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The celestial is rare in UK, being a novelty fish here, but it is popular in China and USA; they are very hard work to breed to the standard. They need to be kept in tanks free of entanglements and without strong overhead lighting; given these conditions, they lead perfectly normal lives.
Celestials first appeared around 1870. In Japan the celestial is called the demeranchu.
The celestial standard is as follows:
The fish should be bright and alert. The body should be short not elongated, with smooth contours and showing no sign of a dorsal fin. The caudal fin should be well divided.
The eyes should be well matched, looking upwards and well developed.
The colour may be metallic (self-coloured or variegated in a pleasing pattern and similar on each side) or calico. Metallic colours should appear as burnished metal, extending into the fins. Calico fish should have a blue background with patches of violet, red, orange, yellow and brown, spotted with black.
Ideal profiles are illustrated below:
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This is a good example of the type, with good body depth, although the tail lobes are somewhat long for the British standard.
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This fish was shown at BAS 2001 and has the typical long-lobed, Far Eastern tail.
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This fish was shown in 2003 and illustrates selective breeding in action - it is from the same stock as the 2001 exhibit (above) and, over the two intervening years, the breeder has developed the shorter, wider tail lobes (fantail-type) of the standard and has improved (deepened) the red colouration.
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The above two fish have the long, narrow bodies and long tail lobes of Far Eastern imports and were photographed in a pet shop.
Young metallic red-white variegated celestials and a red-black fish, together with two red bubble eyes .(There is a red cast to the photograph: the silver-white colouration appears pink). Photographed in Hong Kong, December 2003.