Frequently Asked Questions

Not at the moment, but I will again! I have sold eggs before and expect to list them again at some point, so it is worth checking back. They are a genuine trade-off rather than a downgrade: eggs travel light and cheap with no live arrival risk in transit, but you take on the hatching and the wait, and you do not really know what you have until the fry colour up, which is half the fun of eggs in the first place. Live fish cost more to ship, and you see exactly what you are getting.

Yes, always. Most listings already let you pick male, female, or a random-sex pack, and Create Your Own Collection lets you create a mix of three, six, or twelve fish from any of my lines. If you want something outside of that, ask. This is a small operation, which is exactly why I can say yes to things.

If it has not shipped yet, email me and I will sort it out. One thing worth knowing so it is not a surprise: Stripe charges a payment processing fee when you buy, and it does not give that fee back when a payment is refunded. So a cancellation comes back to you minus that processing fee. Once live animals are packed and on the truck I cannot cancel, because the fish are already travelling.

Yes, and there is a box for it at checkout. Tell me the week or the date you want and I will hold the order. Worth using if you are travelling, if your setup is not ready, or if your area is in the middle of a heat wave or a hard freeze.

Mondays only, so nothing sits in a facility over a weekend. Your order usually goes out the next available Monday, though it can slip to the following Monday and, occasionally, the Monday after that, so please allow up to three shipping weeks before it leaves. I also hold orders when the weather at either end is dangerous, and I will always tell you when I do. Details on my shipping page.

Live animals and plants ship to the contiguous United States only. Transit times and agricultural rules for both states are not something I can handle responsibly with live fish. Merch and supplies are different: those ship to all 50 states.

Every live order carries my live arrival guarantee. Photograph the unopened bag and contact me the day the box lands, and I will make it right. Full terms are on the shipping and returns page.

I do, and it takes 10% off your subtotal, which is a genuinely good discount! Cards go through Stripe and are just as welcome.

I do. Choose Pay with Venmo or Cash App in your cart, enter your shipping info, and tap Venmo or Cash App. The next screen shows a short order code to put in the payment note. It is priced the same as card checkout. I match your payment to the code, then pack and ship. Gift cards are card checkout only.

Tell me, and I mean it! Email before you buy, or leave a note in the box at checkout, and I'm happy to look over your planned setup and help you choose fish that fit it, no charge and no obligation to order. I answer every message myself, and I would much rather help you get the container right before the fish ship than troubleshoot it after. The care guide and mini pond build are the reading; the inbox is for everything they don't cover.

Always. The fish in my listing photos are my own fish, raised here and photographed here. When a guide uses an illustration or a representative species photo instead, it is labeled as one right under the image. What you see on a listing is what swims in my pots.

A Japanese rice fish, Oryzias latipes, from the rice paddies and ditches of Japan. Small, hardy, temperate, and bred for centuries into a genuinely enormous range of colours, it is easy to see why people get hooked. My guide to what medaka are is the long version.

Those are body types, not colours, and any colour line can turn up in any of them. Normal is the standard wild shape. Hikari has a dorsal fin shaped like its anal fin, so the fish looks mirrored top to bottom, with a diamond-shaped tail. Daruma is a shortened, rounder body. Worth knowing: I do not breed or sell Daruma. The shortened body causes lifelong swimming problems, and I do not believe a fish should be bred for that shape on purpose. My guide to medaka body types shows what to look for.

Yes. My fish are hand-sexed by reading fins before packing, so you can order sexed fish, a true breeding pair, or a trio (two females, one male) of a named line rather than taking your chances on a random scoop. Pick the option on the variety's product page. My sexing guide shows exactly what I look for.

Within a named line, yes. My lines are kept one variety per container, and each generation's best-colored fish are selected as the next year's breeders, which is what keeps a Blue Miyuki's glow or an Orochi's deep black so striking and consistent. Mix varieties in one container and they will interbreed, with fry that look like neither parent, fun in a display pond, but keep one line per container if you're breeding for color. My breeding-for-color guide covers it.

Yes, surprisingly well for a fish this small, and it is the most common way beginners lose one. The risk peaks in the first days after a move, during spawning chases, and when an outdoor container fills to the rim in heavy rain. A few inches of freeboard solves most of it. See do medaka jump for the rest.

Yes, given the chance, with zero remorse about it. Medaka will eat anything that fits in their mouths, eggs and newly hatched fry included. Plant cover helps, but moving eggs or spawning mops to their own container is what actually works. My fry care guide covers it.

Longer than most people expect for a fish this size, about two years in a home setup, and three or more with good care! My guide to lifespan and life stages covers what changes from egg to adult.

Usually neither. Medaka are temperate, comfortable at room temperature indoors and outdoors through the seasons across most of the country. A gentle sponge filter earns its place in a stocked container, mostly for water movement rather than filtration. See heaters and filters.

Surface area matters more than gallons, because medaka live in the top few inches. A wide shallow container holds more than a tall narrow one of the same volume. My stocking guide has the numbers.

Mine do, through Carolina summers and Carolina winters, with no heaters anywhere in the operation, they are tougher than people expect! Volume and depth are what carry a container through, not equipment. My outdoor guide covers overwintering.

You do not need them, but a planted container is easier to keep than a bare one. Floaters shade the water and shelter fry, submerged plants add oxygen where the fish are. Every live order ships with free floating plants, so you start with some either way. See my plants and how much cover is too much.