[amelia]

Pearlscale goldfish, like most fancy goldfish, grow from 6-10 inches long depending on genetics, living conditions when fry, living conditions when growing, and permanant living conditions in their homes. Their diet, water quality, and tank size, among other things can all determine the size of a fish. Goldfish can live upwards of twenty years, again depending on genetics and living conditions. The better the living conditions, the longer your pet should live.

Comet and common goldfish, on the other hand, live the same amount of time but grow much larger. Many grow from 10-14 inches, some even to 18 inches. They are faster than fancy fish, and thus they require much more space than fancy fish.

While you could keep two comet or common goldfish in a minimum of 55 gallons as a permanant home, less space is needed for their slower, smaller counterparts. 30-40 gallons should suffice for 2-3 fancy goldfish, regardless of whether it is a black moor, an oranda or ryukin, tosakin, ranchu, or in your case, a pearlscale. A 5 gallon home for even small goldfish is a mistake. This is not an appropriate holding tank for a long period of time while you search for larger tanks. Your fish are still small, and it is within the first year of life that goldfish grow the most. I have seen some fish only grow 2-3 inches in their first year, and some all the way up to 5-8 inches (One of my common goldfish being one that has topped 8 inches in his first year of life.) during their first year of life. The growth in the first year is also determined by.. you guessed it! Water quality, tank size, food quality, filtration, areation, etc.

To prevent stunting the growth of your new pets, you should invest in a larger tank (Perferabley a tall tank as goldfish and koi both gain muscle by swimming vertically) of 30-50 gallons. While 30 gallons is suitable for 2 pearlscale goldfish, you can get a larger tank if you plan to have any more than that in the future.

Another good thought is to not put a fancy goldfish with a common or comet goldfish (commons and comets do include shubunkins, which are sometimes labelled as fancy goldfish but are merely calico versions of a comet fish.). Common and comet goldfish are much faster and grow much larger than fancy goldfish, and have more "spastic" times than fancies do. They are more viscious eaters and can knock a fancy silly by simply smacking it with it's tail, which is never purposely.

You can mix pearscales with any other fancy goldfish. They are not aggressive fish and are very happy in big groups.

The 29 gallon you have would do for 2, but if you plan to get more you should put them in an established 55 gallon.

Since you have had reptiles in these tanks, you must make SURE they are sterilized before you put your fish in. You can scrub with table salt or vinegar, rinse with scalding or boiling water.. make sure to get all the salt and vinegar out before filling the tanks with water. Do not use any cleaning chemicals or soaps, as these leave residue that can kill the fish. I am not sure (though I have heard it can be done and other users could probably verify for you) if you can use bleach or not.. I have heard that you can. Again, make sure it's rinsed THOROUGHLY.

Good luck with your new fish!