Goldfish of the month: The Jikin
This month we are having a look at a very special breed, and one that is not seen at all in pet stores – the Jikin.

History
The Jikin is one of the breeds that come from the small country of Japan (in the Nagoya area), and is developed from the wakin.

Characteristics
The Jikin, also known as peacock tail, is one gorgeous fish, easily being distinguished from any other fish. He has a long streamlined body, although a bit more stocky than the common goldfish. All his fins, except for the dorsal fin of course, come in pairs, but the most outstanding part is his caudal fin. When viewed from behind, it should resemble an “X”, and having four parts to it.

(Courtesy of Bristols Aquarists Society, UK)

In the last couple of years Al Foster has been crossing his jikin with some of his Philadelphia veiltails, and a very unique form of the jikin has emerged – with a longer flowing caudal fin. I have the honor of owning 6 of this version myself, but since those guys are just a year old, the true potential of the tail hasn’t fully shown yet, and I am watching their caudal fin development with great excitement. One had a recent growth spurt of ¼ inch in tail length in just the last month, so its coming along nicely.

Coloration
The Jikin is bred as calico, or in red and white, with the red only being in certain areas. The nacreous form is called Edojikin.
The most desirable, and very hard to acquire, form of jikin has an all white body, as well as all the fins being bright red. The only red on the body is on the gill plates, as well as the lips. There is a certain “12-point-rule” when it comes to the Jikin – red on 12 areas of the fish: the 2 anal fins, 2 pectoral fins, 2 ventral fins, the 2 gill plates, the 2 parts of the caudal fin, dorsal fin and lips. Any other red on a jikin isn’t very desirable.

(Courtesy of the Koistaff website)
Of course, that particular breeding pattern is one of the hardest to obtain, and therefore very time consuming breeding the fish for those particular marks. Not to mention that its even harder to get your hands on a perfect fish like that.

Housing
The Jikin is a perfect pond fish, and will do wonderfully outside. I am thinking that the pond in fact would be the best environment for a jikin – the natural sunlight and ever present algae brings out the bright red color points to their fullest potential.
Of course, a tank is a good place for the jikin as well, him not growing all that gigantic (around 9 inches) does have its advantages.

Where?
Now, to the biggest question – where to find such a beauty? There are quite a few places to find on the Internet, and I will mention just a few close to my heart here, with the best quality I have seen.

Al Foster being on of those few, truly putting his heart into the hobby of goldfish breeding. Besides some other rare goldfish breeds like the Bristol shubunkin, and my all time favorite – the Philadelphia veiltail and a beauty by itself, Al has taken great length in further strengthening the jikin strain. His latest “work of art” is the jikin/veiltail cross, with a peacock shaped tail, yet with the length of a veiltail caudal fin. The finnage on those fish takes a while to develop, and like I mentioned earlier, the ones I own are in different stages of tail development.

In the picture on the right the tail of the fish in the middle comes closest to the jikin tail shape wise, while the other two tend more towards the Phili veiltail. What stunning creatures!

Gary Hater is another very important name to mention when it comes to the Jikin. Gary has worked on different goldfish breeds over the years, and his Jikin also are a wonderful example on what one can accomplish with an enormous effort and love to the hobby. Considering how hard it is to obtain the special Jikin markings, one can only imagine how long it takes sometimes and how many culls have to be done before such a true Jikin is found among the literally 100s and 1000s of fry.

One can imagine how a red scale anywhere on that white body would pop right out!

A few other places I have found wonderful Jikin. As with quite a few other rare fish breeds, the Bristol Aquarists Society in the UK is also very active in that area, and has some wonderful specimen on their website http://www.bristol-aquarists.org.uk/goldfish/jikin/jikin.htm.

You can see the various degrees of red in the scales trying to creep up the body.

I stumbled upon a koi site when I researched the Jikin, which threw me off course at first, until I found that there is a special area on the site dedicated to goldfish. I noticed that the site originates in Japan, I asked for permission to use the Jikin pictures on that site. A very nice gentleman contacted me, and agreed for me to show the pictures of the Jikin. A very special thanks to Mr. Masaki Okamoto, an International Japanese Ranchu judge, and representative of the Koistaff website http://www.urban.ne.jp/home/koistaff/emembers.html.

A collection of perfect little beauties!

From the few online sources familiar to us, http://home.columbus.rr.com/dandyorandas/ is so far the only one I have found Jikin, and I am sure Ken will be more than happy to assist you with any help you might need when looking for a nice jikin.

Again, a very special thanks to Al Foster, Gary Hater, The Bristols Aquarists Society, Mr. Okamoto, as well as Rick Graham. From Rick’s articles I learned quite a lot as well about that wonderful breed. Anybody interested in Al's Jikin, please feel free to PM or email me, and please, only serious inquiries....

