Oranda Goldfish Raising and Care

The Oranda is a mixed breed between a Veiltail goldfish and a Lionhead goldfish. When it was first imported from China to Japan it was mistakenly thought to be native to the Netherlands, and was therefore named the "Dutch Ironmask" from which its English name "oranda" comes from. the Oranda comes in many colors including panda-colored, white and red or black and red. These fish are do not do well in cold water not like the common goldfish who is more tolerant to cold water. The wen of the Oranda goldfish is the raspberry-like brain-looking tissue on the top of their head, The Oranda goldfish's wen can grow to be very large for larger Oranda, this can lead to some eye sight problems as well as some swimming issues. The wen needs special care, because it is prone to bacterial infections. These fish can be very awkward swimmers with their egg shaped bodies and this problem increases as the wen grows on the fish, making the Oranda goldfish very top heavy and it begins to change color after two to three years of growth. Tank Requirements: Oranda goldfish can grow to be 8-12" in length. The care level for Oranda is difficult and so it's recommended that experienced care is given to the Oranda goldfish or make sure you read up on raising them.
Environment: Freshwater Fish, Native to: Asia, Diet: Ominivore, flakes or pellets, Water Temperature: 65 to 78 degrees F.
You should at least provide a 20 gallon fish tank, minimum for your Oranda goldfish and as the goldfish grows increase the tank size. This tank should be larger if you want to have more than one fish.
The headgrowth of young fry(baby fish), may take one to two years to develop. The Oranda can reach 8 to 12 inches (20 to 31 centimeters) long. Recently the blue scale Oranda goldfish was breed, but these fish are very rare. Oranda goldfish do not tolerate cold water as well as the Common Goldfish.
You need to provided the proper filtering. Oranda Goldfish create a lot of waste and are known for being messy. Your filter should completely clean the water at least ten times an hour. If there is a twenty gallon tank, you will need a filter that can handle the waste of at least 200 gallons per hour. A filter that can clean more than ten times the amount of water in your fish tank is more than adequate. Perform a thorough gravel cleaning once every 2 weeks or so. you need to use a gravel vac which vacs up debris while removing water. With tropical aquariums, it is often recommended that you do this once a month, but with goldfish (who produce an absurd amount of waste)you will need to do this as frequently as you can. Once a week is recommended
Get coffee bean sized gravel for the bottom of the Oranda goldfish tank (if it is any smaller, the goldfish could accidentally swallow some while feeding and die). Make sure any rocks or gravel are metal-free, since rocks with metals can harm fish by becoming toxic residues into the surrounding water.
To decorate your tank, Buy some ornaments and decorations and fake plants. Do not buy ornaments with openings small enough that the fish can get stuck into them! Remember to consider how large your goldfish can get.
If you see your fish tends to hang around at the top of the water this could be a sign of oxygen deprivation. Important part of goldfish care is water aeration. Goldfish in general, tend to be oxygen hogs. To keep your goldfish healthy you need to have a fish tank with good surface area exposed to air (top of tank) you can also add an air pump that can use bubbles to increase oxygen content. Cycling your tank is important, Follow the steps to cycle your tank. This establishes healthy bacterial and chemical levels.
When buying your Oranda goldfish see which ones look like the healthier ones in the tank. Be wary of tanks with dead fish in them, this can be a sign of illness or improper care. Healthy fish will: Have no white spots, swim with their fins held upright. Not be afraid of people, Swim around all over the fish tank and look healthy. Clamped fins are a sign of sickness
Adding the Oranda goldfish to your tank: It is important to introduce the fish to the tank environment slowly. As soon as you get home, float the entire closed pet store plastic bag on the top of your fish tank (with the Oranda goldfish inside!) for about a 20 minutes. This will allow the water in the plastic bag and the fish tank water to equal out, and the bag to become the same temperature as your fish tank water. Next thing to do is, add a small amount of water from your fish tank to the bag, and wait about 20 minutes. Do this at least one more time. Dispose of the water down the toilet from the bag. Then, use a net to transfer the Oranda goldfish fish carefully into the your fish tank. Dispose of all of the water in the bag. This process not only reduces stress for you fish, it also prevents the dirty pet store water from contaminating your fish tank.
Goldfish Diet: Omnivore. Feed the Oranda goldfish three times a day in small portions, gold fish do not have stomachs, that's why small portions more times a day will prevent wasted food. Feed a good quality goldfish food, pellets or flakes. Oranda goldfish may also eat frozen foods such as brine shrimp, bloodworms, and krill. Test the water, preparing your tank: Read up on the nitrogen cycle in aquariums for goldfish. You will need to purchase a liquid test so that you can test for Nitrates and Ammonia. The strip-style test kits are unreliable and a waste of money. You should use a dechlorinating product to remove the harmful chlorine from the water. Test for nitrite, ammonia, and proper PH. The ammonia should always be 0, the nitrite should be 0, and the nitrate should be below 20. If it's at or above 40, you have too many fish or are not changing the water often enough.
Doing weekly water changes, once a week, remove and replace 30%-50% of the water in Orand goldfish tank. Removing all the water from the tank will damage the bacteria that has grown that helps decompose the fish waste.