This is the F2 of the chocolate ranchu project. I am glad to see this fish, since it is totally free from any trace of dorsal fin, and the chocolate color is present. In this F2, very few chocolate color occurs. Most of them have abominable traces of dorsal, and weak compared to the wild color ones. To find such a piece, though only one, is a joy to me.

In terms of shape, this one has a high hump, which must be tackled on though it is not so easy. Glad I have experienced this in my panda ranchu project. This hump might be the last thing to tackle.

The tail is a bit long. I do not worry about this. Crossing back to ranchu will eventually shorten the tail. But I think, as an excess, long tail chocolate ranchu with pom pom will be nice 🙂

The pompom is also something to tackle on. Actually, I am not sure to retain this pom pom or not. According to standard, a ranchu should not have the pom pom. But it might indeed look nice in this chocolate breed. Well, let it be what it will be. I might not bother to tackle it.

From this point, I think to create a decent chocolate ranchu, I will need at least four more breeding step. This will mean 2 years at least. But the result of the 1st year might yield unique breeds saleable to collectors 🙂

There are two worries. First, since there is only 1 fish, this project is in jeopardy if something happen to it. So, I have prepared the second batch for spare. Second, the chocolate color occurs so few in the batch. Fewer than the blue I create from a cross between blue and common color. Does this mean that the chocolate color behave differently genetically from the blue? If yes, then there might be some complication I have not yet understood. I hope there won’t be such complication.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year