snip
===I bought some feeders from the LFS this year and it took them several
weeks
===to come up for food. They also developed black fins after I had them for
a
===couple of weeks, which I understand is recovery from Ammonia toxicity. I
===don't know if they got this from the LFS or the pond.
===
Are you saying the gold fish you see in stores with the black fins
have been subjected to high ammonia? If so thats a bummer.....I had
always assumed they were just colored that way naturally, matter of
fact that color combination is one of my favorites in goldfish. Nice
deep orange red body with black fins....unless were talking about
something totally different than what I am thinking.
Regards

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There are goldfish with black fins as a natural coloration. Some of the
common feeders develop several different color patterns before maturing into
the typical gold. Some will never turn gold. Some orandas and such are
bred for that gold and black combo which, I agree, is really cool.

But when a fish that normally does not show black fin coloration, suddenly
develops black fin coloration, it is usually a sign of water problems,
specifically ammonia. I do not speak from experience on the ammonia part
but have read about this problem in several books.