A long time ago, I heard – or maybe read – about yellow goldfish. Yellow is the color of the King, at least in the ancient China. So the King thought that yellow goldfish was a royal fish and prohibited common people to keep it.  As an experimental breeder, it is one of my desire to see the fish, to own it, and to understand it. Nowadays, this color has been so rare, and one cannot find it in Indonesia.

During my travel to Japan two years ago, I saw the yellow goldfish in a fish shop. I was filled with joy! They were in the form of common goldfish. Nothing beautiful except the yellow color. Alas, it was impossible for me to bring any to my country due to the government regulation. I took some quick picture of them in haste, and that was all my encounter with real yellow goldfish.

As a breeder, I sometimes am amazed with how a certain desire suddenly comes true out of the blue. I am blessed, that’s what I think. As you may know, I am working on a weird project of wowkin. Yes, I know it is weird. It is a cross between wakin and tosakin. Both are red fishes. You can imagine how surprised I am to find out that one of offspring turn out to be yellow! Not only yellow, but yellow with pattern – clearly defined high quality pattern! This is out of my mind. How can this happen? I have no idea.

The picture below shows two of the wowkin offspring from the same batch. The way I keep them is also the same. Same pond, same food, same environment. Same parent, of course. Even same birth date. But one turns intense red, and one keep on being yellow. If there is any reader here well versed with pigmentation or genetics, could you please stand up and give me explanation of what is going on here?

Is it worthwhile to bring yellow goldfish back to life in the market? I do not know. Red color is surely more widely accepted. Yellow might be accepted by few due to its rarity. But if it ceases to become rare, how would the market respond? Well, what do you think of yellow goldfish. Would you want to have one also?