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ORANDA

A good oranda, conforming to the standard, is very rare; the standard formerly called for a forked tail but has been revised to the square-edged tail of the moor and the veiltail. Far Eastern imports have a deeply-forked, thin-lobed tail and frequently have excellent hood development, self-coloured reds having good colour depth. Retaining good colouration and hood growth whilst breeding for the broad tail remains a challenge.

The oranda was for long the only goldfish variety equally fancied by both Western and Far Eastern enthusiasts. In the Far East, fish with the rasberry-like growth covering the entire head are known as tigerheads, whilst the name oranda is reserved for fish with a prominent growth on the top of the head (cranial region) only, giving the appearance of a hood, and with less well developed growths on the cheeks and gills (infra-orbital and opercular regions). In Japan, the calico oranda is called the azumanishiki.

Red cap orandas first appeared around 1590, and tigerheads in 1893.

THE STANDARD

The oranda standard is as follows:

• Depth of body to be greater than 2/3rds of body length
• Hood to be well developed
• Dorsal fin to be single, all other fins to be paired, caudal fin to be divided
• Minimum length of caudal fin to be 3/4 of body length
• Minimum length of body to be 5.5 cm (2¼ inches)
• Forked tailed fish are acceptable but may be downpointed
• Fantailed fish, ie fish whose caudal fin is held high, will be disqualified

The fish should be bright and alert, with the dorsal fin carried high and the caudal fin flowing gracefully and well divided. The body should be short and rounded with a smooth outline.

The oranda hood should be well developed in all three areas (cranial, infra-orbital and opercular).

The red cap oranda hood should be well developed in the cranial region only.

Colour:

Oranda:

• Metallic self-coloured (red, orange, yellow, blue, brown or black) or variegated (any combination of these colours, including silver, in a pleasing pattern similar on each side), the colours to appear as burnished metal and extending into the fins.
• Calico (blue background with patches of violet, red, orange, yellow and brown, spotted with black); quality fish will have high colour intensity extending into the fins.

Red cap oranda:

Deep red on cap only, the rest of the body to be silver-white.

Ideal profiles are illustrated below:

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THE FISH

Mature adults, red metallic

Red orandas: the fish on the right is closer to the standard, possessing longer, more veiltail-like finnage; the fish on the left is nonetheless well developed towards the Western standard. Contrast with the Chinese orandas (follow the link on the left), which have typical Far-Eastern finnage and larger hoods. Shown at BAS 2004 (left) and 2006 (right).

Shown at BAS 2002, this is a fine adult oranda.

Very fine oranda, winner of Best in Show at GSGB 2005.

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Young adult red metallic oranda

Exhibited at BAS 2000; it is common for the veiltailed goldfish varieties to show loss of colour in the fin extremities, and, whilst these fish remain very attractive, it is a challenge to produce entirely self-coloured fish.

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