• Amused
  • Angry
  • Annoyed
  • Awesome
  • Bemused
  • Cocky
  • Cool
  • Crazy
  • Crying
  • Depressed
  • Down
  • Drunk
  • Embarrased
  • Enraged
  • Friendly
  • Geeky
  • Godly
  • Happy
  • Hateful
  • Hungry
  • Innocent
  • Meh
  • Piratey
  • Poorly
  • Sad
  • Secret
  • Shy
  • Sneaky
  • Tired
  • Results 1 to 9 of 9

    Thread: Are Rules for Selecting Calico Goldfish same as Showa?

    1. #1
      hypersushi is offline Junior Member
      This user has no status.
       
      Feeling:
      ----
       
      Join Date
      May 2008
      Location
      Malaysia
      Posts
      17

      Question Are Rules for Selecting Calico Goldfish same as Showa?

      I always wondered if the "rules" for selecting a tosai calico goldfish (ranchu, demekin or oranda) are the same as that of choosing tosai showa?

      In tosai showa (from my limited understanding):
      1. Beni that is orangey will later turn brilliant red as fish matures
      2. Don't choose a "finished" fish but rather, a fish for tomorrow. That includes sumi that is not too defined or too much.

      Or, rules do not apply as goldfish have much shorter lives thus a 6 month old goldie is wayyyyy older than a tosai koi. I ask because I once bought an absolutely stunning calico demekin only to see it become very black and dirty-looking over the years. I got a fully red-head, red finned, white bodied ranchu only to see it change to totally bland orange over the years. Your thoughts?

      • Remove Ads
        Advertising from Google
        Promoting Koi and Pond
        keeping since 2007

         

    2. #2
      lukef's Avatar
      lukef is offline king of the lilliputians
      This user has no status.
       
      Feeling:
      ----
       
      Join Date
      Feb 2006
      Location
      florida
      Posts
      4,224
      I will say "NO!" the black on a goldfish recedes over time when it is a developing... GF are completely different.... ugly ones can become awesome in a couple of months
      "Those aren't poodles. They're Dobermans with afros."

    3. #3
      mjfromga's Avatar
      mjfromga is offline Senior Member
      This user has no status.
       
      Feeling:
      ----
       
      Join Date
      Feb 2017
      Location
      Georgia
      Posts
      312
      The black on a true calico will only darken and get richer with time. We want blue backgrounds on calico fish with the rest of the color vivid and well spread out. Fancy goldfish don't usually live past 6-7 and most can't care for them well enough for them to even reach these ages. If your fish are lovely when you buy them and then fade into poor color in your care, perhaps you should question your care.

    4. #4
      hypersushi is offline Junior Member
      This user has no status.
       
      Feeling:
      ----
       
      Join Date
      May 2008
      Location
      Malaysia
      Posts
      17
      Hi mjfromga,

      My calico demekin was from China. Had a silvery kirin style colouration with light black spots peppered all over the fish when I bought it. I saw the colour fading so I kept it outdoors in green water and strong sunlight. Tail and finds started turning very dark and spread to the body. I couldn't reverse this effect thereafter. This male lived for about 6 years. My male ranchu was red head, red fins, white body. After feeding saki hikari colour, orange started growing on its belly. This fish started from the greenwater outdoor tank and I moved it to my indoor tank. That's when the reds started to go downhill and the orange started to creep all over the fish. Now it's just dull orange. Have been keeping him coming to 4 years now.

    5. #5
      mjfromga's Avatar
      mjfromga is offline Senior Member
      This user has no status.
       
      Feeling:
      ----
       
      Join Date
      Feb 2017
      Location
      Georgia
      Posts
      312
      I actually found that green water damaged the color of my fish. I had BAD cloudy pea soup green water where no sun could penetrate and all the colors faded on the fish. Feeding excess color foods doesn't help either. Moves the color around rather than sharpens it. And as fish get old, color tends to fade anyway.

    6. #6
      lukef's Avatar
      lukef is offline king of the lilliputians
      This user has no status.
       
      Feeling:
      ----
       
      Join Date
      Feb 2006
      Location
      florida
      Posts
      4,224
      I have seen enough gf((Minimum 30 thousand) to not believe anything I hear or read about color development in fish under 2 yrs old.
      "Those aren't poodles. They're Dobermans with afros."

    7. #7
      Romewhip's Avatar
      Romewhip is offline Senior Member
      is coffee coffee feed me coffee
       
      Feeling:
      Geeky
       
      Join Date
      Aug 2010
      Location
      Western WA
      Posts
      613
      Young GF are probably best selected on shape and fin quality rather than color. Color is a bonus.

    8. #8
      KurtG's Avatar
      KurtG is offline Senior Member
      This user has no status.
       
      Feeling:
      ----
       
      Join Date
      Mar 2011
      Location
      Annapolis, MD
      Posts
      1,005
      My experience has been somewhat different than Myra's but we've only ever started with $2 calicos from pet shops. As they've grown to softball size over 5-6 years, they all developed oppositely to koi. We had some orange getting stronger (which is usually unheard of in koi); however, black only grew weaker fading out towards white after 5-6 years (whereas sumi usually gets stronger in koi). I finally got rid of the fancies as they lasted to about February before needing to come inside through spring due to cold water. We have about 20,000 comets in the mud pond now

    9. #9
      Thumper Dunker is offline Member
      This user has no status.
       
      Feeling:
      ----
       
      Join Date
      Aug 2013
      Location
      modesto cal.
      Posts
      89
      Quote Originally Posted by Romewhip View Post
      Young GF are probably best selected on shape and fin quality rather than color. Color is a bonus.
      Ditto. Shape is almost every thing. Perfect fins and body.

      • Remove Ads
        Advertising from Google
        Promoting Koi and Pond
        keeping since 2007

         

    Posting Permissions

    • You may not post new threads
    • You may not post replies
    • You may not post attachments
    • You may not edit your posts
    •