Go get some ricefish! Here are a few resources Ive used to get em: But first, get some really LEGIT. food to feed em (and all your fish) :) geni.us/shopLEGIT ✅ Supports / drives sustainability of the Amazon rainforest & the people who collect the fish! ✅ Mysis shrimp Ingredient (invasive species) = Removed fresh from Canada ✅ Least processed fish food pellet 2nd- Here are some places to get Medaka online, because a lot of fish stores dont carry them: Instagram @the.medaka.lair (Jackson is a really cool guy, hes the one who got me the Yokazura (super sparkly ones) and the Yokihi (solid orange) Aquahuna - geni.us/I5jb This is where I got my Koi, Midnight and Platnum ricefish @dakuaquatics - Another cool dude who breeds and sells ricefish. Hope that helps! As I continue to find resources and info on these fish Ill be sure to share :)

I live in Japan. I did not know why these fish were so popular here but since I saw the expensive ones in a fish store I can't stop thinking about them. Some of them look like they're covered in holographic glitter and they are STUNNING

I bought 6 platinum Medakas from my LFS and they're worth it. They were a bucket list fish for me and they bred naturally on their own.

We were in a friend of my father's home in New Mexico some years ago & they had a slightly higher than usual coffee table that had a full framed glass top with a tank on each end. The majority of the top was a shallow 8 or so inch deep "overpass" connecting the 2 tanks. It was beautifully decorated with live plants, stones & gravel had a nice variety of these fish. It was mesmerizing to watch! He'd built it himself. The top could slide away and tilt in a chest like fashion. I wish I'd thought to take pictures.

Medaka are what got me into fishkeeping! They are so underappreciated, and I feel like if I had known about them sooner, I would've had them! I started in October '23 and already have fry and a sustainable outdoor pond! They have been so forgiving with my beginner mistakes (uncycled tank included, oops!) I'm in Texas, and mine have already survived through the freeze with no problem. The only problem I've encountered is bearing the raised eyebrows and looks I get from people when I talk about my setup lol! Many find it hard to believe I can have such a successful pond with little to no maintenance.

I agree they aren’t as popular as they should be here.But what i understand from listening and reading,there are color strands that they will not release from japan because its considered taboo but some of the colors slip through and come here..the Japanese medaka breeders put a lot of pride and quality into their breeding efforts…im a huge fan of medaka

You should wrap insulation of any kind around the outside tubs to stop them from freezing around the sides.

You had me with the video about how they're mini kois. I was able to convince my boss at the fish store I work at to order them just for me haha. They're really not good quality and all interbred between orange, platinum and black but now it's my job to "unmix" them and I love it. I hope the trend is going to grow and I will be the only one to sell them in my area. I'm subscribed since you got me hooked on those fish and I can't wait to see new content when the ricefish season starts again!

If you peel back another layer you'll see Japanese breeders are creating medaka that are stunning from the side and top. Like miriage kiss long fin. Just got some ryuushouhoushi eggs so I'm excited to see how they turn out.

Medaka are such an underrated fish... I keep them outside in a plastic bucket with plants, never feed them, and they thrive! (I plan on getting them a ceramic pot to live in soon) And even if you live somewhere that snows or where the water freezes over the fish will be fine. Most of Japan has snow during the winter so the Medaka have become accustomed to it.

I’m totally here for the ricefish content. I, too, have them living outside, year round. Love them.

I actually purchased some eggs last year and I am most certainly enjoying my babies. In the wild they eat mosquito larvae, so I supplement bloodworms with their pellets and they go nuts for it. I do keep them inside with cherry shrimp and the coexist wonderfully!

I bought fancy ricefish eggs on eBay from Japan. It takes a few steps to acclimate the eggs but it is a fun project. It's a great way to get ricefish varieties not available in North America. 🎉

I’m planning on starting a rice fish outdoor mini pond in the spring and I’m so happy you’re sharing so much information about them. I’ve never done an outdoor mini pond and I was worried they wouldn’t do well in the winter until I saw your videos and realized how much I’m in the same climate and I don’t have to be anxious when I set my pond up.

I knew what fish you were talking about from the beginning and the top down shot sealed the deal. I agree rice fish are awesome patio pond pets.

i love medakas! i've only been in this hobby for 1.5 years and i've gone through a few beginner fish. a few months ago i set up a mini pond with 5 medaka, and since then i've realized my future endeavors in this hobby are: keep up with rescue bettas, and breed different strains of medaka. they're so hardy and so cute!