Happy drooling!

You know use to well! Greatl pictures and you didn't leave out a bit of info! Good Job!! I it!

Wow!!! Go Ranchugirl!!! Thanks for your wonderful information and great photos!

lovely Fish! Thanks for all that great information.
These fish are just wonderful!

Great job, as always. Very cool!

Andrea how fascinating again. I learn so much from your articles.
What a cute fish. I love the stubby looking tail, and the body sure doesn't match the face. Kinda reminds me of a bulldog.

I always did say that you do the best fish articles! My concentration isn't much right now,but Your articles are so interesting that I have no problem reading them. I never pay much attention to pond fish in general-which is odd considering the fact that I've wanted a pond since I was a kid & a neighbor had a huge cement pond that I would sneak over and look at. Those Jikin are really unusual & quite beautiful fish,and I now want one too......Where's the "pouting smilie at"? Great job Andrea,as usual!!!!!

cuteeeee fishies!!

Wow those fish ar e pretty. I wish i had some That was good info.


-calico

they are nice! i may be mistaken, but dont they have all of their scales removed though? in order to make them all white...?

No, Tink, they don't. While researching, I found quite a lot of pics with a "non perfect" Jikin in it, with a lot of red in the body.
But what breeders do if there are only a few scales red, they do plug them when the fish is young. The new scale will grow back in white. But they don't do massive plugging of scales when there is a lot of red in it. Since its just such a reare fish, people will buy the red bodied as well.
A "bit more red" jikin is better than no jikin at all...

Wow i love your Jikin/Veiltail corss

P.S: My lfs stocked hundreds of baby wakins

jkin....expensive stuff....hard to find a really nice one..had a friend who plucked the red scales of his fishes in a long span of time...weeks..and had quite good results with it..managed to get a reasonably priced pair and have been in my goldfish pond for 3yrs now and looking good as always.very...very nice topview..a must for hobbyist!!

Impellitteri, if you have pics of your Jikin, feel free to post them in this thread!
Usually, with the "goldfish of the month" thread, members can add pics of their fish of the featured breed. So by all means.... I didn't think anybody here had a true jikin!

The fish also named Butterfly Tail (according to wikipedia).

wow they are kida cute ,funny looking, only cause i havent seen anything like that.ever.

Expensive??? Definitely, I found a really nice Peacock Tail (Jikin) for $120.00, and it's only 2.5 inches big. It's the last of the two; the other one has a lot of red and the tail is not as wavy compared to the one I bought. The store is called Eastern Nishikigoi on Golden West St. (Westminster), California.

Ooooh! Jikin2007! we'd LOVE to see a pic of your jikin! I'm in oz, we never get them imported here

I'll do just that when I find a floppy disk with no defects or glitches... I have an old Sony digital camera, you see. At any rate, the Jikin I just bought has the classic features: mostly white, cigar-shaped body, the light-red lips (like they've been painted on with a lipstick), light reds on the fins, the small split-tail with its unique shape, unlike any other goldfish I've ever seen. It's a really cute fish. Have you ever seen a Ryukin with very tiny tail? It's almost similar to that, except Jikin has an uncanny, cigar-shaped body. It's probably the first thing one will notice, and then, the tail, followed by the lips. The overall, classic coloration is also important.

Oh btw, this Jikin has a peculiar way of swimming. It's hard to describe.


But oz is so close to Japan...

not really it is 14 hours by plane it is almost the same time to fly to the US. we get most of the 'reject fish' from southern parts of asia such as indonesia, singapore, hong kong/china. if they are not 'reject fish' (not that any fish is a reject fish) they are locally bred

Here you go:

Ooh, I love that third pic, you get a really good view of the peacock tail!

Thanks for sharing, I love your fish

That's a long time! Australia looks so close to Japan, but my mistake. Now I know. Thanks.

thats okay
i love your jikin

I have seven new, baby Jikin. Posted a few cruddy pics. Will try to get some new ones, soon.

Baby Jikin

Johnny

Those are beautiful little guys, Johnny! How big are they now? So, the breeder does ship from HI to the mainland, yes?

Hey, Andrea!

Thanks.

Yes, Kathleen will ship to the mainland when she has babies for sale. These little rascals [there are 7] range in size from 1.5 to 3.5". She doesn't do internet sales, but sometimes has Steve Hopkins sell babies for her. Kathleen's stock is directly from Japan. I believe she actually went there to get them. These babies are from her own spawns.

Johnny

Here is Number Nine. No idea what Kesley will name her. She arrived today. I think she is the best I have overall. Not one errant red scale. But her entire dorsal is not red. Really pretty baby. We also got a solid red one as a gift. Gorgeous tail spread and a nice "diversion" from our mostly white with red points Jikin. Love these fish. I think they have surpassed Wakin as my favorite.

Johnny