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Calico
Calicos come in two types: the Telescope and the Fantail. These are both Chinese fish. The Telescope has bulging eyes and a short body. It is the same mottled colour as a Shubunkin and is often seen as the most beautiful of all goldfish. The Fantail is the same as the Telescope, except that it lacks the bulging eyes.
Plain Scaleless
Plain Scaleless are the third type of Chinese fish and occur in both the same forms as the Calico. Its color is either red nor white and its skin is so transparent that you can see the eggs inside a pregnant female when she swims in front of the light.
Moor
The Moor is a very pretty and small fish of a sooty, velvety-black color. It has a chunky telescope style form and can occur in red and yellow-red as well as black. Moors are hard to breed to a pure black color, with the best black fish coming not from two black parents but from one red and one black colored fish.
Telescope
Any fish with protruding eyes can be known as a Telescope. The basic Telescope type is known as the Chinese Telescope and, apart from the eyes, looks almost identical to a Veil Tail. Although called Telescope fish, the bigger the eyes the worse the vision of this fish.
Celestial
The Celestial is a remarkable fish whose body is shaped like a Chinese Telescope. It is usually black or pale orange and its unique feature is that the pupils of the eye are situated on top of the eyeball. The fish appear to be looking towards heaven and the stars -- hence the name Celestial. This fish is extremely delicate and not a good fish for aquarium display. It should never really be kept outdoors and spends most of its time at the bottom swimming on its belly.
Lionhead
The Lionhead is beautiful in a grotesque way, with a smooth, humped back and no dorsal fin. It makes the fish a very poor swimmer, often swimming upside down. It is called a Lionhead thanks to its large head growth and can often die suddenly due to suffocation from the growth growing over the gill plates. A variation of the Lionhead with a dorsal fin is known as the Oranda, although it is still a fragile fish.
Which to choose?
If you are buying fish for outdoors then common goldfish, Comets, Shubunkins, Moors, and both Calico and Japanese Fantails are the best. Most other fish should be kept indoors in aquariums. However, all fish can live outdoors in the right conditions and it is really your choice as to what fish you feel are right for your pond.