I've been breeding medaka for awhile now. I'm up to 15 varieties with a few in development.

I have a friend in southern sweden keeping them all year round in an 4ft deep outdoor pond. Inground obviously.

I think the white ones look great in a tank, but require a black background. Definitely cool the way they will pick up the novelty light colors. Also i moved one "runt" to live solo - and hes a lot more personable than online search results indicate

Perfection! I’ve been thirsty af for more Medaka content! Maybe I’m just weird, but my neurodivergent brain has chosen to hyper-fixate on Medaka/nano ponds and I now have very little interest in working with other fish. 😝

Never apologise for doing another Medaka fish video, I’m just like you and I can’t get enough of them. I know we have chatted before but I have also kept one group outside in their pond in the UK, no food since late October and they are still all fine, the temps have dropped and the pond has iced over. The lids you made are a great idea, I have raised mine off the floor using car tyres as I’m thinking that will help. My other groups I moved their entire tubs into my conservatory, it’s still cold in there but nowhere like outside. And I have juveniles that I’m still raising up like you in aquariums. As someone who has been keeping hillstream species with multiple tanks keeping Medaka is a complete change. Can’t wait until spring to get them all outside again.

Just don’t release these fish in the wild

Medaka are some of the cutest fish of all! I've had some in the past, and I am planning to get some more now that my new pond is ready for them after months of planning.🎉

Ha! I am in Minnesota and have been considering installing a fish pond. We can keep koi outdoors all year, as long as we protect the fish from foxes. They will manage to dig through the ice to get at them. A friend had an uncovered pond, and over winter, a fox had eaten every last fish in the pond. So, it would definitely need some sort of protective cover, like chicken wire. I've also been considering setting up an aquaponics system. Best fish recommended is bluegill. They thrive in poor quality water with lots of aquatic plants. The bonus is you can go fishing in your system - you almost have to. They will reproduce faster than rabbits and overwhelm the system, if you don't.

Wanted to listen to someone gush about a fish that needs more attention. :) Only had mine for 2 months, but I’ve already seen babies!!! Beautify fish that have wonderful personalities.

I definitely want to get a group of these guys. Thank you!!

Tip for those wanting to breed them, they absolutely love laying eggs in Java moss. I tried to get mine to spawn in mops but I also had 3D printed baskets with Java moss and they went crazy laying in the moss over the mops every time. Now I have about 20 babies from only a month of warm days and a single female in my outdoor pond.

now that's passion right there. always a fun and interesting video @aquapros !

Glad others love them. I have 10 ponds/tubs outside with some rare colours and I'm hooked. They are frozen over at the moment. Was fine last winter.

I too love rice fish. The new Japanese fancy lines are getting insanely cool looking

I love the passion you have for Medaka rice fish. Great video as usual. However, there is one thing I think is important to emphasize to viewers, and that's that all fish keepers should remember to never release their fish into the wild and to ensure that their outdoor aquatic enclosures are fully prepared to prevent non-natives from escaping into surrounding environments. I bring this up on this video in particular because medaka rice fish are so incredibly tough. I know many of us fish hobbyists do everything we can to prevent escapees, but sadly, there are so many more fish hobbyists out there who release their tank fish willy nilly into local ponds and streams when they are no longer interested or able to keep those fish. So that's the only reason I think it's important that the more famous hobbyists, such as yourself, make a brief statement like this when educating viewers about super hardy pets for our outdoor ponds. We don't want to cause another disaster like the Lionfish in our southeast oceans, the African Cichlids in the Everglades, or the devastating Plecos throughout the south USA and north Mexico. On a smaller scale, where I used to live in Tucson AZ, the mosquitofish (Gambusia) were introduced to control mosquitos, of course. This unfortunately led to the near-eradication of the local Gila Topminnow. Luckily, humans have helped bring back the Gila Topminnow population, but it has been incredibly difficult due to the amazing adaptability and high reproductive rate of the Mosquitofish. So yeah ... I hope everyone (including myself someday) enjoys their outdoor Medakas, but remember to be responsible and prevent the next native displacer. Thanks again for your great videos!

reminds me of our native gambusa minnows. they are the only fish i have in my small ponds that can survive a hard freeze for a few days.

I'm relatively new to keeping fish, well keeping them correctly I should say. But I'm definitely interested in these little guys. I'm a big fan of a big school of tiny fish in a big aquarium with live plants. These guys seem perfect for me and my preferences. And I have a big food grade plastic bin, like 60 or 70 gallons, that I want to make a patio pond with.

