Standard of Perfection by Geert Coppens

A great bit of reference material here!

The Standard of Perfection of the Ranchu
~ Article originally written by Geert Coppens, Belgium ~
INTRODUCTION : Ranchu was developed and perfected in Japan. Ranchu came into being at the beginning of the Meiji Period (1870-1885).
Even though there is no official Japanese Standard of Perfection for Goldfish, this Standard of Perfection is made according to the established Japanese norms. This Standard of Perfection is constantly liable to adaptions if the norms change or evolve in the land of origin. It will never be the aim to handle norms which are contradictory with the norms in Japan. The Ranchu is a Japanese Goldfish and this has to remain this way.
As the Ranchu is a pondfish and is most often seen from above, the appreciation and judgement happens from above.
On Japanese shows, the Ranchu is exhibited in white Enamel Basins.
APPEARANCE : The general appearance of the Ranchu is very important. It is necessary that there is a good balance between the head, the body and the tail. The Ranchu should be able to swim in a powerful and elegant manner ; the movements should look easy and should be beautiful.
HEAD : The head should be long, broad and rectangular. The skull should be deep.
The distance between the eyes or mehaba should be as broad as possible. The distance between the eyes and the mouth or mesaki should be as long as possible. The eyes should be small and set in the right position ; neither too high nor too much forward. The hood or wen is a thickening of the skin on the head. Thanks to the hood the head gets a nice rectangular shape. A good Ranchu has a hood that develops on the entire head, on the gills and around the eyes.
BODY : Back
The back should be wide. The Ranchu has no dorsal fin. The scales on the back are small and well arranged.
When seen from the side, the line of the back should be perfectly curved from the end of the hood or wen until the beginning of the tail. The last part of the back that is strongly curved is called sesagali. The sesagali is very important with Ranchu. Ranchu with a long back have a slowly curved sesagali ; and Ranchu with a short back have a sharply curved sesagali. The joint of the tail with the caudal peduncle should have an angle of 45°.
Abdomen
The abdomen should be symmetrical at both sides.
Caudal Peduncle
The caudal peduncle joins the body with the tail. The caudal peduncle should be as wide and as robust as possible. The caudal peduncle must not be too long nor too short.
The caudal peduncle is very important when judging the Ranchu.
SCALES : The scales should be small and well arranged.
TAIL : The tail should be symmetrical and attached to the body in an elegant manner. The tail should not be too wide. The tail should be soft and elastic, not stiff. When the Ranchu moves, the tail should be slightly shut inside ; when the fish stops, the tail should be open as if a flower opened. This shut-in-and-open movement is one of the most important points to evaluate the beauty of a Ranchu. The tail should be small in size, but look big.
There are three types of tail with the Ranchu : four-tail, three-tail and cherry blossom-tail (see drawing).
The perfect tail is a four-tail. The slit in the centre of the tail should be as narrow as possible so that the four-tail looks like a three-tail. Thanks to this, the four-tail receives less pressure when the fish swims.
The bracelet or oza are the small scales around the caudal peduncle at the tail. When seen from above, these scales are set like the pearls in a jewel necklace or bracelet. The larger the bracelet, the stronger and the thicker the caudal peduncle. The small scales of the oza should be well set like a bracelet or jewel.
The end of the caudal peduncle, where the tail is joined to the body is called, ozuke or tail joint. The ozuke should be symmetrical and should not slope down when seen from the side.
The tail has the tail-shoulders or oshia left and right ; this is where the tail folds when the Ranchu swims. The tail-shoulders should be symmetrical and should be straight until the end.
The tail-core or oshin is the line that divides the tail in two even parts. The tail-core should run through the centre and should not come in the bracelet or oza. When seen from the side, the tail-core should not be too high nor too much down.
The tail-tips or osaki should be round and bisymmetrical. They should not be overlapping, curling or twisting.
The tail-dish or ozara is the underside of the tail with the small scales. The scales are small and well-ordered. The wider and the stronger the tail-dish, the more beautiful and the more powerful the tail
FINS : The pectoral fins, the ventral fins and the anal fins are small.
The Ranchu can have one or two anal fins. The ideal is a Ranchu with two anal fins, but a Ranchu with one anal fin is not a fault. The anal fins should not be visible when seen from above.
COLOURS : The Ranchu can have the following colours :
- The whole body and tail is deep red.
- The whole body and tail is reddish yellow-orange.
- A combination of red and white.
- A combination of reddish yellow-orange and white.
- Red scales with a white edge.
- White.
SIZE : When judging a Ranchu, the size should never be taken into consideration.
CONCLUSION : The Ranchu should be a beautiful, well balanced fish that can swim well. A deformed Ranchu will never be beautiful and will swim fatiguing.
One will see immediately, if a Ranchu is a good Ranchu.
Geert Coppens own fish:
"I keep my best Nisai and Oya in ponds of 300 cm x 160 cm x 25 cm.
A tub of 100 cm x 100 cm is OK to keep a few Tosai Ranchu, but Nisai and Oya should be kept in bigger ponds. Nisai and Oya should be able to swim a lot to develop muscles and stronger but flexible tail bones. Nisai and Oya become bigger when they are kept in large ponds.
Mr. Tashiro who has very big Ranchu (cfr. East Ozeki Oya 2003 AJRS) also keeps his Oya in 3 m ponds. For Ranchu, the larger the pond the better. A Ranchu needs space to develop muscles and strong tail bones."

Instructions for new kuroko (bbr) owners

Information for newly arrvied ranchu

Mr. Oishi's instructions for raising kuroko.

These are the instructions that came with my 2006 Oishi BBR (baby black ranchu)

1. Mr. Oishi recommends feeding them a mix of frozen (or live) brine shrimp, daphnia, and bloodworms until they begin changing colors.

2. When they begin changing colors, begin to phase out brineshrimp and add in a small pellet food.

3. After they adjust to the changes, you can also begin to phase out daphnia and increase the pellet and bloodworm intake.

4. He suggests feeding 4-6 time per day if possible.

5. Mr. Oishi raises his kuroko in about 12 cm of water. As they grow, he will increase the depth to 15 cm or so. By their first winter, he will increase the depth more if necessary.

6. He recommends 100% water changes (essentially moving them to a new container every 4-7 days) or some large water changes within the same time period. During the first few days after a move to a new pond or a large water change, the baby ranchu will put on body growth. During the last several days of the water change cycle, the ranchu will put on headgrowth. 

7. If possible, try to keep your water temperature at a minimum of 72 degrees F as the babies are growing, but Mr. Oishi believes the best growth rates will be seen from 75-78F.

8. If you ponds or tanks do not have good algae growth, Mr. Oishi suggests including duckweed in the kuroko’s diet.