Fantail or Ryukin Goldfish?

[sgtmyers88]

The first two "fancy" goldfish I had started my 55G out with were bought from Walmart as Fantail Goldfish, however after getting my Ryukins at Petsmart later on I noticed a lot of similarities with my Walmart Fantails and the Ryukins. Most noticeably is the fact that my Fantails have a deep round body and a pointy head with a humped back that fits the description of a Ryukin while most of the Fantails I have had in the past were just egg shaped from head to tail.

I know this is not a goldfish forum, but what do you think?

The Fantail (Suspected Ryukin):


His Twin (the top one):


The real Ryukin:


If the Fantail is indeed a Ryukin then I bought a $6 Goldfish for only $2!

[zookey]

Low quality ryukins are often sold as fantails....and god knows what you get at walmart!

[zookey]

Or sometimes they just get mixed up.... I bought a fantail there and it later grew a wen.

[sgtmyers88]

Yeah I had one like that too!

[Pufferpunk]

Then that would be considered an oranda.

[zookey]

Then that would be considered an oranda.

The one I got that grew a wen? Yeah, my point was though ... You never know what you are getting when you buy fish from Walmart.

[sgtmyers88]

I understand but I hate looking at them as "low quality" as these little guys are lovely little fish. They are so funny to watch when they swim real fast when they get or excited over food or when they occasionally get spooked by something.

And yeah it would be an Oranda. I actually just noticed that one of them actually has a very tiny wen starting to grow.

[zookey]

When I said "low quality" I meant that as small fish they were not showing the signs of being "Show Quality" fish. That is not to say that with the right food and care that they won't grow up into drop dead gorgeous fish though!

At one time I got a nicely shaped Ryukin from Walmart with a spindly thin tail, more like a ribbon tail.... they sold it to me cheap because they thought it was a Pregnant - Deformed fish! They had one other and a friend of mine took that one. He took it to show that season and it won a blue ribbon.

[sgtmyers88]

Nice!

[Pufferpunk]

You can find a "show" fish anywhere. Now where are those shows???