I have New Gekka Medakas from Japan outside in my minponds right now! They look like sparkly mini koi from the top, very beautiful! I'm in Virginia, so your line could be correct lol, they're fine and it's freezing outside. I poke a hole in the ice for them every few hours 😅

You can also put the floating deicer heaters, they don’t heat the water, they just heat a small part at the top to allow gas exchange. I put them in my pond. They have metal cages if necessary to keep them from touching the liners etc. they go on automatically so I leave mine plugged in all winter. They wont burn the fish wither. If rotting leaves etc are not able to release the gasses it would build up and kill the fish. They are obviously cold blooded like koi, their metabolism slows enough that they don’t need food, and would get sick if they were fed as their digestion stops. They go into almost like a brumation like turtles, they rest, but alert if there is danger and come up to get sun to help warm them up.

I love them, they are always happy looking, friendly like koi, not big, do not need much and do not fight for territory. All the colors like koi just in small.

Ohh the memories. My grandpa was big into aquariums and he had a tank with Skalaren (Pterophyllum) and Medakas, aswell as some tiny Shrimp ( dont remember what type of them or the latin terminus ). If I remeber it was 5 or 6 Skalare, one big school of I believe 24 Medaka and a tiny school of guppys that he later took out, because they beefed with the Medaka's and Sold to a friend of him that was also a Guppy and Shrimp breeder

Love the mops. Better than my yarn. I need to get/make some!

I have some in my 15 gallon balcony pond right now. It's been snowing the past week and they're doing fine. They are undercover and I have a plastic "greenhouse" over their tub. Great fish and super easy to breed. Luckily my LFS carries them.

Have a few strains of Medaka, I over winter them in my fish room but enjoy keeping them in my out tubs most. They are bomb proof!

Cool video i like learning about rice fish witch isn't much now but i think you'll show me the way. Thanks for sharing

Based on the coldest average temperatures, Japan ranges from a zone 8 to 5 here. I would say that most likely, you can keep this fish outside if you are zone 5 or higher. Japan has a lot of coast, and water has a mediating affect, so despite some snow most of Japan is fairly warm in comparison to the US at the same latitude. Much of the Pacific Northwest is zone 8 as it is by the ocean, but as you get further away the winter temperatures drop off. Edit: Based on what he said, 15 degrees is only zone 8. So, if you are a lower zone 7, 6, ect. They may not make it. Especially in a bucket. They'll probably have more tolerance in an in ground pond as the ground also has a moderating affect.

I have been wanting rice fish for a long while now but they are just not in the stores around my area. I want them inside and outside!

I have literally never heard of these before. They're really neat!

I first learned of medaka rice fish from your season wrap up pond videos last fall, and I thought they were so cool because I'm in BC and White Cloud Mountain Minnows are considered an invasive species here so are illegal to keep. Hoping to set up a pond on my patio this year when the weather warms up!

ricefish are great! other easy beginner cool water fish i've had luck with include: variatus platies, white cloud minnows, and zebra danios

greate video! i love this fish, i remember watching a video where people in japan keep them on planters in the patio and they thrive

Western mosquitofish, also known as gambezi. They are hardy north American fish that do well in an aquarium. I've caught them in ditches and ponds. And I've seen them in rivers, lakes, creeks, and pretty much anywhere that maintains a foot or so of water most of the year. Don't know why they aren't popular beginner fish

very cool! ty! i'm going to try to get some for my 6' dia stock tank pond

I had Medaka before and they are super pretty! I can’t wait to get more when we reset our tanks after the move across country ❤🎉

2 minutes in and I’m already planning my first purchase. You’ve sold me already XD they’re just so cute!

Guppies! They were very popular in the 70's and 80's. So happy you found them.

Amazing fish. Great video.

Great video! I love these little guys! What do you do to keep predators like birds and raccoons away from your outdoor ponds?

ordering some for my store rn! gonna be a new staple in my store. they're very cute!

A few years ago I kept and bred some of them in an old wine barrel on my parents balcony. They were amazingly easy to keep and breed and very nice to look at. I guess I‘ll get some new ones and restart my breeding program.

I totally agree 😊 I live in Florida and bought mine online from Washington and I love them ! I have been breeding them for almost 2 years and now have three colors and trying to breed some from those - can’t wait to see what these little babies will grow into - 🎉. They are super hardy and have such cute personalities- they gather at the surface waiting to be fed when they see me 😂

Great video about these awesome little fish!!! Well done!

