My fancy goldfish tank

[DMD123]

Today I await the shipment of my Apache Ranchu... and of course the day is dragging, lol.

Had started my fish on the Saki-Hikari food and Wow, these are little sticks (baby is only size they make). The fish dont seem that excited about them either. I did end up ordering some Hikari Lionhead which is a mini pellet so likely a better size.

I feed the two fish and they are very slow eaters with what I think is a slow all day grazing they must be doing. I sit and watch them eat and there is food left around after about 10 minutes or so. I come back hours later and do a gravel vac and no uneaten food!

Since the Saki-Hikari hasnt been that great I tried some sinking Large NLS Probiotix and they seemed to love it. I think i will continue to use this on them. I do think it might be difficult finding the right sized food for these guys when they are in the 5" range. Likely it won't be a commercial food marked as for goldfish. Likely a good 3mm sinking from NLS (Goldfish and Algaemax?) or something like that.

 

[BPSabelhaus]

For whatever reason they will cram the biggest / most pieces in that they can. I accidentally got mini pellets instead of sticks once and ended up crushing it as Endler food filler / fry chow. They just wouldn't touch it. Koi pellets or sticks that shouldn't fit in their mouth? I'll have three lol

They're fun lol

 

[DMD123]

New Ranchu in the tank, still a bit stressed and color is pretty faded

 

[DMD123]

I apparently have a female goldfish... Eggs everywhere

 

[DMD123]

The original two fish (red and White Lionchu) from King Koi are very settled in now and eating very well. The newer fish from Goldfish Island still seems like he is settling in but also eating quite well. Im totally happy with the color, size and overall well being of the two from King Koi. The one from Goldfish Island Im kind of iffy about. Even though there was a good picture selection and video, Im not really happy with the real world coloration of the fish. Maybe once fully settled in the colors may darken? Or as I researched later and found out that the Apache are unstable at a young age and the blacks can transition to gold. So who knows what I will get there.

Im still waiting on my Super Black too. Again a third different vendor so we will see how they do especially in light of the fact its the sellers choice in fish with me requesting a larger male fish.

Ive also been considering a couple Orandas. The patterns seen much more stable. Something about the lack of dorsal fin on the ranchu seems like it makes for some weird patterns. I an thinking of a Tricolor and or Panda.

Overall Im very happy switching over the tank to goldfish and could see a possibility of getting more in the future. Will update as fish grow .

 

[DMD123]

Easily figured out the female goldfish since the male Apache ranchu has been hounding her all morning. She is the one with no red on the body, just the red head.

 

[sir_keith]

...Something about the lack of dorsal fin on the ranchu seems like it makes for some weird patterns...

That's because early in embryogenesis a collection of multipotential stem cells called neural crest cells migrate to the dorsal side of the developing neural tube, just below the presumptive ectoderm that will become the dorsal surface of the embryo. This is the area where the dorsal fin will eventually form, so mutations that affect dorsal fin development often affect cell lineages that derive from neural crest precursor cells, and among these are melanocytes and other cell types that affect pigmentation. Aren't you glad you asked?

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[DMD123]

Aren't you glad you asked?

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Actually I appreciate the info. When a genetic abnormality is being bred like this lack of dorsal fin, it makes sense other factors would be affected too.

 

[DMD123]

Been feeding the fish the Burgundy bag of Saki-Hikari pellets and they are doing well on it. No bloating or floating so far unlike other online reports with this food. The pellets are a small stick and I wont be able to feed for much longer because at some point it will just be too little. At that point I will switch to Hikari Lionhead and eventually likely the large sized pellet of NLS Goldfish and Algaemax.

The fish are ridiculously cute and as Ive mentioned before, I hope this is not the gateway fish that gets me into blood parrots and flowerhorns, lol.

At this point also still waiting on my black ranchu. Not happy with the vendor, website does make it seem like the fish is stocked, but apparently it has to be imported in, that is pretty much the response when you look up my order. The say it could ship next week on the 20-23... will see. Also will see the quality of the ish i get at that point too.

 

[DMD123]

Tank updates: Still waiting for my shipment from https://coastgemusa.com/collections...t-black-red-and-white-grow-up-to-3-5-4-5-body

A bit frustrated with this vendor. Nothing on the site gave you the impression they were not in stock. At thai point Im waiting still to see if these ship this week. If not , I may end up requesting a refund and or order a what you see is what you get fish instead.

In the meantime I ordered an Oranda from https://www.chuchugoldfish.com/new-arrivals
Ive liked these guys from the get go due to some beautiful orandas they have there. Hopefully ships this week for Thursday delivery...

 

[DMD123]

New oranda is home

Slightly bigger than my Lionchus's but not that much bigger in the body mostly the huge fins

 

[lloyd378]

How big will these get?

 

[DMD123]

How big will these get?

Think they will be softball sized. Plans are to get one more fish and grow out for a bit in the 65B. After moving out the silver dollars, they would get moved into a 90g.

 

[DMD123]

Canceled my order for one of the fish, the super black Lionchu. They were not able to fulfill the order due to import issues on their side. Super awesome group of people and I will be looking at their site again.

In the meantime I am looking for one more fish. Im leaning towards another long fin type Oranda due to the sheer gracefulness of them. The one I got swims toward the middle and top layers of the tank and this has encouraged the Lionchu/Ranchu to venture higher up now. I would also consider a "Godzilla" type which is a shot body and short fin. I will likely wait till the next new batch get release at Chu Chu Goldfish or maybe looking at a very simple 'Lemon Head White Peonytail"

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[sir_keith]

What are you going to do in summer to keep them cool? I imagine it must get pretty warm in the garage/fishroom.

 

[DMD123]

What are you going to do in summer to keep them cool? I imagine it must get pretty warm in the garage/fishroom.

They should be okay, we did tap into our cooling system and have it vent into the garage. The heat pump does pretty well keeping it cool in the summer and a little warmer in the winter.

 

[DMD123]

Ended up ordering this guy after all

The yellows were some of the best Ive seen.

 

[DMD123]

So it was about 2 years ago I started to entertain the idea of keeping goldfish and now its a reality. Many years ago a member on MFK who kept a big headed midas cichlid mentioned how he kept goldfish too and he found more pleasure in them for the calming nature of the tank. Of course there was a bit of fun made for that comment but in now keeping them, I see the appeal. They are colorful, get along quite nicely with one another and depending on the type can seem comical or graceful. Was starting to get bored with a couple tanks and this really perked my interest back into the hobby. Glad I made the change. Might see more than one goldfish tank in my future.

 

[DMD123]

With the upcoming goldfish move I am looking to change the 90g out to a very dark gravel so that all my lighter colored fish will really 'pop' on it. Been looking around but cant really find exactly what Im looking for. I order a 5lb bag of a new CaribSea product called 'midnight river'. Looks too good to be true.

Advertised picture

The seller I ordered from shows it dry

The real stuff is not as smooth and nice looking as the 'wet' pic. So the small bag was a test bag to see what this stuff is really like.

 

[DMD123]

Was also going to add this Universal Rocks black slate