Am sat in my local chippy waiting for my cod to be fried to perfection and I’m struck by how nice their in house cold water tank set up is. They have a couple of small but very nicely proportioned black moors alongside a couple fairly standard fan tails.
Now, I haven’t kept fish for probably 20 years, even though I am now in a situation to give a tank the time it deserves. Part of this reason is that I recall a huge drop in the quality of available stock in the UK. I remember buying huge orandas back in the 90s, with fantastic fins and form. As the years passed the quality of stock diminished to tiny fantails often with common tail deformities.
I distictly remember buying a stunning Oranda from ‘Fish World 95’ for £15, the pedigree and size of which I don’t think I’ve seen anywhere since.

So my question to fans of the fins, is it still possible to find good stock?

When we moved into our current house there was a stocked pond in the garden.
There was a really nice Shibunkin (spelling?) goldfish in there.

My sister had a pond put in a year or so ago and got some nice ornamental fish (until a heron ate them all).

For quality fish, it’s worth checking out the breeder groups on Facebook. I only really follow marines, cichlids and rainbows but I’d imagine there’d be the same or probably actually even more quality goldfish breeders on there.

I’ve got a lovely little black Moor swimming next to me. I quite like them too.

Yeah black moors are cheeky velvety little blighters.
Maybe I’ll check out some breeder groups, it’s just a shame that it’s so hard to find real good quality on the high street.
I guess the margins are too small.

I loved orandas and ranchu’s back in the day. A Bristol shubunkin is a fine gold fish too!

Also dabbled with Oscars when trying out tropical waters, great fish.