Update Project #4: Yellow Oranda

There was a setback on this project as the results were weak. Fortunately hope arises unintentionally.

Following the project I mentioned in the Diary 2021 #25, I end up Yellow Oranda with goosehead type of headgrowth, short body, and weak fins. The best among them is this male:

As you can see, the first ray of the dorsal is short and curved, so as the tail. I think this curvature looks a bit abnormal to me. The fish swim normally in my deep pond, but seems to have maneuver difficulty in a small space (as I observed when placing him in a tank for the purpose of taking these pictures.) But yes, I must admit that the head is beautiful, and the body looks positively thick. I have a hard time deciding whether I should use him as a parent or not. And I think, I will pass.

The rest of the batch is worse. I keep only one as she is the only female in the batch. And she is also the only female Yellow Oranda I have! Let’s take a look at her:

The goosehead type is visible in her, but not as pronounced as the male. Perhaps the lack of white color in the body and head makes her less attractive than the male. The fins differ sharply from the male as they belong to the long-fin category. The dorsal fin and the tail are not well-erected. And there are traces of untidiness on the borders of the fins (first ray and last rays of the dorsal and tail.)

I don’t think I want to use them as parent as I suspect they show weak genetics. Mating them might not be a good move.

Fortunately, there is a hope out of my expectation.

To improve my Yellow Sakura Oranda line (Project #5), I crossed my Yellow Sakura Oranda (Diary 2021 #26) with the parent of my metallic Yellow line (Diary 2021 #25). The cross yielded two variants: Yellow Sakura and Yellow Metallic. Of course my main expectation was in the better quality of Yellow Sakura Oranda. I did not expect anything about the second variant. Unfortunately, the expected Yellow Sakura Oranda was also experiencing a drawback. The fins were untidy, the color was dominantly white, and the heads were almost bald! I think this is a big blow for me. For several months to come, I will have nothing to update on the Yellow Sakura line. Yet, surprisingly, the Yellow metallic fish that came from the same batch has tidy fins and good body shape quality! Mostly bald, though. I kept only one from source, the best one, with sufficiently good headgrowth. He is a male fish that I can be proud of:

Handsome, right?

The only weakness I see is in the lower lobe of the right tail. The curve is not perfect. But overall, this fish is a joy to me as it provides hope for my next generation of Yellow (metallic) Oranda.

What strategy do I employ?

Yes, as you can guess, I have no choice but to mate him with the weak female above. And the eggs are hatching today!

But that’s not all.

During all this time, I also managed to cross my Yellow metallic line to my Basic Material (Helen offspring). The results are redwhite oranda carrying yellow gene recessively. The fish are large, long, semi goosehead type, and moderately good finage. They have not laid eggs right now. If they do, I think I will also mate them with the handsome yellow male!

Exciting, right?

Please wait for the result!

For video of the handsome male, please check the youtube below: