Lionhead Progress (5th Month)

New food for my lionhead showed up recently from Japan which I got from eSeller Momota106 who kindly threw in a sample of Azayaka's Basic Balance (I have been wanting to try that out for some time now), and shipping took 20 days before arriving at my place in the US. If you opt to get the bigger bag of Hikari from them it appears you'd still get the same single sample pack, which is a similar type of pellet to the food purchased (as both of these are for goldfish balance). I was not impressed with the results I got with Hikari Lionhead as I have mentioned previously so, I am hoping to get better results with a different goldfish food by them (I will try almost anything twice).

Azayaka (left) and Saki-Hikari (right)

This past month I made up my own pellet mix to hopefully get the most growth from all of my lionhead (this was based on their past growth rates), and I even started giving them an extra feeding per day (so they got 3 meals a day from 6am to 6pm) although I did not decide to decrease their water temp (so it's still set at 78F).

My Daily Pellet Mix (fed 3x a day, 1/4 tsp pellets per single feeding)

1 Part - Hikari Lionhead pellets (I will switch these out with my new Hikari pellets)

2 Parts - Omega One goldfish pellets

2 Parts - New Life Spectrum therA pellets

Other Foods (given 1-4x a month)

1 Cube - Frozen Mysis Shrimp and/or Bloodworms

2x2 in - Nori/Dried Seaweed

Several Drops (after every water change) - Vitachem

Click to Enlarge

I have had my lionhead goldfish for 5 months now and as you can see from the above chart it shows their growth rate for every month (approx. 30 days per month). The average gain this month was 18g (0.6g daily) which is double compared to last month. This month Sumo had a huge gain of 21g since last month and weighed in at 67g. Pocky nearly weighed the same as Sumo with a 17g gain and now weighing in at 66g. Ramen is again the smallest this month with a 15g gain, now weighing in at 59g. I did notice Ramen having swim bladder issues this week so I will be making adjustments to the amount of food being fed to my lionhead, and I believe this is why Ramen's weight is a bit lower because he has been working harder to keep his buoyancy. I also feel Pocky may have very early stages of swim bladder issues as well so a slight diet may be in order for these fish.

Sumo, Ramen, and Pocky (left to right)

Sumo

Pocky

Ramen