Live is always best. The question here is how convenient to get live feed for your ranchu. In Singapore it is troublesome to buy and expensive to feed your ranchu live food. Therefore, most hobbyist resort to frozen. "No fish, prawns also can". Personally I find subtle difference feeding them live or frozen.

One big problem is space. Not every one of us is fortunate enough to be blessed with space. At most we are only able to accomodate 2 to 3 pieces of 3 ft tubs. This constrain pose great challenges to our hobby.

Sunlight to cultivate algae for your ranchu to eat and also improve their colour is very important. Free veggie for your ranchu as well.

Sometimes your cost of feeding your ranchus may cost more than the cost of your ranchu itself. Take for example that you have a pair of $10/- each ranchus and spend $1/ everyday on daphnia and another $5/- on pellet food every month. This works out to $25/- monthly to feed your pair of ranchus.

It will make logical sense for you spend on a more expensive pair of ranchus at the onset. A pair of say $200/- each of ranchus will make more logical sense here than spending on the $10/- ranchu. The other thing is that the appreciation of value of your ranchu will also increase many fold as it grows and I believe the the level of satisfaction also increase.

I always believe in following your heart. Know the basics and adapt them to your needs and limitations. Even amongst the grand master breeders in Japan, they do things differently. 30 years ago and today. they also do it very differently. Improvements in technology and science also changes the way things are done.

The thing here is to be enterprising and to experiment.