CBR update 1

I received these as BBR a couple of months ago. I have them up in a black poly tub and have been feeding them mixture of pellet food, my diy gel food and bloodworms. They are in heated water (we are in winter atm) and with air stones - no filters. I do 100% water change every 3 to 4 days or when the water starts to smell and look really dirty.

I think they are developing ok. There are definitely a few nice keepers. Some are growing too long for my liking.

Here's a video of few of my favourites:
CBR 2015 update 1: https://youtu.be/opMU1UUciKw

Ranchu update 8 months

So here's another update on my young ranchus.
A few days ago I bought a second hand tank off gumtree (basically where ppl sell any thing). It's a nice shallow 90 x 50 x 25 cm tank which is perfect for raising fry. I want to be ready come this spring as I didn't raise any the spring just passed.

So for fun, I set it up with an aquaclear 70 that I had lying around (also secondhand off gumtree that I got for $30 plus it came with a 100 watt eheim heater) and put seeded filter media from my pond outside.

It was a good chance to put them in there so I can finally see them properly from the side. 2 have coloured, 2 are still transitioning and the other is slightly just noticing a tinge of colour on his tail.

The matt ranchu is by far the smallest which I'm not surprised. I did find when they were smaller the calicos/matts were not as strong or healthy looking as the metallics.

They are not perfect but I'm happy with how they are growing (approximately 3-4 inches in total length). Slow and steady. I'm just hoping for healthy happy fish :)

(The calico in the background is a separate fish that I purchased)

New TVR

So about 2 weeks ago I picked up some new tvr from a family friend.
I have put them in the 60 gallon tub for now. I'll be getting some more tmr, which I'm thinking I may need to get another tub or maybe think about selling some of my younger fry soon to make space.

The plan was to keep my normal pet store SVR inside in an aquarium and groom the TVR in the larger pond.
Sigh... it's a bit of a headache trying to look for a rack to place tubs on top of one another

Update : I have also sold my female telescope butterfly. I think some times we get so drawn into the hobby that It can get out of control and overwhelming. Anyway I decided I wanted to step back and concentrate on ranchus for now.
I'm still what I want to do with my oranda which I bought on impulse from a pet store about 1.5-2 months ago. 😧

Ranchu update @ 5.5 months

Here's a quick update on my ranchu babies now at 5.5 months.
I'm glad that I stuck to it and continued to raise them. The uncoloured ones (which I feared were going to stay wild coloured) have finally started to change. This happened when I put one of the largest ones (the uncoloured ones tended to be larger than the others that coloured up quicker) into my main pond. My main also receives a few hours of morning sun and I think this has helped with the colour change.

Ranchu fry 4 months

Today decided to take some updated photos and video of my ranchu babies.
Unfortunately, since I was away on holidays for 2 weeks, they were fed very minimally and had no water changes (except a top up) so they did not really get a chance to grow much since the last blog post.

However since being back (it's been 1 week) I have been much more proactive on feeding more blood worms and doing more water changes. I have also culled the last few which were growing to long, which is evidence of the wild carp gene trying to revert itself. Also culled the last few with collapsed bung mouths. They were getting worse and would only continue to get worse as they got bigger. Also they probably wouldn't be able to eat normal size pellets.

I then also separated them again into two batches. One batch of smaller ones are in my larger black tub. This tub originally housed my tvr but those I have since placed into my main pond.

The larger batch are in the same tank but since there are less of them they have more space to move and grow. This way I can really focus on this batch and their water quality won't be compromised as easily.
I prefer the tank as i can easily grow wall algae in which they like to forage and need really, as a supplement to their pellet diet.

The batch below are almost 3 cm long now. They are definitely a lot fatter then before. And can start to see a teeny tiny bit of wen starting to thicken and grow.  :)

I must say, I have definitely learnt a lot with this first batch of fry. When I get a chance to raise a new batch of eggs, I will definitely feed a lot more BBS early on and for a bit longer. I'm hoping that the next batch will be this size at around 1-2 months old.

Unfortunately in my main pond, I lost another female fish :(
My black wild colour I called "batman" suffered internal bacterial infection. I have a feeling it was due to having too much sand in my pond as substrate. As since I usually am home to clean and do water change at least once a week it usually isn't a problem. But I think being away for 2 weeks and not having the substrate stirred caused anaerobic bacteria to grow and unfortunately she was the fish to get sick :(
It's unfortunate and I'm a bit sad but this is the learning part of the hobby. Also because antibiotics are strictly regulated here its quite difficult to get certain medicines.
Oh well.. we move on and learn from it. Since then I have removed about a bucket worth of sand. I'll continue to remove more when I can and if needed.
Fingers crossed the rest do not fall ill!

Ranchu fry @ 12 weeks

Today coincidentally marks their 3 months of living hahha
I just randomly decided to do an update photo of one of my favorite looking BBR and while I looking through my old photos, it told me today exactly was 3 months of hard work and raising.

I have definitely learnt a lot with this batch of fish. And although not perfect I definitely see a lot of potential. They have somewhat better form then any of their parents.
I eagerly wait to see what colours they will develop. I have 1 definite calico, and a few sakura (calicos lacking black colouring). I had more calicos in the spawn but I had to cull them as they were not healthy or developing very well :(

I have a few with collapsed mouths (bung mouth as I like to call it). But nothing that impedes their ability to eat and live happily in someone's pond :) plus they have other beautiful features like nice curved backs and pretty tails.

Ranchu fry @ 6 weeks

Here's one of my ranchu fry at approx 6 weeks old. I'm not sure the exact age anymore I'd have to check back on the photo date taken.

Anyway, I found I was feeding a bit too heavily on pellets and crushed flakes so I'm easing up on that a bit and relying on the algae and blood worms they enjoy eating :) I think they will yield better and healthier results.