Carassius auratus, was the first ornamental fish. These goldies have been kept as pets for about 1,000 years. The first varieties of these were sunny yellow, not orange. Since yellow was the Imperial color in China, commoners were forbidden from keeping yellow fish.
Enterprising breeders soon came up with the orange color that is popular today.
Lionhead and Oranda fish feature a fatty growth on the head called a "wen".
The wen tends to grow quickly during Spring and Fall, and can sometimes overgrow the eyes. It can be trimmed back but will often regrow. Fortunately, the other senses are good enough to let it find food even with covered eyes.
The word "Oranda" comes from a mispronunciation of "Hollander". Lionheads that had a dorsal fin were considered defective by breeders in the 1700s, but Dutch traders liked them, so the breeders began saving this particular fish for export instead of throwing them away.
The Ryukin is one of the few fancy fish that did not
originate in China. It was created by Japanese breeders in the
Ryukyu Islands over 200 years ago. This fish features a high humped
back and pointed nose.
For the most part, these fish are hardy, have a long life span and are fairly easy to take care of. Due to their strange body shapes and the way their internal organs are packed inside, they sometimes have problems that are not common among other types of fish, like koi for example, that may require special treatment.
Most often they will be afflicted with diseases that are common, such as flukes, Ich and bacterial diseases. These diseases can be treated with many of the same medications for koi and other types of fish. See our "Diseases" page for more information on diseases.
Pond vs Aquarium
From our experience Fancy fish do best in a pond. The natural sun light makes their colors brighter and deeper and they grow much faster due to a large supply of natural food. The finnage will develop better also.
We do recommend that your fish be brought in to an aquarium during the winter, especially in areas where pond water will freeze. However, many people keep their fish in aquariums all year and raise them to beautiful show quality specimens. Aquariums require more care, however. With a smaller volume of water you must do more frequent water changes and be more mindfull of any pH changes. Keeping water quality good requires more care when you only have 20 or 30 gallons as opposed to several hundred.
Goldies are not vegetarians. They require a balanced diet of all the food groups. Please see our "Feeding" page for more information.
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