Thank you very much. I feel honoured.
With this message, I send a photo of one of my Tosai Ranchu I bred at the beginning of 2004. I hope you like it. Comments are very welcome.

Regards,

Geert Coppens

Geert,

Looks pretty much like this fish is of Kashino parentage?

Geert, I personally felt that the belly is bugling out too much. Shouldn't the fish be more streamlined?

This new topic was split out from Ga 002.

Geert, do you have any nisai that you bred last year? Could you show us a pic and perhaps tell us if it is any different from one that is bred and raised in Japan? Thanx.

Geert, this batch spawn early Jan ? The fish looks a little big for this year fish. 7cm ? From your existing nisai line ? Kashino or Takeuchi ... just asking only.

Nice clean scaling, great tail and body structure. The only thing is body size slightly short. Mouth area a little small. Maybe still young.

Just a guess on this one, swimming is not as elegant. You should have another better one .... please show ...

I thought this Tosai is a very good one. But it is always easy to think this from your own Ranchu. This is the reason why I posted this photo, to know other opinions.
One thing is for sure, it does swim very beautifully. It is true that it is very big for its age. But, I know breeders who can breed their Ranchu bigger in 4-5 months.

Geert,

I supposed it is the angle the photo is taken at. The tosai appears shorter with a more rounded belly in the 1st photo. In the 2nd photo, I thought it looks very good.

That's a much better photo to show the detail. I got to expand the previous photo to 3-4x larger and a little distorted on the tail part. Still a very neat fish. I take back the mouth part as the new photo showing the better angle for viewing.

Quite true, I believe some breeders, that started late spawning, now only has 3-5cm fish right now. Yours is a mile ahead.

The same Ranchu six weeks later.

Regards,

Geert Coppens

Wow Geert,
I reckon thats got to be at least a 30% enlargement in wen in just six weeks!!!!!!! Most impressive indeed!

The tail looks "Kashino" but the head has the flavour of other lineage. Is it one of your experimental crossings?

Forrest.

WOW !!! This is not Kashino lineage leh !

What's the secret recipe ? A bit of takeuchi, a bit of kashino, a bit of ishikawa ... but still from the same kangyo-kai.

Still Impressive !

To give you a better idea of the tremendous change within a short 6 weeks period, I've combined the photos and created a before and after pic.

Enjoy the sight.

And what a sight it is!!

Thanks for the new combi photo. I didn't realize the change in 6 months was so great until I saw this new photo.

This fish features are all mirror from the center backbone; the scales, the shape of its tails, fins etc. However, I notice Ranchu's headgrowth (the one on top of its head) seldom are in perfectly developed. Is a perfectly mirrored headgrowth possible at all?

That tail seat has to be 5-6 scales deep . Is this aspect one of your favorite attributes of this fish?

The right hand funtan is noticably unbalanced in both old and new photos. I know wen can change almost by the week.
Will this fault disappoint you, or do you expect continued further development will give improvement?

Regards Forrest (olddog).

SIX WEEKS

not months

Hi Geert,
What a sight I guess you breed it yourself.
I have seen the web page of all your self breed top view I'm deeply impressed!!!
I believe you should have some self prepared recipe for your ranchu? Hope you can share.
I'm experimenting peas & spinach grind with B12 on one of my ranchu.
Still too early to tell results.
Please comment.

Thanks & regards,
David

I am sorry, but I have no special recipe that I feed my Ranchu. I only feed pellet food !
When my fry hatch, I feed brine shrimp until they are large enough to eat Fine Fish Food Type C. Later, I start feeding Ranchu Lord. And that is it.

High quality food is important ; and Ranchu Lord is high quality. But more important is studying your Ranchu before feeding them. Will I feed them ? How much will I feed them ? How often will I feed them ? I think automatic feeders are good. It makes us lazy. We must constantly study our Ranchu.

Water temperature is also very important. And ... water quality.

Every Ranchu Ranchu is different. Try to find the best feeding regime for all your Ranchu. Keep the Ranchu together with the same feeding habits and feeding necessities.

The darkest secrets of Ranchu keepers are not what they feed them, but how they feed them !


But THE MOST IMPORTANT is the knowledge of bloodlines and the right combinations. Top Ranchu Breeders are constantly looking for the right combinations.

Regards,


Geert Coppens

I AM SORRY, I MEANT : AUTOMATIC FEEDERS ARE NOT GOOD !!!!!

Regards,

Geert Coppens

Hi Geert,
Thanks for sharing. I'm using Ranchu Lord too.
Also Chroma, have you heard of it?
If so, please comment.

Heard about Japanese breeder feeding their fishes in the middle of the night!
Is that about finding the correct time to feed them?

About the bloodline and good combination is sure interesting. How do you come about understanding that? From books or your contacts?

Regards

Hi Geert:

Impressive fish and growth u have there..will u consider shipping your bloodlines to s'pore..Wow!No secret but still manage to have good growth rate..some ppl are still struggling like me..clean water...good food etc.But to no avail,i guess that most of the ppl here are too tied-up with daily work that having good quality time to observe your ranchu behaviour is almost obselete.

Hello Geert, Thanks for the hint. I believe every hobbyist held a full time job in day. It's pretty unbelievable if you can manage your ranchu well unless you are a full-time breeder. I guess this would the the darkest sercet of all!

Namaste

It does only take a few minutes a day to study your Ranchu.
I do have a full time job (60 hours a week !). Most breeders have a full time job. You only need some organisation and a lot of motivation.

Regards,


Geert Coppens

Some breeders give their FRY light almost 24 hours a day during the very first days of their live. In this case they feed them during the night. But I do not believe that many do this !
It is my opinion that fry also need to rest.

Regards,

Geert Coppens

A good Master, a lot of experience and ... trial and error.

Regards,

Geert Coppens

Of course this disappoints me a little. But only time will tell how the wen will develop. When the difference is not too big, it is OK.

Regards,

Geert Coppens