About

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I was born in the year 1973. My uncle introduced me to fresh water fish keeping early in my childhood. It did not take long for me to know the beautiful creature called goldfish. And goldfish captivates my heart ever since. As a boy, the only thing that made me willing to take injection from the doctor was the promise from my parent to buy me goldfish. My desire was to collect all kind of goldfishes available in the market. I remember the memory of me watching the goldfish in my tank till I fall asleep in front of the tank. The only time I did not keep goldfish was when I must study abroad at the Ohio State University for 5 years. When I went back to Indonesia, I also came back to goldfish keeping, this time being more sophisticated. No sooner I was in the middle of learning to breed goldfish. As the years go by, I realize that my true passion is in experimental goldfish breeding. What I mean is that I like to experiment with goldfish breeding. Sometimes I sell my fishes, but I never position myself as a goldfish seller. I remain just a hobbyist breeder. Goldfish is always my passion, my obsession, and this has been persistent througout 40 years of my life. Other fishes never take my commitment more than some months, but goldfish has ben with me for years. I begin to understand that maybe goldfish is my calling. Sometimes I argue with God, don’t You have a better, higher and more noble calling for me other than being a goldfish lover? But I begin to resign to it now. I cannot and do not wish to run from my calling 🙂

21 thoughts on “About”

  1. john says:

    Wow. Such a story im inspired by your passion and calling. I believe no matter how small or big our “calling” is, when God put it in our heart, it is beyond noble, it is the destiny wrapped in His grace.

    Reply
  2. Johan says:

    Hi Pak Herman,

    Are you able to share on the secret of what & how do you feed your goldfish? Also to what i know off, the breeding is depend on season, how do you able to induce the breeding? Any tips gladly appreciated much.

    Thanks & Best Regards,
    Johan

    Reply
      • Johan says:

        Hi Pak Herman,

        Thank you so much for the entry… Very informative & detailed..
        Not much breeder willing to share such insider information.
        I will follow your guide & hopefully saw some result.

        Much appreciated.

        Thanks & Best Regards,
        Johan

  3. Caturw says:

    Slmt mlm pak
    Saya baru belajar breeding ikan maskoki..dan ada yg mau saya tanyakan pd bapak.
    Knp dr bbrp kali breeding sebagian besar ekor dr burayak saya tdk belah ya?
    Apakah hrs ada perlakuan khususnya?

    Reply
  4. Johan says:

    Hi Pak Herman,

    I always amazed by how you could breed goldfish successfully & see them grow.
    Thank you so much for sharing on tip on how to breed goldfish.
    I followed the step of yours & managed to get them lay eggs.
    However, i always failed in getting the egg hatched.
    I am able to see the progress inside the egg but then it just wont hatch & died inside.
    Tried different method shown in YouTube, just failed.

    Would you be able to write an article during your free time, to share with us how & what did you do actually maintain the egg till hatched.

    Much appreciated.

    Thanks,
    Johan

    Reply

  5. I have a question, and you are probably the best to answer it. I keep seeing reference to the two types of scale that identify the Sakura Ranchu. Are you able to explain or show them?

    Reply

    • Hi. If we observe a usual goldfish scale, we will see a reflective layer beneath the scale. That reflective layer is called guanine, and it will give the scale the appearance of being metallic. The fish with such a scale is called metallic scale. The color can be red, white, orange, etc. and all those color looks shining to our eyes due to that reflective layer. But there is another type of scale which we call transparent scale type. It does not have that reflective layer beneath the scale. So, when the light comes, it will just pass through the scale without being reflected. The scale does not look shiny, but looks soft / no scale such that we can see the inside color of the fish or even the flesh, giving rise to the term “transparent.” So, answering your question, the two types of scales are the metallic scale and the transparent scale. Sakura is the name we give to the red and white color pattern in transparent scale goldfish. So, the definition of sakura goldfish is very strict. But sometimes the cross between red and white metallic scale and red and white transparent scale (or sakura) will result in the in-between scale, where the fish is transparent but has some metallic scale all over its body (sometimes a lot sometimes a few). Those in-between scale can still be called sakura as long as the color is red and white. Hope this answer your questions.

      Reply
  6. Erron Estoque says:

    Herman,

    I was wondering if you would be interested in selling any of your milk cow ranchu!

    I would be looking to purchase babies or adult ranchu (whatever you would like to sell)

    I am from the United States so I would be using a transhipper to bring them over here.

    Please let me know if you’re willing to do this!

    Reply
  7. Reece says:

    Hello Herman!

    I’m a very new fish keeper and I love to read your blog. I hope one day I can have just a crumb of knowledge you have, but for now I will keep digging and absorbing as much knowledge as I can. I see in one of your blogs (titled goldfish unseen) you mention a rare ranchu color from a book by Joseph smartt and James H. Bundell, I spent some time looking at it and I think it’s a beautiful pattern, it reminds me a lot of ‘Kirin’ pattern. Anyhow, your breeding work is very impressive, I wish one day that I could own one of your fishes. I’d like to start breeding my goldfish, I have 4 eligible adults right now, is there any anything you could tell me about oranda goldfish quality? I’m still not sure what to look for in a good fish, finding resources has proven to be really difficult for orandas even though they are very popular.
    Thanks for sharing your beautiful fish with the world!

    Reply

    • Hi, sorry for late reply. Thanks so much for the encouraging words. If you need to know what I think as a good oranda, perhaps my book is a good start. It is titled “Goldfish Appreciation” by Steven Tong and me (Hermanto), and is available at amazon in e-book form. Hope it will help answer your question.

      Reply
  8. Reece says:

    hello herman! I was wondering if you could clarify for me the features of some breeds, the translation from Japanese to English is very difficult and I haven’t been able to find any resources online for these fish, do you know anything about edo nishiki, shu kin, kyo nishiki or aki nishiki?

    Reply

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