Had one snuck in with some guppies once she lived in a bucket on the balcony for ages. Thing went soupy green water she was living for it. Cool lil fish for sure

Sounds like they'd be great companions for bettas as well since they're from relatively the same region

I want these fish so bad!!! I really enjoy all the videos i can get on them!

You’re doing fine work. Very interesting. Good job !

I love them! I have a mini pond full of them in my dining room because, well, WHY NOT!! 😁

I was in and out of the fish hobby for so many times, what I learned is that if I dont breed the fish, I eventually get bored. But also I enjoy breeding fish which have variation, so I crossbreed and make some selections that I find interesting, Medaka is the perfect fish for that, you can overwinter it even outside if you dig the pots into the ground and cover it, so if you have plenty of space outside, you can keep tons of fish, the space inside the house is limited, and I think there is no other fish with more variation than medaka, the japanese keep that fish for hundred of years, so lots of mutations there.

Totally agree. I am in love with my medaka!

I love ricefish. They are so cute to watch as they keep themselves busy going around tge tank. I kept them in my aquariums before. Thought about getting them again .

Medaka are my absolute favorite fish! I wish I could get more unique colors here in Canada. I currently have white, orange and red and white koi colored. I can't wait to transition them to my 50 g tub pond this summer.

i live in the midwest united states and these fish are like $10 a pop here. I ended up setting up an outdoor tub for a couple of them. I am not sure if i got a male and a female but they do seem to love the sun and are so glittery and iridescent its great

great video! Planning to make a black/white themed aquarium and I think the medaka is a great fish.

Ive almost bought rice fish twice in the last few months. My LFS only has the white/platinum variety. Jus couldnt get into the look. But the way u showed them from the top and schooled us on how u can keep them outside and how they thrive in that environment. Im officially converted. Good look bro

I got myself bunch of Mekong rice fish, it's a different species within the same genus, they're smaller, transparent, and have a shinny blue eyes.

So I am sold, haha. I had been debating on getting some for my 30-gallon but wasn't sure. Well, I am now! Also, from michigan here. If you can keep the water from freezing through, I would assume they would be fine outside. A simple bubbler can accomplish this, though I would probably throw a low heater of some sort near the bottom just to be safe. I've done this with Betta in an outdoor pond, and they come from the same rice fields, so it should work the same for these guys. (Before anyone comes for me, I did not realize the 2 betta were still in the pond, I had brought the other fish all in and couldn't find them. The bubbler was there because I didn't want the pond to freeze freeze and kill off all my plants. Both bettas are just fine)

Gambusia affinis are free in the south US, (just go to a ditch with standing water; you can catch the juveniles with a large plastic bottle or bucket) and even hardier with water parameters but maybe not freezing temps (not sure about that one). They're cute, too.

Here in SW Ohio my dog's water bowl is freezing in the garage. Had a recent cold spell but should warm up next week. I am considering putting up an outdoor pond with these fish. Might consider a pond heater as well to help. Thanks for the vid! Definitely sold me on the fish.

i've been wanting to get some ricefish for so long!!! they're so pretty

Do ricefish coexist well with rosy minnows? I have rosies in my pond. No filter, no heater, no bubbler. Pond froze this winter, all fish survived fine. I am in the PNW too. Would love to add ricefish if compatible with rosy minnows.

Had the same temps and weather a week or two ago, also in the pnw. Good to know!

when I was growing up in Japan, there weren't many different types. When I was nine years old, I did a Medaka breeding project as a school science project. I ended up with hundreds! I ended up donating them to the local elementary schools! Instead of a mop, I've always used Water Hyacinth since it makes great hiding spots for eggs & babies. and water hyacinth kept the water parameters good without any mechanical filters.

I found out about Rosey Red Minnows and put those in my pond this past fall. I do have a heater so the temps stay at 64 lowest. But I hear they can deal with high and low temps. I"m hoping that the high temps is ok as I live in Houston so it can get pretty hot. The goal for the pond is having a hardy small fish (only 40 gallon pond) that can deal with high temps in summer. Main purpose is to keep mosquito larvae from hatching. They are sold in a lot of fish stores in my area too. I've not looked for rice fish but they sound around the same type of fish. I like that the rice fish have some color variations!

I love these fish. My roommate and I have been successful in breeding them. I pull the eggs off the female and put them in the hatch tank. Our fist group of fry are nearly big enough to move to the big tank. Might try some on the patio (in Austin, Tx) this year.

