Are Ranchu / Lionhead difficult to keep

[SilverWen]

I'm just asking because I'm curious. I was in a small fish store over the weekend and they actually had several varieties of goldfish including "lion-chu" (which were very cute). They owner of the store was explaining the difference between these and some nice looking oranda to a customer and kept circling back to how "delicate" lion-chu were compared to other goldfish. I'm not super familiar with ranchu or lionheads but I assumed their care was the same as all the fancies: clean, clean, and clean some more, good quality food, massive filtration, and more cleaning ;o

Are they really that different from say oranda or fantails?

They also had a "lemon-head ranchu" (it was a red-orange fish with a really yellow head), but it also had a dorsal fin? I liked the look of that better than traditional ranchu, but I'm wondering if it was just a luck cull that survived and happened to be pretty. (I wish I could have gotten her, but she was way to big for my tank and had a large price tag lol)

[koko]

Okay Okay. IMO they aren't harder to keep per say. Its just they are more compact than say your fantails or single tail fish. So IMO I would suggest keeping in long tanks. Also feeding them lots of Duckweed and Veggie foods. I have had a few of them and my longest lived one was 8 years old. 🤗

[SilverWen]

I am maxed out on patience with fish right now and don't even want to think about more QT until next summer at the earliest -- but I thought it was strange that the guy kept saying how delicate they were and that the wen was more prone to infection than other breeds with wens. Which makes very little sense to me. I would think if a lion-chu wen was prone to infection due to size, then a large oranda's wen would have the same issues.

Also said that you can't keep them with filters because they can't swim well. He specifically stated that only sponge and canisters with long easy drip returns were safe. All in all, made them sound like a nightmare. 

I was eavesdropping, so he could have been trying really hard to steer them away from them for another reason, but I was curious how people on here view them.

[koko]

On 10/7/2021 at 6:26 PM, SilverWen said:

I am maxed out on patience with fish right now and don't even want to think about more QT until next summer at the earliest -- but I thought it was strange that the guy kept saying how delicate they were and that the wen was more prone to infection than other breeds with wens. Which makes very little sense to me. I would think if a lion-chu wen was prone to infection due to size, then a large oranda's wen would have the same issues.

Also said that you can't keep them with filters because they can't swim well. He specifically stated that only sponge and canisters with long easy drip returns were safe. All in all, made them sound like a nightmare. 

I was eavesdropping, so he could have been trying really hard to steer them away from them for another reason, but I was curious how people on here view them.

They are my favorite fish of them all. I have had a few Ranchu's. The biggest tip I can say for them is long tanks. They do not do will in high tanks. They should be long and shallow. I haven't had problems with Wens on Ranuch's. I have had Orandas get the white bumps in it, but not my Ranchu's. They do do better in a tank with Sponge filters but you don't have to. You can if the current it to strong just baffle the out tank of it.