Oranda - Carassius auratus auratus

The oranda is a very popular breeding form of goldfish(Carassius auratus auratus). It is a goldfish form with a stocky body shape and double long tail fin, a veil tail. The oranda also has a funny cap on its head and can show a wide variety of color patterns. This cap is made of pure fat tissue, which would not "weigh down" the fish or even hinder it with greater weight - fat is light. Here you do not buy orandas with extreme expressions, so the cap does not hinder or restrict thefish further.

Orandas can grow to be a good 25-30 cm tall and 20-40 years old, and need space in the garden pond accordingly. There are also reports of specimens that grew much larger. Orandas resemble veiltail goldfish in body shape, so they appear stockier than other goldfish. Already 500 years ago the first veiltail goldfish appeared in China, the history of the oranda cap is somewhat younger.

When young, Oranda Goldfish are also usually solid dark in color. Only after two years they fully develop their beautiful coloration and special features. Here you can buy the goldfish with length of 4-6, 6-8, 10-12, 12-14, 14-16, 15-20 or 20-25 cm.

Like all goldfish, oranda are descended from the Chinese silver crucian carp. Oranda veiltail goldfish need a little more warmth than other goldfish varieties. They should definitely not spend the winter in the garden pond, but should be hibernatedin an unheated, sufficiently large aquarium in a cool room in the house or garage, at a water temperature of at least 13 °C.

The garden pond should measure at least 4 cubic meters in volume for keeping a group of 5 Oranda goldfish (also in a mix with other goldfish). Keeping goldfish individually is not appropriate for the species, they need the security of a group of conspecifics. Color, shape and fin length do not matter, so you can keep your Oranda prima in a group of other goldfish.

Oranda Goldfish are omnivores and will happily take care of small crustaceans, algae coverings and dead plant material in addition to mosquito larvae and worms in the pond (which includes the pesky mosquito larvae ). Softer aquatic plants are also nibbled on. In a rather heavily stocked goldfish pond, you should feed your treasures a high-quality goldfish food. Please give only as much of it as the goldfish can eat in a few minutes! In this way you avoid a high water load and associated algae plagues.

If the water temperatures rise too much in summer, you should provide your goldfish with additional oxygen in the water with the help of an oxydator for garden ponds or with a pump. In general, goldfish do not like too high water temperatures, so the garden pond should not be placed in full sun, but better in partial shade.

Oranda goldfish can be bred in the garden pond, if a few things are taken into account when creating the pond. Goldfish are spawn predators and eat especially young fish. Therefore, the goldfish pond for oranda breeding should be equipped with a nice, well-planted shallow water zone where the juvenile fish can hide from the older goldfish among the lush pond plants. The oranda's mating season is in the spring. The females spawn in open water, and the males fertilize the eggs in the sinking.