As the proud owner of a new Lionhead (Raichu).I'd like to know at what age his/her wen will start to develop.
At the moment my little one is very skinny compared with most lionheads so I'm assuming he is young.he's around 3 or 4cm without tail but thats a guess as he won't keep still for me.Any Idea's when I will see my little one start getting the wonderful wen that makes lionheads so cute.

Once again, it is mostly genetic. Some fish will develop a wen at a very young age. Others wait for several years. I have heard that many breeders want a fish to wait either for about age 2 years or size 6 inches (whichever comes first - commonly the size) before developing a wen. This gives the fish time to fill out, develop its muscles and body tone/mass. When it has done that, it is capable of carrying a large wen with grace.

The majority of Ranchu/Lionhead/Lionchu that I have seen seem to have a full we at about 8 months - 1 year of age - about 6-8 inches in size. Many develop them much younger - I have seen some pretty ones on 2 inch fish.!

I would wait and see. There are some foods that tout wen development - Hikari sells some. They do work, to a degree, I am told, but the base of all development will come down to the individual genetics of the fish you have.

Congratulations on your new fish! I look forward to pictures!

Thanks daryl Raichu's pics are already posted I posted them day I got him/her.He's under the thread Raichu

is this the same with orandas? i have him for probably 6 months, 3in long body, just wondering when the wen is gonna start growing down his face, right now it just ontop of his head like brains =P

also, theres this white slime thats always on top of the wen...is that normal?

It sounds like your Oranda is a "High Head" - an oranda where the wen is the type that sits high on the head and not down the cheeks. Many orandas, called Red Caps, have this conformation, along with the distinctive color white with a red cap.

The white "slime" could be the whiteish spots that typically come and go on a fish's growing wen. It is thought that some of the tissue has more or less blood flow to it as the wen grows, causing small white spots of tissue damage. These spots are self limiting and disappear readily in a healthy fish.

If yours has more than a few spots, or, if the spots are large, do not go away or grow, you may have a problem. You can swab the white areas with a touch of hydrogen peroxide. If it is good, normal growth, nothing bad will happen from the swab. If it is something that needs attention, the HP may help.

my oranda's body is golden color with red cap as seen in this picture

as you could see at the top of his head where theres like a white patch thats what im talking about. he had that slim looking thing on his head for the longest time but hes been doing great eating and swimming around and stuff

I think I would still recommend swabbing that area with hydrogen peroxide. Carefully lift the fish out of the water, holding him over the water in case he flips out of your hands. That way he will land back in the water and not on the floor.

Swab the area well with a que tip soaked in hydrogen peroxide. MAke sure that no HP gets into the fish;s eyes or gills.

Then set the fish back into the tank. Do this twice a day for two days and then observe him for a few days and see if it gets better.

I am going to move this thread to Disease Discussion so you can get more advise/input.

haha..it seems like all my fish have some sorta problem =P

so is there a way of preventing this from happeneing in the future?

Neither of my lionheads of a wen at all. Only one of my ranchus does and its very small. But these are all petstore goldies and not from goldie breeders.

Before we could ever answer that question to the fullest,we'd have to know alot more about your tank,water maintainence etc.
The most important things you can do for your fish right now are,Testing water----Doing regular water changes/gravel vac's----- Keeping them in the biggest tank possible,and having really good filtration for a start. Arew you doing all of that?

yes ma'am i am. keeping with the 1gf/10gal water and 10X gal/hr filtration. filter is aqua clear 70 or 300gph. i have biomax media....the ones with a hole in the middle. monitor water every now and then, dont let them go out of control. nitrate never go above 40ppm. no nitrite no ammonia. PH is neutral. change 33.333333% water every week (=P take 10 gal out of 30 gal) with gravel vac. try to clean every square inch of the gravel. dechlorinate water before filling it back up. have air pump pumping air 24/7. clean filter when its clogged. feed 3 times a day, different food per meal. i have slow sinking pellets and crumbs. flake, brim shrimp. i need to remember to feed them veggies. lots of plants to help absorb nitrate....

cant think of anything else now...

Is that and undergraval filter I see in that pic?

yes, the tank in my signiture do have an undergravel filter, but i moved my fish to a bigger tank so i toss the undergravel away. it worked really good for me and my water was really crystal clear!