My baby watonai

[Nepen]

This spring my watonai goldfish spawned and I got to raise the baby fish in my in door tank (I picked a pair and got the female to lay eggs in a net I then move the net to my indoor tank to watch) at first I got hundreds but after 3-4 months now, only one survived!! (Crayfish got in the net a few times and ate a lot of the babies, then when they were big enough not to get eaten by the other fish, I let them out of the net, they just disappeared one by one...no clue why or how). I also let a few big ones into the pond but since then I haven't seen them so they are either hiding very good or all gone.

The mom is a red/white/black watonai and the dad is the yellow watonai from Rain garden in Hawaii. So the baby just showed its color to be black and yellow!!

That's the fish eating crayfish.

My fish in the pond have not spawned again so I think I'll just try this again next year. It is quite fun to watch them grow. I might keep this little guy until next spring but I might not. I wish I have a friend for it!

 

[Mmathis]

This spring my watonai goldfish spawned and I got to raise the baby fish in my in door tank (I picked a pair and got the female to lay eggs in a net I then move the net to my indoor tank to watch) at first I got hundreds but after 3-4 months now, only one survived!! (Crayfish got in the net a few times and ate a lot of the babies, then when they were big enough not to get eaten by the other fish, I let them out of the net, they just disappeared one by one...no clue why or how). I also let a few big ones into the pond but since then I haven't seen them so they are either hiding very good or all gone.

The mom is a red/white/black watonai and the dad is the yellow watonai from Rain garden in Hawaii. So the baby just showed its color to be black and yellow!!

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That's the fish eating crayfish.
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My fish in the pond have not spawned again so I think I'll just try this again next year. It is quite fun to watch them grow. I might keep this little guy until next spring but I might not. I wish I have a friend for it!

Hmmm! If you have a successful spawn next year, I might be paying you a visit to negotiate

 

[Nepen]

Haha! Sure! I was quite bum when the babies kept disappear because i was sooo excited to see how the colors will come out. I didnt expenct the yellow to show, but so glad it did!!!!

The baby start being the greenish/black color, the normal dull beginning color. Then it started to have black on its back, it stayed like that for a few days and the yellow just started to show a few days ago. the black seems to take less space, so I dont know if it'll disappear or stay

 

[Mmathis]

Haha! Sure! I was quite bum when the babies kept disappear because i was sooo excited to see how the colors will come out. I didnt expenct the yellow to show, but so glad it did!!!!

Can you get a picture that shows the tail? I love their tails!

 

[Nepen]

I can try! It's pretty fast. stay tune!

 

[Nepen]

Came home and my little baby doesn't look very well. Swimming in place not moving much hope nothing's wrong and it is better soon.

@Mmathis here're the pictures of the tail.

Also, good news!! I went out to the pond and found 4 watonai babies that I put there a long while ago still live!!!

2 turned yellow/orange like the dad (with one with black tail) and 1 with black back and 1 didn't change color yet (may be it won't!!)

This is pictures of the two, comparing the color to the dad!!!

This is the black one

I'm pretty surprise and happy how much the color of the male transfer to the babies so much. I thought I read it's hard to get that color.

 

[haver79]

Came home and my little baby doesn't look very well. Swimming in place not moving much hope nothing's wrong and it is better soon.

@Mmathis here're the pictures of the tail.

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Also, good news!! I went out to the pond and found 4 watonai babies that I put there a long while ago still live!!!

2 turned yellow/orange like the dad (with one with black tail) and 1 with black back and 1 didn't change color yet (may be it won't!!)

This is pictures of the two, comparing the color to the dad!!!
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This is the black one
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I'm pretty surprise and happy how much the color of the male transfer to the babies so much. I thought I read it's hard to get that color.

Very pretty Nepen. Love that yellow showing through. I would like to have a bright yellow goldfish! Glad your babies in the pond have survived.

