Thanks everyone. It has taken 6-7 years to get this collection the way I want it by:
- only buying nice looking long-tailed small fish
- giving away all of my orange coments (Craigslist works great, so does a flyer posted at local supermarkets)
- giving away the not-so-nice looking fish
- buying midnight shubunkins wherever I see them in local petstores, but usually from roadtrips to the breeder in northern MD (haven't been there for a few years, might have to make a roadtrip soon!)
I have a 9' high PVC structure with 4" mesh netting over my pond to keep out the herons and common egrets (live one mile from a large river). Not the greatest looking, but can walk in and under the net without any ducking.
I have four or five completely black shubunkins (midnights with no white/cream or blue). At first I thought they were neat, but you almost can never see them unless the sun is directly over head.