In general yes, although obviously the closer the look the easier. and....
how good is your eyesight? I have tried very slow movements approaching the
opposite side of where they are and just camping out by the edge and trying
not to move much.
This is kinda the run down. First there are the 'pond fish' and then fancy
goldfish. The pondfish will generally have sleaker bodies and swim quicker.
Those a If it is all gold or white and has a short tail fin , like a
game fish, that is a 'common goldfish' aka feeder. The one with the stripe
is probably that. That is a sign it was in bad water and is now recovering.
The black will go away. Longer deeper V shaped, sometimes very flowing tail
and fins that's a comet. Sarasa Comets will be red and white usually about
50/50 though I have seen some with just a little red. They usually will not
have the very long flowing fins that some comets do, (though not always).
And of course none of these three is a purebred fish so it could be part of
two. Shubunkins to me seem to be just a little bit broader and to my
knowledge they are all calicos with some mixture of white, black, blue,
orange, red , but not necessarily all. They will normally be white with at
least two more colors in no particular pattern. Normally the black will be
in the form of spots like an ink splatter. I do have a black and orange
shubunkin which appears black in the pond, but you can defintely see the
mottled effect of the significant orange in it. Maybe possible but my guess
is all black would be a comet - uncommon but I've heard of them. Even if
they had poor service I would think it unlikely they would have fancy
goldfish with pond goldfish so what you have is probably amongst these. So
if they are mostly mixed colors - like modern splash paint art they are
probably shubunkins. Gold or White- Common Goldfish or Comets - Tails the
difference. Red and White-Sarasa Comets. Of course there are koi, but since
they are typically more expensive they probably would have been tanked
seperately.
HTH
Bill Brister - Austin, Texas

"Jason Garner" wrote in message
...
In my local Fish suppliers :-

I finally brought some fish for my pond, the assistant took me over to a
huge tank of fish and asked me which ones I liked. I had a look and then
said I would like some of the multi coloured Goldfish he said they are
Shubunkins so I pointed to one that had a large stripe down its back "I'll
have that one please" he looked at me with a totally blank look on his
face
and said "that's a Goldfish" after that I just picked ones I liked the
look
of and didn't bother to ask him what they were.

Problem is I now don't know what I have, Stripe is obviously a Goldfish
and
Vader (totally black) has a really long tail so I assume he is a Shubunkin
as for the other five they don't really have any distinguishing features
that I can pick out apart from their different colours and they don't
really
look like either of the other two.

Bearing in mind that as soon as I get near the pond they all dive under
the
pump to hide from me is there any way I can tell what types of fish I have
from say 4-5 foot away please?

I looked at pictures in books but didn't find that any help.

Many Thanks,
Jay