Oranda Goldfish

<body bgcolor="#CCCCFF" background="../../back4.jpg" text="#0000FF" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" leftmargin="0" rightmargin="0" topmargin="0" bottommargin="0" class="main"> <a name="top"></a> <p align="center" class="headlink"><br>| <a href="../../index.htm" target="_top">Home</a> | <a href="../goldfish.htm" target="_top">Back to Goldfish</a> |<br> </p> <h2 align="center">ORANDA</h2> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>Red cap orandas first appeared around 1590, and tigerheads in 1893.</p> <h3><a name="std">THE STANDARD</a></h3> <p>The oranda standard is as follows:</p> <ul> <li>Depth of body to be greater than 2/3rds of body length <li>Hood to be well developed <li>Dorsal fin to be single, all other fins to be paired, caudal fin to be divided <li>Minimum length of caudal fin to be 3/4 of body length <li>Minimum length of body to be 5.5 cm (2¼ inches) <li>Forked tailed fish are acceptable but may be downpointed <li>Fantailed fish, ie fish whose caudal fin is held high, will be disqualified </ul> <p>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.</p> <p>The oranda hood should be well developed in all three areas (cranial, infra-orbital and opercular).</p> <p>The red cap oranda hood should be well developed in the cranial region only.</p> <dl>Colour: <dd> <dl> <dt>Oranda: <ul> <li type="disc">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.</li> <li type="disc">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.</li> </ul> <dt>Red cap oranda: <dd>Deep red on cap only, the rest of the body to be silver-white. </dl> </dl> <p>Ideal profiles are illustrated below:</p> <table align="center" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" border="0"> <tr> <td align="center" valign="middle"><img src="standard1.gif" width="200" height="200" border="0" alt="oranda standard, side view"></td> <td align="center" valign="middle"><img src="standard2.gif" width="200" height="90" border="0" alt="oranda standard, top view"></td> </tr> </table> <p align="center">[<a href="#top">Top</a>]</p> <h3><a name="pho">THE FISH</a></h3> <p>Mature adults, red metallic</p> <table align="center" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" border="0"> <tr> <td align="center" valign="middle"><img src="red_oranda_2004.jpg" alt="red metallic oranda" width="275" height="210" border="0"></td> <td align="center" valign="middle"><img src="red_oranda_2006.jpg" alt="red metallic oranda" width="275" height="210" border="0"></td> </tr> </table> <p>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).</p> <table align="center" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"> <tr> <td><img src="oranda6.jpg" width="205" height="150" border="0" alt="red metallic oranda, left view"></td> <td><img src="oranda7.jpg" width="205" height="150" border="0" alt="red metallic oranda, right view"></td> </tr> </table> <p>Shown at BAS 2002, this is a fine adult oranda.</p> <p align="center"><img src="red_oranda_2005.jpg" alt="red oranda" width="380" height="275" border="0"></p> <p>Very fine oranda, winner of Best in Show at GSGB 2005.</p> <p align="center">[<a href="#top">Top</a>]</p> <h4>Young adult red metallic oranda</h4> <p align="center"><img src="oranda17.jpg" width="300" height="221" border="0" alt="red-white metallic oranda, top view"></p> <p>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.</p> <p align="center">[<a href="../goldfish.htm" target="_top">Back</a>]    [<a href="#top">Top</a>]<br>© Bristol Aquarists' Society<br> </p> </body>