Looking for fantail comets for cold water climate. Experiences?

[crsublette]

I am told Wakins and there is a variety of Chinese or Midnight Shunbunkin are nice faintail comets that can survive 40*F water temperatures.

Going to quarantine indoors during the Winter before I keep them in the watergarden.

Anyone have some experiences with some fantail comets? Also, anyone know of an online distributor?

 

[Mmathis]

Is there such a thing as a fantail comet? I thought by definition, a "comet" has a single caudal fin, and a "fantail" has, well, a fantail. Semantics, I suppose, and I know what your talking about, so not worth arguing.....

You mentioned Wakin, which is a fish I've recently become interested in. Seems they're pretty hardy fish and would surely be able to tolerate colder temps. I've GOOGLED them and found 3 or 4 sellers, but don't know anything about their reps. Their fish sure are pretty, though, and pricey. FISHIN-4-CARS knows of some sellers in LA, so maybe he can help. I'll be "shopping" in the spring -- can't wait!!

 

[fishin4cars]

Wakin and Watoni are the two I hear most about being winter hardy. RainGarden is out of Hawaii, but for online purchases one of the best in the business. But don't expect to get cheap petsmart or Wally world goldfish here.
http://www.raingarden.us/goldfish.htm

 

[crsublette]

Very awesome fishin. Thank ya sir.

Yeah, I was expecting those prices from all the other stores I have seen online, that is around $5~$20 per body inch.

Those shunbunkins are awesome. I guess you wouldn't really call them a "fantail" but they are close enough to me!!

Ha! They sell Tosakin too. I know not hardy enough for cold climates, but I was curious how much they were since I am told they are extremely high.

I might have to splurge on a couple of those Shunbunkins.

Fishin, have ya dealt with this supplier much ??

Do you know of any other online distributors so can do some price comparisons ??

 

[sissy]

Why would they not survive that temp .I have actual fantails and people ask me all the time if I leave them out all winter and I look at them and say why not .I have had them for 8 years now and have not lost one of them .All of my fish are 8 years old and only ever lost one because during spawning he jumped out .Darn dumb fish ,where did he think he was going to go .The 2010 winter I lost most of the water in my pond because the pump got knocked over and only had a foot of water left in the pond and had to run the hose from the basement to refill .It was 60 degrees during the day and that night we got a snow storm and winds and freezing temps and there I was trying to save my fish in my PJ's and bare feet .A real sight . :razz:

 

[Fishylove]

I have fantails also and ryunkins in the small pond, they do just fine

 

[crsublette]

Sissy, Fishlylove, how low do your water temperatures reach and sustain for a while, near 40*F or very well ice covered ??

See, this is why I created this thread to read your experiences. Believe it or not, I actually keep my skepticism when reading, regardless of what I read. I was wondering how true it is about these goldfish not being hardy enough for near freezing water temperature.

I am very curious what ya have to say so here's another question.

As far as I have read, the "fancy" goldfish like ryunkins and other have a hard time getting to food when mixed with regular comets since these "fancy" goldfish do not move as fast as the other common goldfish. What's your experience?

 

[Fishylove]

As far as I have read, the "fancy" goldfish like ryunkins and other have a hard time getting to food when mixed with regular comets since these "fancy" goldfish do not move as fast as the other common goldfish. What's your experience?

This is correct in my experience, however, I Do have a shubunkin in there with them as well as another female goldfish of the same size. The shubby was torn up pretty bad this last spawning season and had some broken fins, she wasn't competing for food well at all in the big pond, so I moved her in with the fancy tails. She can move faster now that she's healed which is good. The fancy tails have stubby little bodies that just aren't streamline like her, but they keep up ok Especially when they get bigger Now the small ones I feed flake food because they can't gat the pellets in their mouths yet lol. The bigger ones would rather have the pellets over the flakes, so that works out. I just throw the pellets in first and while they are busy, I give the little guys their flakes
I really like the fancies their very friendly, have a couple that will swim up in my hand and eat I wouldn't put them with koi for sure though.


Their pond is up against the house and hasn't frozen over in a couple years, the temp in the pond stays around 37-40* in the dead of winter for about a month or so. They've done fine so far.

 

[addy1]

I have a mixture of shubunkins, sarrasa comets, long finned comets, common comets, one watonia or wakin, not sure which it is, has made it through 2 winters.
My water temperature is around 33 - 36 during the winter, 5 feet down, from the readings I have gotten.

They are darn tough fish, survive well without a ton of care, biggest threat is the heron.

 

[Fishylove]

They bring a different feel to your pond too, fun little guys. Was talking to an aquarium store owner the other day, she is telling me that Oranda's will winter in the pond in my area I will check more into that!