Hi there

Premium ranchu at different sizes. Hope that this is helpful in your selection, aight. Sawasdee krap.

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More good examples of excellent ranchu.

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Awesome piece of information you have provide. Bro you have make me realize i'm just a simple ranchu lover not for competition of course and important information of chosing a good pcs of ranchu. After all those pictures you have provide, i will have more confidence in chosing my personal pc of ranchu soon. Will post my ranchu pictures soon.

1 more question what dimenson tank should i place my ranchu in also must i have white background for my ranchu. I think i would go for 3"+ ranchu..Also what type of filter system should i use normal corner filter.

Thks again for this useful information.

Cheers

Very impressive advice .. Any advice for a beginer if I decide to get RANCHUS from BKK? any farms to recommend? not too expensive though

Can someone give information on what is Nichiran standard? Who set this standard. If possible, please post the standard in this forum. Thanks in advance.

1. For how many ranchu you should keep, I would like to recommend that you buy as few as possilble for your aquarium. Remember that ranchu grow quickly in our weather. My fish grow to over 20 cms in my pond. Space is the most important factor in order to promote the right growth.

2. Ranchu in Bangkok is not as expensive as in SG and there are quite a number of place where you can go. I run one of the biggest breeding farm of topview ranchu in Thailand called Absolute Fisheries, and you can come buy to check us out after you look around in the Jatujak market. There are a few retail ranchu dealers in the Jatujak market, but you need to know a bit about how to choose fish, since the prices will be up to how good you are at talking to the seller.

There are quite a few farms for topview in Bangkok but most of them are small breeders that do no have much selection. I know almost all the breeders and would love to help hooking you up. Most of the breeders are our clients since most of the breeders will buy the Japanese seeds from us. One thing is that you will need to know how to get around, since most of the breeders do not live very close to Central Bangkok. If any of you are ever in my neck of the wood, give me an SMS or an e-mail ahead of time, and provide me a bit of info in what you are looking for, I would be happy to introduce you to any breeders that you are interested in. You could also check out some of the breeders at www.ranchushop.com, most of them would have a banner at the Home page there. Get your self abit aquainted with the people, and I could give you an introduction to any one you desire.

3. As I have posted earlier, the Nichiran standard (translated as Japanese Standard) is set by the Japanese Ranchu Association.

__________________
Loyalty above all else, except honor.

Fantastic advice. Btw, when a local LFS indicates that stock is Showclass from their Thai breeders, can we assume that this stock has the quality for entering competitions? Qi Kim H just got a batch where there are gradings and he says that his Thai breeders indicate Show, AAA, AA and so on. Can you advise the difference between Thai and Japanese showclass?

The classification that you are talking about is set by the dealers. Each dealer will have different grading system. And for your information the quality and grading often varies from batch to batch as well. I do not ever grade the fish in accordance with what the dealer inform me. I always look at each of the fish accordingly and guage the price from my own experience from buying fish over the years. The grading is done in my head in accordance with the Nichiran standard. The prices start from the most exceptional fish (hundred of thousands of baht, all the way to a few hundred baht per fish). I remember many fish and I compare the fish that I am interested in with the library of fish I have in my head. This is how I judge if a fish is expensive or worthy of competition. I know almost every fish in Bangkok and I know what caliber fish I will need to try to beat the other competitors. A good example for this point is my farm classification, we only have three classifications, being Standard, Premium and Championship. And our Premium fish are usually Championship fish at smaller size. Therefore, effectively we have only two classifications of fish.

There are many times that I have bought exceptional ranchu from dealers at break neck prices, and that's usually because the dealer did not know about the standard very well, and his or her culling skill are not up to par. This is why I try to tell people to learn more of the Japanese standard for topview ranchu (TVR). This is becoming less and less of a problem or a factor in Bangkok, since most consumers visited the same website and go to similar sources for information and know what you should be looking for. Most serious Thai keepers are actually too strict about choosing. They all want premium fish but want only to pay standard prices. I tell them that this is only possible when you buy fish at black baby size. Caretaking techniques still are at least 50% of the equation of producing Champions. A Champion can be either born or made that way. Some fish bloom much later in life with the right tender loving care.

There are a lot of people who want to talk about Japanese fish, Thai fish and many other country and argue how one is better than the other. I will say it again, as long as you cull your fish in accordance with the Nichiran standard, you can even breed your fish in Greenland and your ranchu will come out beautiful as well. Of course you will have to find the right caretaking techniques for each of the weather pattern, but the basic remain the same any where. It is very difficult to tell where the ranchu is from if the fish is of exceptional quality and has been taken care of well.

Facts are these, Champions are expensive no matter where you are and Japanese Champions will be the most expensive fish you'll ever buy where ever you are, too. But I find from my experience that most people, who usually argue about the origin of ranchus, are usually those who have vested interest in either owning, selling or breeding expensive fish or trying to keep it that way. (Notice that I didn't say Japanese fish.) All of the Japanese breeders that I have gotten in contact with have all said exactly the same thing as I have stated here. I am not saying that you can start from scratch and become successful in a short time easily. There are many secrets to search for and many pitfalls to endure. As in everything else that's good in life, it takes hard work, dedication and many long term sacrifices and economic consideration before you can count your blessings.

There are thousands of breeders, and hundreds of local, regional, and national ranchu societies all throughout Japan, but there is only one competition standard. Same for the rest of the world. Keep up the work and have fun with your fish. Peace and sawasdee krap.

__________________
Loyalty above all else, except honor.