Naitoh Ranchu

[afnaveils]

I already mentioned the Naitoh Ranchu spawn I've got about 10 days ago in the BEP and Tsugaru nishiki posts. This one is only to keep track and give a follow up on them later on.

So, I have about 90 to 100 Naitoh ranchus fry from the last full moon (March 11). About 11 days old and doing well. A few stayed at the bottom even after they started eating. I've posted some pix of the parents in my album. They are still young, first spawn.

[bigbettadan]

Excellent news!!

Dan

[Sabine]

They look good, and big already.

[afnaveils]

A few of the Naitoh fry show spikes or part of a dorsal fin. I've culled about 6 of those till now.

[afnaveils]

From about 110 Naitoh fry, I've culled about 30 fry till now. Of those, about 5% were weak and small, 45% showed evident spikes, 50 % had partial dorsal fin.

I found one with complete dorsal, I am curious to know how this one turns out. Anyone here kept a dorsalled ranchu for fun?

[Sabine]

I am keeping one tsugaru with a partial dorsal fin - in fact, I'm not allowed to cull it! Guenther wants to keep that one for some breeding experiment with his wakin (because of their late demelanizing properties).
Looking forward to seeing some pictures of your little ranchus. 35% culls so far sounds pretty good to me (comparing to my results).

[harzan]

FROM CALICO RANCHU:

I kept them to see what they would be like. I had a few calico, but were weak and culled out. I have 3 red/orange and red/white long Orandas. Not much head growth, and looks like those extra large growing Orandas.

I might breed them next year for kicks.

Another funny one, I had crossed and blue ryukin to a bronze and had a couple calicoes with no dorsal, very skinny and long. It does not appear to resemble a ranchu and are smaller.:youtellme:

Harris

[afnaveils]

Thanks for your input Harris! Yes, there are always surprises in a brood of goldfish fry. However, they are evidence or results of secret crosses from the orient to develop new or revive lost varieties.

On another subject, what do you hobbyists do with fry which are noticeably smaller in the same brood? These fry don't show the major defects but are simply smaller. Do they catch up when separated from the bigger fry? I've always culled them out.

[Virginia ranchu]

Gerard,

In a larger spawn, I would probably cull the smaller fry. Not necessarily because they will never "catch up", but because I need to cull to a spawn size that I can realistically deal with.

In a smaller spawn, I would definitely keep smaller fry so long as they were perfectly formed. I often focus on the larger fry and then later notice some nice smaller ones that I had overlooked.

I think very young females will lay eggs that are less uniform in size than those from a two year old female. Fry from small eggs will start out smaller, but this isn't necessarily a genetic condition, just that they had less yolk to begin with.

I remember Gunn saying that he always discards the first spawn and waits for the second. (He also spawns his fish at 5-6 months old!)

Cheers,

Rob

[afnaveils]

March 11 Naitoh fry, not very good. I culled most of them, I think there are about 5 left. I don't know the exact number because I put them with my BEP fry.

[lion hero]

Naitoh Ranchu is top view ranchu .From your fry pictures I think the water level is too high.