Is anyone planning on breeding their Fancy Goldfish this year? If so what types do you keep and plan to breed?

I breed and show my fish I currently have 9 4' x 2' x 8'' tanks in my fish house and plan to install another 9 tanks within the next 2 weeks, I already have the tanks made up and ready to go in once I have built the staging.

Currently I am slowly warming up my fish for the forthcoming breeding season, males are all starting to show tubercles and the females are fattening up nicely, hopefully I should have some spawnings by the end of March, warming up are Bristol Shubunkins, Calico Lionheads, Calico Fantails and Broadtail Moors.

In my new tanks I will attempt to breed my Calico Pom Pons, these are my pet project and have taken me 5 years to get to the stage they are at the moment, Nice shape, good nasal sceptre and good back ground colour, all I have to do now is get some splashes of red yellow, black and brown into them.

I will try and post some photos of my set-up as it stands and photos of some of the fish I have warming up. As breeding progresses hopefully I can post pictures on a weekly basis to show the development of the different fry and the transformations that take place.

How about showing us some pictures of your calico lionheads.

Wish I had room for breeding, I live in a flat, so no room for a pond.

I have a group of 10 amazing broadtail moors, plus some nice veiltails and a few ranchu.

Sadly dont have a lot of broodstock, would like to breed the female twintail (man-yu) in my avatar, but not too many in the UK.
Look forward to seeing any results Chris, you may even have some takers to take fish off your hands.

Just nipped out the back and snapped a few pictures off for Yanton. Plus a couple of the others Bristol, Fantail and my 'pride and joy' the pom pon, these pom pons are the ones that I showed at Bristol this year, I wish I could breed thousands of these as I could sell them all!!!

The photos are not the best as it had just started going dark and cold!!!! I forgot to put on my fleece. It gives you a rough idea of what the fish are like, the blue does not show up as well as in warmer weather a bit of sunshine goes a long way, but it gives you a glimpse of what I have.

I will post further pictures as I progress over the weekend.

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Splendid, keep up the good work.
We expect no less than a best in show.
How many do you rear in a season Chris? Are you taking orders in advance?

Nice fish.
I am a member of the Goldfish Society of Great Britain, I hope to go to a show and see some fish like yours.

Normally have four selective spawnings of the Bristols numbering around 20,000 fry from these after sorting out the pinks and bronzes I end up with around 200 fish worth raising of show quality. The Lionheads I have a couple of spawnings of these, around 12,000 fry these are a lot harder to get split tails and smooth backs from, around 50-60 youngsters worth rearing for showing then it depends on the head growth and deportment of these fish. Fantails a couple of spawnings same sort of return as the Bristols, and then my Pom Pons same as the Lionheads but still in the development stage after five years of selective breeding, THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A HOBBY!!!! I also breed Moors and Celestials (not everyones cup of tea) but a good one is a sight to behold!!! I am trying to breed a Calico celestial but as yet have failed miserably, One day maybe, one day.

Feeding, heating etc you are well out of pocket by the end of the year but the fish are well worth it. Showing is a fantastic opportunity to meet old friends and show off your hard work to like minded people. An excuse to quaff a plethera of beers whilst the fish are being judged and at the end of the year nice to see a couple of rosettes and cups sitting on the book case.

Fish are sometimes for sale just to recoup some of the expense of the food etc.

Obviously you have put huge effort into establishing your own strain and it shows. Regardless of BAS standards, personally I couldnt fault them. So that is the key to winning, get the judges to sample the local ale beforehand
lol

Absolutely love those calico ranchu - been looking everywhere for some.
I would of called that top picture a show class standard fish.

Any further progress Chris? Even some more pics just to cheer us all up or inspire us to breed better fancies.