Literally watching this from Minnesota 😅 😅😭😭🥶🥶but I keep goldfish and guppies outside a lot of the year - just have to bring them in for a few months! Takes a little extra work but totally worth it for some summer mini ponds! PS in an unheated garage in MN a 5g tub would definitely freeze. But in my poorly insulated basement it gets down to 50 or 40 degrees and its a great place to overwinter hardy pond fish. My goldfish go dormant so I can keep them in a smaller container until they go back outside. Will have to try some medaka!

medaka seem to be more popular in australia than the US, definitely a fish i was considering for my first pond.

Fully agree about mimicking the wild.

I’ve been thinking about adding some rice fish to my goldfish pond next summer.

I was teetering on the edge on using them in my cold water tank. But if they only breed in warm water, I may just build a small pond here since I live in South Cali. Coldest in my area is only mid 30s. Warmest is the mid 80s

Been in the hobby since I was a kid, and never saw these in LFSs until a year or two ago. We’ve been missing out for sure

Nice video. Can you tell me what that light is that stretches across your tanks?

I've really been wanting to get into these fish, but they're hard to find in Florida! I have a 110g partially-submerged tub pond that I want to dedicate to rice fish

I’m having a problem with nitrate in my larger tank. I have plants and a good light. I bought special things for my filter and still have very high nitrates. Any suggestions and would rice fish be able to survive? I have guppies but don’t want to try them yet

It makes sense they bred for top visuals in they were traditionally kept in ponds.

Years ago I caught a tiny fish I did not recognize in my creek, which I thought held only trout, salmon fry, and sticklebacks, and put it in an aquarium on my back deck with an airstone running. I wanted to grow it a bit so I could identify it. I left home for a long weekend and we had cold snap. I came back and the tank was frozen, except for a basketball sized sphere of water above the airstone. Fish still alive. When it got big enough I was finally able to ID it as a pumkinseed sunfish (an invasive in my area) I named him Herbie and moved him to a 90 gal tank in my shop where he lived on for several years, getting up to about six inches long. I would say pumkinseeds make excellent aquarium fish. Once Herbie figured out that when I approached the tank in the morning there was food coming he started meeting me at the top of the water. He would even come out from hiding if I came by the tank and stopped to look, coming up to the glass to stare back at me. A very personable fish. The green and blue iridescent scales and the red-highlighted black spot also make for a pretty fish. I also have a small pond I dug in the backyard and I've added a number of pumkinseeds I have removed from my salmon stream and they have tolerated all the cold and heat with no issues, which, I would guess comes as no surprise to folks in Minnesota where these guys live in every lake.

This is great! I need to get some too! 🐟 thanks! Great info. They will love north Jersey. Lol. Similar climate to you

Daisy’s rice fish are just the best…love their colour…🫶

You should get some cheap digital temperature probes and put them at different heights in those miniponds to see what the thermal layers are like

It’s VERY hard getting any variety of fish in Sweden where I live. It’s also impossible to breed and sell due to extreme breeding rules for fisheries.and aquarists supplier. There are types of fishes and frogs that survives being fully frozen and they come back alive in the spring. You also have the fish that dries out in mud and can comeback to life after being hibernated several years (once they get wet again they come alive. There are documentaries on this they are Uber cool.

I love rice fish! They seem to be one of the easier killifish to keep with all the fun killifish behaviour. I got pretty close to importing some eggs of a fancier morph from Japan. I just posted a video of some I overwintered indoors. Hopefully be making a bunch more again when it starts to warm up (I'm in Britain)

I started a 300 gallon pond last summer in coastal Southern CA. I started first with white club minnows, mollies and patties. The patties did not fare well the mollies were all golden in color but their offspring were near black, which I don't like because it's hard to see them since the bottom of the pond is dark. So I decided to add in rosy red minnows and rice fish. I got the gold and blue varieties of rice fish, but they are still small so whenever I feed them, their automatic instinct is to hide before they resurface to eat. I would not keep these fish in a regular aquarium because as you mentioned they are rather plain Jane looking compared live bearers, tetras and barbs. To me, the most underrated pond fish are the rosy red minnows. They have similar colors to rice fish bit grow to the size of mollies and show a lot of "personality". If I'm able to get a more red hued rice fish variety, I will add it into my pond this year. What I'm hoping is they they do a GMO version of rice fish so that they will have bright neon colors. If they fo that, then I can see rice fish exploding in popularity in North America.

I love the iridescent quality of the rice fish variants. Plain until you look closer.

I live in Minnesota. I do not recommend keeping fish outdoors. Barely got above 0 all last week. Frozen fish sticks work though! 😂

do you feed the fish outside in the winter as well? are there any things to do in the winter or no?