Full Circle

Our black ranchu project has come full circle. In April of this year, we received our original ranchus as babies. Four months later was their first successful spawn. Now, their oldest offspring are 3 months old, and are almost identical to their parents when we first got them. It has been a great experience to watch our little ranchus grow up and produce babies of their own. We are looking forward to continuing our goal to improve the quality of black ranchus here in the US.

parents at about 3 months old

babies at 3 months old

three months old

ten weeks old

eight weeks old

5 week old fry

3 week old fry

Week-old fry

Ranchu Eggs

freshly-laid eggs

updated pics

Biggest female, right after laying eggs. We have had her for almost 5 months now.

Here are pics of the other 4 females. All but one have spawned at this point.

Here is the male. You can see the white "breeding stars" on his pectoral fins.

More Black Ranchu Pics

2 months growth

Got another shipment from Goldfish Utopia on 6/21/11. These pictures show the size difference between the largest of the black ranchus we got 2 months ago, compared to one of the new babies.

Thai Black Ranchu

These are the foundation of our breeding stock--black ranchu babies imported from Thailand! We received them on 4/26 and 5/10/11, from Goldfish Utopia.

Welcome to Ranchu Gardens!

This blog is a journal of our experiences in raising, keeping, and breeding ranchu goldfish.
The ranchu is a type of fancy goldfish with a round body and short fins, with no dorsal fin. The head of a ranchu is covered with headgrowth, called the "wen".
Ranchu were originally developed in Japan, where they were kept in ponds and were designed to be viewed from above.  They are referred to as "top view ranchu", or TVR.  Later, breeders in China and Thailand began to develop "side view" ranchu, or SVR, which are designed to be kept in glass aquariums and viewed from the side.
SVR are more popular here in the US, where most people keep their fish in glass tanks, although there are some breeders who specialize in the traditional Japanese TVR.
Here at Ranchu Gardens, we have decided to focus on SVR goldfish, since we keep them indoors in glass tanks, and we prefer the more rounded body shape of the SVR. Also, SVR are available in a wide variety of colors, unlike Japanese ranchu, where only red or red/white are considered acceptable. My favorites are the Thai Black Ranchu, which will be the main focus of this blog.