Guest Ethan25 Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 any thoughts? Dottie was an excellent goldfish who lasted in our pond for 4 years till she died last summer. She did fine with the koi and shubunkins, and each year for the past two years gave me enough fry each summer to sell and make $200 in store credit at each petstore in town. I was able to fund all my fish food and dechlorinator through her antics. The thing is, a couple months before she died (found her trapped under a potted pond plant), I noticed she really didn?t have a wen. She was 4 years old, around 6-7? in length, yet didn?t have much growth on her wen. We bought her from a lady in Burlington, Iowa who has a great pondstore with lots of fancies and koi. Her perfect spot on her tail was why we bought her and named her ?dottie?. What do you think? Is it possible the koi sucked off the wen in chunks? Was the protein diverted to spawning and her egg sac? She spawned probably 3 times each year?..once in April when waters warmed, once mid summer and again in the fall. She was prolific. Any thoughts? Wasn?t she cute?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member daryl Posted January 11, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted January 11, 2008 Actually, the thickening of the skin on her head WAS her wen. It was not as highly developed as many are, but it is definately there. As a mostly "red -cap" Oranda, she displays the characteristic "tophat" type of wen - the one that is ONLY on the top of the head and not on the cheeks or further down. Why did her wen not develop very large? I do not know. It most definately is genetically related. She simply did not have the genetic design to have a HUGE wen. Some do, others do not. Yes - you can influence the development of the wen by the foods you feed - but in a pond with an abundance of protien (insects and such) she should not have had a shortage of the protien that helps in development. So I would guess that her wen was simply what what her genetics dictated. She certainly was a bright red, huh? WOW. I love the colors. That comes from a pond! Cannot replicate that in a tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member gardengirl Posted January 12, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted January 12, 2008 Wow, I love the dot on her tail.... It's almost a perfect circle! I've found that fancy tails do not last very long in my pond here in Virginia. The commons and comets are hard on them, and so are the cold winters. My fancies stay in the house now, unless I can summer them in their own tank outside, but then they get moved back inside for the winter...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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