Goldfish

Pictures and information © Bristol Aquarists' Society. Used with permission. BAS is an enthusiasts' society founded in Bristol in 1929 specializing in fancy goldfish.

The British lionhead is closer to the flat-backed Chinese lionhead than to the Japanese ranchu, which has a dorsal contour that curves sharply down to the caudal peduncle. The hood is the dominant feature and the fish should have a nice clean back.

Lionhead Goldfish

The lionhead standard is as follows:

Depth of body to be greater than 1/2 of body length.

Hood to be well developed.

Dorsal fin to be absent.

All other fins to be paired, caudal fin to be divided.

Caudal fin to be forked.

Extremities of fins to have a rounded appearance.

Minimum length of body to be 5.5 cm (2¼ inches)

The fish should be bright, alert and well balanced. The body should not be elongated, with smooth contours and no sign of a dorsal fin. The caudal fin should be well divided. The hood should be well developed in all three areas, i.e. cranial, infra-orbital and opercular.

The colour may be metallic (self-coloured or variegated in a pleasing pattern and similar on each side) or calico. Metallic colours should appear as burnished metal, extending into the fins. Calico fish should have a blue background with patches of violet, red, orange, yellow and brown, spotted with black.

Some lionhead strains have been in the hands of individual breeders for 50 years, and these were passed on from uncles, grandfathers and other family members. The starting quality of the stock was therefore very good. Strains kept are mostly pure red, and some have a small amount of white in them. Breeding stocks of up to 40 adult fish are kept, with about 150 babies being prepared for the following year.

Outcrossing has featured fairly frequently, mostly in the form of swaps between members; one breeder some time age incorporated a black lionhead into his red stock which - perhaps unexpectedly - had a beneficial effect on overall colour. No particular breeding scheme is followed; rather, the best adult fish are selected for breeding. Sometimes a strain does not spawn in a particular year, the reason for this remaining unknown.

It is not easy to improve lionheads. In good strains, out of 1,000 fry about 50 will be worth keeping; of these, about 5 will be up to show standard, which is a ratio of 200:1; this return is compatible with ratios for other types such as Bristol shubunkins and fantails. The most difficult characters to maintain are the divided tail and the clean, smooth back with no dorsal fin. Good strains seem to remain in a steady state, suggesting that outcrossing may be the only way to improve stock for certain characters.

The fish start the spawning process in ponds, whereupon breeders bring them into clean tanks in their fish houses and hand-strip chosen pairs to control matches. Standard foods are fed to adults and fry. The most popular flakes are Aquarian and King British. Daphnia are fed when available.

The first, major cull is for single tails, spiky dorsal contours, pinks and bronzes; thereafter culling is progressive over the ensuing year. Lionheads are hardy fish in southwest Britain (Bristol, Gloucestershire and Somerset) with its mild winters, and live for 7-8 years on average.