 

[Mmathis]

@Nepen What a beautiful baby! Thanks for the pics! I really love the Watonai tails. I hadn't considered breeding [not in my wildest dreams], but if I could, I would love to have many, more Watonai & Wakin. Not to the exclusion of all other goldfish, though, as I like my Shubies and comets.... Too bad they aren't as easy to come by as the more common GF. Keep us posted.

 

[Nepen]

@haver79 The funny thing is that in the indoor tank, the fish is pretty yellow. But once it's out in the pond, it's more orange than yellow but still a lot more yellow than the other 'red' ones. The color really stand out in the pond. I think it's hard to get yellow goldfish. Koi might be easier to be real yellow.

@Mmathis Try it! Just once, I dont know if your fish spawn all year (in my old pond they do spawn all year but not in this new pond, curious eh?). For me now I'm satisfy and I have enough fish that i dont think i'll do it anymore. Even though the mom has 3 colors (orange, black, white) seems like the dad gene for the yellow is stronger!

 

[ChrisP]

That yellow color is beautiful!

 

[Nepen]

So now the black on my goldfish is almost gone. Apparently the yellow gene in the daddy fish is so strong almost all of the babies are almost pure yellow(ish). The mom is tri-color.

May be next year I'll try a different pair.

 

[Mmathis]

@Nepen If you're choosing for color, you might want to give the fish a chance to "grow into their colors" before pairing.

Now, before anyone picks me apart, here (naw, y'all wouldn't do that....), let me say that this is a generalization as we all know that nature doesn't play by the rules.

And we have had previous threads that addressed the colors in commons/comets -- very interesting, I might add.

I know that goldfish colors can and do change over the life-time of the fish. Now, this is more with the commons/comets. I haven't found much if any research regarding color changes in Watonai & Wakin. I think Shubunkins tend to retain their colors & markings. Steve at RainGarden [in Hawaii] has a few observations about Watonai/Wakin colors.

With commons/comets, black is the least stable color and will be the first color to disappear. Apparently, the rules ARE different for Watonai & Wakin as they are different for Shubunkins! I had one baby Wakin a few years ago [it was one of 2 fry that was "spontaneously" spawned in the pond] that started out sort of calico, like a Shubi. It's gone from that, through white & red, and now is solid white @ 5 yrs. old. I also had a Watonai that had some black on it it -- it was mostly bluish with a little gold. That fish is now solid black! (Well, it's black when you look at it in the water, but when you take it out, it's that dark olive-y copper-ish color).

Anyway, back to my original thought....... What you see today, may not be what you'll end up with tomorrow. Goldfish genetics is a LOT more complicated than it is with koi -- I think GF have many more gene combinations which is why. If it was me [JUST IMHO], right now I'd try choosing parents based on their physical characteristics -- going for traits to make nice strong, healthy fishies.

Yours are SO pretty, and I'm still jealous....[pout face, pout face!]

 

[Mmathis]

That yellow color is beautiful!

I am always on the look out for "yellow" goldfish! Very hard to find these days, but so pretty!

 

[Nepen]

@Mmathis thanks for the heads up. Yep I know they change color. One of my watonai calico changed to pure black. The one I paired were the yellow from Rain Garden so I don't think that one will change color much since its solid yellow. The mom is calico and she's been the same color for the two years I have her. I think she's at least 3 years old as I got her when she's already full grown. All of her colors didn't change at all

I have a feeling that th calico change color a lot but the solid doesn't change as much (may be a few shade lighter or darker, but won't change to add more color) I might be wrong. That's only from my observation from my pond.

The ones I am thinking about pairing are the same female with the only back and white male that has been the same for the last two years too. I do have calico male but his black has been growing so I don't know if I like that.

I'was actually hoping for a calico with white yellow and black, that's why I pair the yellow with the calico. I think that'd be so pretty.

 

[Nepen]

Today he is now pure yellow

All other 4 fish in the pond are all yellow now too. Will see if they will keep their yellow or turn different color. But it's pretty interesting that all of the babies are pure yellow, like the dad eventhough the mom is calico