water parameters regularly and determine when to make water changes.  Get a test kit that has test tubes and solutions.  Don't use test strips, as they are notoriously inaccurate.

Making partial water changes without checking whether they are sufficient or often enough is just guessing.

Filtration and Heating

A filter, although not essential, does reduce the maintenance workload.  Water changes must be made much more frequently to keep ammonia at a safe level if a filter is not installed.

Once it is cycled, a filter removes dangerous ammonia and nitrites, creating less harmful nitrates.  A water change becomes necessary once the nitrate level goes above 30 ppm, which is why you need a water test kit.

Shubunkins are strong swimmers; a filter should turn the aquarium water volume over four times an hour but not create a current the fish have to swim against.

Shubunkins are warm water fish, not cold water, not tropical, and prefer seasonal temperature changes.

Goldfish can take very low temperatures but only briefly, such as in Winter when they enter a dormant or low activity state.  Low water temperatures like these are best tolerated by less developed varieties such as the Shubunkin. 

A heater is not required if kept indoors, where water temperatures will be well above freezing.  If Shubunkins are kept outside in a pond, and water temperatures are expected to fall below 0^oC (32^oF) for extended periods over Winter, bringing them inside for Winter would be wiser.

Plants and Substrate

Vallisneria is a suitable plant for a Shubunkin aquarium or pond.

Goldfish are omnivorous, meaning plant material forms part of their diet.

If you choose the wrong plants, your Shubunkins will strip them to stalks within hours.

Suitable plants are;

• Vallisneria - used as a background plant because of the height it grows to
• Blue Hygrophila – used as a foreground plant.  There is a dwarf variety available.
• Hygrophila Difformis – used as a foreground plant.  Its fast growth helps control algae.
• Red Bacopa – the leaves get a red tinge on the underside
• Ludwigia Arcuata – this plant requires a relatively large amount of light before forming a red stem and leaves.

Adding substrate or having a bare bottom tank is a personal choice, but there are some considerations before purchasing substrate;

• White substrate will cause your fish to lose color intensity
• Sand is not a good choice if you want to install an under-substrate filter.  The grains need to be between 3 and 6mm in size.
• Goldfish will choke on small pieces of smooth gravel.  I have lost two Black Moors from this.
• Are you planning on growing live plants?  Plants can be grown in containers if you don't want to have substrate.

Aquarium Decorations

Aquarium decorations aren't such a problem for Shubunkins as for other shortsighted varieties, such as Moors, who tend to blunder around an aquarium.

Bristol Shubunkin fins can grow quite long, so they appreciate more open water in the aquarium to move around freely.

Decorations with holes or confined spaces should also be avoided, as if it's possible to get stuck, Goldfish invariably will.

Suitable Tank Mates for Shubunkins

The most common mistake novice Goldfish keepers make is to mix fancy varieties with single-tailed varieties.  They don't realize that slow-swimming varieties such as Oranda and fantails can't compete successfully with fast-swimming varieties like Shubunkins for food.

What happens over time is as the single-tailed fish get the majority of the food, they get bigger and bigger, and the others don't thrive.

Shubunkins can be kept with other Goldfish varieties but are best kept with single-tailed varieties such as Common and Comets.

Plecos and Bristle Nose catfish used for removing algae can become a problem when they get larger if they start eating the slime off the sides of your Shubunkin as a protein supplement to their diet.

Any other small fish or aquatic life in the aquarium will be eaten if it can fit into your Shubunkin's mouth.

Health and Diseases

Parasites

Several types of parasites attack Goldfish;

• Flukes if the body length of the fish is under 52mm (2 inches)
• Intestinal worms
• Protozoan parasites such as Costia and Ich (white spot)
• Free swimming aquatic parasitical crustaceans such as anchor worm and lice.

Bacterial Diseases

Bacterial infections can show as;

• Fin rot
• Bacterial gill disease
• Mouth rot
• Pop eye
• Raised scales
• Body sores (ulcers)
• Red patches on the body and fins

Fungal Infections

Fungal infections are quite common in Goldfish.  They are usually seen as large or small tuffs of white cotton wool-like matter on the skin or fins.

A much more serious fungal infection is Branchiomyces, an aggressive fungus that kills fish by destroying gill tissue.

Viral Pathogens

The two most common viruses are:

• Lymhocystis virus, which appears as a white crusty growth on the skin and
• Papillomatous lesions caused by the cyprinid herpes or carp pox virus.

Both look very similar, but the treatment is different.  Both are weakly transmissible, but neither is fatal.

More about Goldfish diseases here...

Quarantining New Fish

Quarantining new fish does not mean keeping them separate from your existing fish population for a few weeks and observing if they develop a disease.

It is unlikely fish being kept in pristine quarantine conditions and being fed high-quality food will succumb to any disease.

But what if the new fish carry a few parasites, such as flukes within the gills, and do not exhibit any symptoms?

And what if your fish have low immunity to flukes as they have never been exposed to them before?

It should be assumed your new Shubunkins have parasites and should be treated for them. 

A mild salt bath at the same time will take care of any bacterial or fungal infections that aren't obvious at the time of quarantining.

An additional benefit of salt is that it boosts Goldfish's immune system.

Breeding Shubunkin Goldfish

They are one of the easier varieties to breed because they lack features that hinder breeding in the more exotic varieties, such as telescopic eyes.  They are quite active fish, so a large aquarium or small pond is required.

Male/female differences are more evident in the breeding season because of their slim body shape.  The female becomes much more rounded as the eggs ripen prior to spawning.

The white tubercles that appear on the male's operculum (gill plates) in the breeding season are usually easily seen, as are the tubercles on the leading edges of the pectoral fins, indicating the male is in breeding condition.

Breeders aim to produce a fish with intense blue coloration, blotches of red, orange, yellow, and brown, and stippling of black dots over all the colors.

When Shubunkins are bred, all three scale groups are produced.  Approximately half the fry will have nacreous scales, 25 percent will have matt scales, and the remaining 25 percent will be metallic.

The metallic specimens often take a long time to change color, if they do change color at all.

Feeding large amounts of tubifex worms and bloodworms is also recommended, but finding enough supplies for these types of food can be problematic.

More about breeding Goldfish here...

Summary and Key Facts

Country of Origin: Japan

Maximum size (body length): 200mm (8 inches)

Caudal Fin: Single in all types, half as long as the body and deeply forked with rounded lobes in the Bristol Shubunkin pointed in the Japanese/American Shubunkin, similar in length and shape to the Common Goldfish in the London Shubunkin.

Dorsal Fin: Present

Anal Fin: Single

Scale Group: Nacreous, with all known goldfish colors able to be present.  Intense blue is the desired color, not slate blue, as is often the case.

Eyes: Normal

Distinguishing traits: Many color combinations are possible on a single fish, but always with the predominance of blue.

Breeding:  One of the easier varieties to breed because they lack features that hinder breeding in the more exotic varieties.

Male/female differences are more evident in the breeding season because of the slim body shape.  The female becomes much more rounded as the eggs ripen prior to spawning.

When Shubunkins are bred, all three scale groups are produced.  Approximately half the fry will have nacreous scales, 25 percent will have matt scales, and the remaining 25 percent will be metallic.

Special requirements: Shading from full sunlight.

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