hello,

not sure what this is ... Ranchu or Lionhead?

thanks for your help.

Attach file:

---

  kingyo 095a.jpg (36.88 KB)

here is another picture ...

Attach file:

---

  eggs 010.JPG (60.74 KB)

Hi goldfishgirl and welcome to FK They can be a devil to tell apart and there seem to be many and varied 'variations on a theme of lionhead/ranchu' as well. A 'pedigree' lionhead has a large headgrowth, a fairly straight back and the tail goes out at a shallow angle to the body. 'Pedigree' ranchus can also have headgrowths but have much more of an arch to the back and the tails go out at a sharp angle from the body. Some fancies aren't bred particularly well and don't come from great stock so you may not get an 'exact match' to either description. Doesn't mean they are duff fish though, goldies are fab

Yours has more of a lionhead body shape, any sign of headgrowth yet? It looks quite a baby, is it new? What are you feeding it on?

Can you tell us a bit more about your set up? We're very nosey

The pic is of my ranchu, Quantum. It's fairly rubbish, black fish are tricky to photograph it turns out! But you can see his arched back, sharp angled tail and slight headgrowth. He's not very old, had him since September.




HTH

oh yes,
yours has a very curved back. what a gorgeous fish!

mine is a baby (only 2 inches) no head growth yet. He was the only one in the tank with no head growth. he was sold to me as a ranchu but i didn't think he was. if it's a pedigree as you put it i can usually tell, but when it's in between, i just can't tell lol.

i think it's a girl because her vent seems to show in one of the pics... not sure though, what do you think? i haven't named her because i wanted to wait until i found out WHAT she is.

She is very friendly and she lives in a 150l tank with a 2 year old fantail, a couple ryukins about 18 months old (my favs), a one inch comet, a common, a one inch moore, and an oranda. i plan to upgrade as they grow. and now i have to find a real ranchu to add to my collection he he. I will put the common and comet in ponds when they get a bit bigger. (i don't have a pond at the moment but i'm thinking about it)


i feed them floating pellets, sinking pellets, frozen blood worms, peas, frozen masquito larve, brine shrimp in jelly, and once i gave them a bit of plain boiled rice :)
x

Attach file:

---

  kingyo 0421.jpg (30.41 KB)

That's quite a collection! You are right that you will need to upgrade their tank soon, for the fancies you will be looking at 350+ litres And yes, the common and comet will be happier in a pond. I always feel mildly hypocritical saying that as I have a singletail but he was adopted from someone else with a much smaller tank when a pond couldn't be found for him.

Check out this thread with some pics of my big girls I adopted recently from another member. They are about 18 months - two years old now. The calico, Ren, has a bit of ryukin in her somewhere. Should give you an idea of what yours are heading towards Howie, the common with them, is about 9 inches.

http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/modules/ ... 81&forum=1&post_id=229945

I'm not sure I'd add another fish just yet Proper ranchus are quite hard to come by, my lfs is pretty good but I've only seen ones like Quantum in there the once. They often have 'inbetweeners' a bit like yours (no offence!).

She does look like she's a girl. I seem to have an excess of boys, girls are much better behaved! Was hoping Quantum was a girl but I don't think he is

BTW - is it me or does she have a couple of tiny white spots on her tail? If she doens, keep an eye on them just in case it is whitespot

Were the 2 photos taken at the same time?

hello again,

the pics are about two or three days apart. She has a mip missing from her tail but i've not noticed any spots. i'll keep an eye on here. (i watch them for hours everyday lol) i have all the meds they could need but i only use them IF i have to.

i am not looking to buy a ranchu right away but i will defo keep my eye out for the perfect one. have you seen the side view ranchus from thailand? they are gorgeous but you would have to have it flown. i would think that is both hard on the fish and expensive. perhaps not worth it but they are very attractive.
like i say, they are now very small but the 2 year old fantail is about 5 inches long already so i want to make sure they all have their room. they are not crowded but the waste they produce is unreal! my filter has to be cleaned everyday or it will it break lol. i am getting them another filter today as well. i have three other empty tanks but one has eggs at the moment! it was my fault. the last time i did a water change i added water just a bit to cool. now i have to figure out what to do with all these babies!!!
your fish is good looking. the curve is very bold. i will only buy a ranchu if i find something like yours. my boyfriend is taking me to a fish store today to see a LARGE black ranchu. i'll try to get a picture of it with my phone :)
so would i call my fish a lionhead or is there a name for inbetween? x

I'd guess it's probably an inbetweener - time will tell though

If you have some empty tanks I'd be inclined to separate some of this fish out a bit if you can, assuming the tanks are big enough and you have enough kit to set them up. You've said the filter isn't coping - that really does imply the tank is overloaded I clean my filters every fortnight with five fish in one tank and four in another. The sponges are pretty grotty by then. I've just bought some bigger filters so am waiting to see what improvement they are ...

Have you tried raising fry before? It is a huge amount of hard work for minimal results Fez bred some babies from Rocket (in the thread I linked to above) and she ended up with two out of about fifty fry.