Frederick County Goldfish Farming

Because goldfish are ornamental fish and pets, they were tracked as a crop. Many reports, in fact, refer to goldfish as a crop that was “harvested” in the fall.

Early Goldfish Farmers

Thomas Williams and Folger McKinsey identify Charles J. Ramsburg as the first goldfish farmer in Frederick County in History of Frederick County (Hagerstown: L.R. Titsworth & Co., 1910, pg. 1171-1172). By the early 1900s, Ramsberg was shipping about a million fish a year around the country. Another pioneer in goldfish farming was Ernest R. Powell. In 1892, at the age of twelve, Powell began to breed goldfish. By 1910, Powell had become successful enough to be identified as “one of the largest dealers of goldfish in Frederick County” in History of Frederick County (pg. 1236).

More farmers began entering the business, using existing farm ponds. “In the early part of the century, I think people in the county, especially farmers, saw goldfish as a way of making extra money,” goldfish farmer Ernest Tresselt said in and interview with the author.

Charles Thomas’s family have been goldfish farmers for three generations. He said that the rich color of the goldfish resulted from good breeding stock and water rich in nutrients from truckloads of manure dumped in the ponds. “The manure has nutrients that fish thrive on and actually all they have to do is open their mouths in order to eat,” Thomas once said in a July 3, 1981 article in the Frederick News-Post. It was these nutrients in the water, according to Thomas, that gave Frederick County goldfish the reputation of being the best-colored goldfish in the country.

Leading the Country in Goldfish

The 1925 News-Post Yearbook and Almanac (Frederick: Frederick News-Post, 1925, pg. 59) listed the county’s production at 3.5 – 4 million goldfish on 400-500 acres. These goldfish were sold for $10 to $50 per thousand, and the value of the yearly production was approximately $75,000. By 1932, production increased to seven million goldfish on 500-600 acres, with goldfish selling for $35.00 to $70.00 per thousand (retail price five-ten cents each), according to the News-Post Yearbook and Almanac for that year. Reports estimated Frederick County goldfish farmers had brought $1.5 million into the County.

Goldfish production in Frederick County soared, until by 1920, 80 percent of goldfish produced in the United States originated in Frederick County. By 1931, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that the goldfish industry was a $945,000 business in the United States. Throughout the 1930s and into the 1940s the publications of The News- Post Year Book and Almanac note that Frederick County had “more goldfish produced than in any part of the United States.” Goldfish were listed as “selected crops harvested” rather than “livestock on farms.”

Goldfish Move On

By the late 1930s the appearance of larger, more diversified, growers across the country reduced the demand from Frederick County farms.

Modern technology also worked against county goldfish farmers. Advances in shipping techniques and the increased variety and quality of goldfish available from growers around the world gradually changed the goldfish market. By the 1950’s, fish could be shipped in plastic bags by air freight. The plastic reduced shipping costs and the planes extended the distance the goldfish could be shipped. This further increased the competition in the market. Air transportation allowed areas that had not previously engaged in goldfish farming, such as Arkansas, to become competitive or even better locations than Frederick.

By the 1940’s only a few farms in Frederick County were still cultivating goldfish. “Everything changed,” Tresselt said. “We have to supply fish year round. The competition made it unprofitable for most farmers and they went out of business.”

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