Ranchu in Ireland

I am having a hell of a hard time locating one. There seem to be lots of lionheads and lionchus but no real Ranchus (we prefer Japanese type Ranchu but Chinese or Thai ones will not be ruled out). What's more, the lionchus in pet shops which come close to Ranchu in form seem to universally have swim bladder issues from what I can see. We want a healthy one.

We had a little Ranchu-like lionchu which was only a little 1" baby, not even big enough to have any headgrowth yet. He tended to float tail-up like the rest of them, and could hardly swim, but we loved him. Unfortunately because of his swimming disability he ended up getting badly injured somehow (seems to have been sucked towards the filter) and he died the other day. For this reason it's absolutely imperative that we locate a healthy one which can swim properly and which is that little bit bigger (say 3" long minimum). The shops only ever seem to carry tiny ones. We've had 2 tiny baby goldfish die tragically in the last few weeks so we're not going there again. These are our beloved family pets.

Does ANYONE have one, or know where we can find one? I've been quoted a price of £245 sterling for shipping alone by a breeder in the UK. This is way beyond our budget. There must be one SOMEWHERE without agreeing to that kind of extortion? We're not looking for some 5* world show champion quality specimen or anything. Just a pretty and healthy family pet.

Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

We have some in stock in Artane Aquatics. We have new cold waters arriving on Wednesday which will have more on it.

Yes, that was where we got our little tiny one with the dodgy swim bladder that didn't make it. They were marked "lionhead ranchu" and were absolutely tiny. Not sure which they are - lionheads, ranchu or a cross (lionchu). Do you know if the ones you're expecting in on Wednesday will be the same size or any bigger?

ETA: The fish on the top right right of the second photo I posted is pretty much exactly the type we're looking for, as a guide. Deep tail tuck, some headgrowth, not too exaggerated, eye not too tiny as is commonly seen in many black Ranchus, nice and robust.

As Ranchu are Lionheads (they are a relatively new mutation of the original lionhead) then hybrids don't really exist.

The other problem is that I do not believe one can breed Ranchu even though one may be able to breed from Ranchu. That is because of the fragility and limited persistence of the Ranchu genetics that make only a few offspring from a Ranchu breeding will be Ranchu.

Hence, true Ranchu are only likely to be quite big (ie big enough to apply the arbitary show standard) and quite expensive.

As for lionheads being prone to swim-bladder trouble.....that is true of any of the egg-like goldfish and the incidence is increased with certain lines and under certain conditions. The Ranchu is no less prone to swim-bladder than a 'lionhead' but the selection of the parents by careful breeders may reduce incidence in comparison to indiscriminate breeding for the mass market.

You may well find Ranchu in what are sold as Lionheads.....it is pot-luck, but you are more likely to have Lionheads in a group of Ranchu than you are likely to have Ranchu in that group.

We have some rather nice black Ranchu that are holding their blackness very well....and they cost about 5 euro a few years ago. That was a nice bit of luck spotting good quality fish at such a cheap price.

On a similar thing, finding veiltail goldfish is even more of a tricky task.

ian

Well that is not the viewpoint on the breeds that I have been taught (by American, Japanese and Chinese goldfish people who definitely do separate them and consider a cross of the two to be a mongrel). But look, whatever label you want to put on them, I am looking for an egg-shaped goldfish without a dorsal fin that has a square wenned head, 90-degree tucked tail, arched back and cobby body, that is capable of swimming without its bum floating above its head and is not a tiny baby. We would import directly from Yatomi if we could afford it, to be honest.

The show standards are definitely arbitrary but we are not looking for a grand champion. Ranchu breeders never sell their top stock anyway but someone must surely have something good enough for our purposes. The fish in the photo would almost certainly win nothing at any Japanese Ranchu specialty show. But we find its tucked tail, waddling movement and distinctive face charming. Isn't that enough?

Edit: Oh by the way, I was offered a veiltail the other day but I turned it down because I found it lacking in type.

Many years of discussion and debate on these, but they are all mutts or mongrels really at the end of the day.
There is also the same arbitrary rubbish attached to show standards on siamese fighters (it's just that people like to put things in little boxes)

What I gather you're looking for is the same thing I look for.....a nice looking fish that has a greater than 90% chance of swimming upright.

Some of the small specimens I've seen around are bit like Russian roulette.....it's a gamble that they turn out good let along being anything near a show standard. But you can get lucky.

I've seen 'veiltails' as well in recent years......but turned out to be scrawny fan-tails.
Last time I ever got a decent proper veiltail was well over 30 years ago, and not much seen since.
Stunning fish if good quality.

I think that the goldfish fancying community in Ireland is pretty small and that will rub-off on sparingly good stock coming in.

There is still a 'beginner fish' tag associated with goldfish....that is a pity as I consider many of the fancy strains are actually quite specialist fish that require special conditions.

ian

Yeah that veiltail I was offered was definitely a glorified fantail as far as I could see!

I'm sure if you wanted to pay silly shipping costs you could get that breeder in the UK to send you some real veiltails, or Ranchu or Tosakin for that matter!

I wish so much that there was a better choice of goldfish here. We regret so deeply that we couldn't bring some of those gorgeous Yatomi fish home with us the last time we were in Japan. They have so much more personality and make better pets than any tropical fish in my personal opinion. We have a Betta, assorted tetras and a couple of dwarf African frogs now as well as our goldfish and to be honest I feel I might as well have left the tropical tank empty or sold it to put money towards a bigger one for more goldies.