I think I made a bit of an oopsey today and bought an Oranda:/

we had a fish from the fair and normally I dont hold much hope for fair fish as they always die but my housemate won it so we took it home in good hope, not expecting it to last long, and didnt name it ro get it a big tank.

Just over a week later the little fish is still alive and as sprightly and healthy looking as ever so we decided to name hime and bought him a nice new 2foot tank with a live plant and an ornament and such and set it up for a while before placing him in there (about a week) and then decided he was still alive so we would get him a friend.

So we toddled to the pet store where we saw some little whiteish silver goldfish with no name ill try take a picture for identification tomorrow as id like to know:P i really dont want to end up with a little wahle in my tank:P

well we chose a reallly nice healthy one with a long tail and then were drawn to some tiny Orandas about 5cm big, ive seen them before but never really paid much attention tending to go for species I know. But we were drawn to them, and decided the filter in their tank must be pretty strong as they were all swimming backwards as if in a current every so often.

So intrigued we called over the guy in charge of the fish and asked him for information saying the size of our tank and showing the other fish we just bought, he said that they only grew to around 10cm which would be double his current size but in our fish tank he would have plenty of room, as long as no more than him and the two other fish were the ony three otherwise it would get a bit cramped and we would need a new tank, he also informed us that they grew quite slowly and would be fine with our other fish so pleased as punch we went and got him:)

When we got home we placed the bags in the tank to acclimatise them and left them for a while. However we soon noticed something wasnt right, as the white fish we picked out.....wasnt....white..... It was pink beneath its scales and a few scales were missing 0_o it was definately not the fish we had picked out but my housemate refuses to take it back saying they will just kill it lalala, so shes determined to look after it and hope the ugly duckling turns to a beautiful swan:P

but just ot add insult, we soon found out that our supposed 10cm oranda could grow to 2foot withing a year to 2 years 0_o aaaaggh! also were told Orandas and goldfish should not be kept together:( though they get on fine at present following each other around im worried for the future:(

he also still seems to swim backwards so whether this is a force of habit from being in a tank with an extremely strong current or whter somethings wrong or its normal i dnt know:/ I did a search and couldnt find anything:/ so im hoping its just a habit he picked up from the pet store.

hes so adorable and sweet Im hoping that all the horror stories ive been hearing are wrong:/ something in the back of mind is telling me that my old nbeighbour used to have them in a tank smaller than mine and they never seemed to grow that much in a year so im hoping and praying this is the case:/ not that I mind buying him a new tank im just concerned as to how big he will exactly grow? 0_o

I do have a nice sized Koi pond so I was wondering *if* he did grow to 2foot as I dont like keeping large fish in tanks as I feel they should be able to swim, always have memories of visiting my local zoo and seeing large fish in small tanks and it used to frustrate me. So if it is true they can grow to 2foot in as many years could he go in a properly filterd pond?

sorry for my large chunk of text and million questions:/ I'm just rather paranoid now:/