There are two basic types of goldfish-scaled and "scaleless." The scaled fishes, the common goldfish, Comets, Fantails, and others, as we have said, are silvery olive-gray for three to six months. Then irregular spots of black, white, and gold appear, and in a few more weeks the black and white disappears, and the fish are covered with opaque, redgold scales, bright and metallic. They will, that is, if they are going to color up at all. A small percentage of goldfish never do, and we sell hundreds of thousands of these uncolored ones every year as bait fish.

The so-called scaleless fish actually have transparent scales which look like a delicate skin. This makes beautiful glowing, but not shining, colors possible among forms like the Shubunkins and Calicos. Their colors, including blues and lavenders, appear in many combinations. Like human fingerprints, no two fish are alike. Scaleless fish are white at first, but begin to color up about the same time as the scaled varieties do, and the first patches of color which form stay as long as the fish live.

   Determining age by size cannot be reduced to a formula, for some varieties grow more quickly than others. However, a fairly accurate ruleof-thumb can be applied. At six months, most goldfish are 1 to 2 inches long. A 3- to 4-inch length indicates one to two years' growth. After that, growth slows down and progresses to a large extent according to surroundings. In an aquarium, a goldfish may grow to 4 or 5 inches in eight or ten years. In an outdoor pond, in the same time, it may grow to 10 to 12 inches. A specialist with a microscope can determine age by the rings in the scales which are growth-marks similar to the rings in the trunk of a tree.

   The average water gardener probably does not want to take the trouble to set up elaborate facilities for goldfish breeding, but some understanding of the life cycle in his pool will certainly increase his enjoyment of it. Healthy fish begin to breed when they are about a year old. In an aquarium, breeding usually takes place in late winter or early spring. Outdoors, goldfish breed in spring and early summer. The female, her body swollen with eggs, will swim rapidly over and through root or leaf masses of submerged plants, rubbing against them as she goes and leaving a mass of perhaps several dozen eggs at each place. Eggs are pale amber, about the size of pinheads.