Carassius auratus - Chocolate Oranda

• Scientific name: Carassius auratus
• Common name(s): Oranda, chocolate Oranda
• General nature: Peaceful - but like most goldfish, they will dig and make quite a mess. Best kept with other goldfish types where a cooler tank can be maintained for them
• Difficulty to maintain: Relatively easy fish, care must be taken that the wen is not damaged or infected by bacteria
• Aquarium size: Best kept in 30 gallon or greater fish tanks. They can be put in smaller aquariums when young, but will outgrow them quite rapidly. Allowance must be made for the fish to be given larger quarters as they grow larger when a smaller aquarium is used. They prefer warmer water so are much better suited to indoor aquariums than they are to a garden pond. Indoor ponds greater than 200 gallons are excellent habitats.
• Preferred pH: Slightly acid to slightly alkaline - 6.7 - 7.3
• Preferred hardness: Soft to moderate is best
• Preferred temperature: Room temperature and somewhat higher - Orandas in general are more susceptible to problems in cool water and prefer a temperature from 65oF to 78oF
• Spawning style: Egg layer - a courting pair can lay over 1000 eggs during their spawning activity
• Spawning difficulty: Moderate, require larger aquariums for courtship to occur
• Parental behaviour: None, they lay their eggs and then ignore them
• Preferred food: Fancy goldfish, for the most part, are omnivorous and will eat whatever they can find. They do stir up the bottom as they pass looking for microscopic particles of food, so poorly attached plants are often uprooted and injured during their continual digging.
• Comments: The Chocolate colour is quite an interesting mix of colours, including various deep browns, mahogany and often some reddish tints as well. The metallic sparkle from the scales lends an interesting set of reflections and flashes in the aquarium as the fish dig through the bottom substrate.