Ottering Devastating

The only thing worst than an otter is 2 otters.

– Someone saw 3...😓

my mistake to underestimate the otters

This year started with the kind of drama that makes you wonder if the universe has a personal vendetta against you. First, there were family matters—delicate, emotional, and not something I’ll dive into here. Suffice it to say, it was a difficult time juggling emotions and responsibilities I never anticipated.  

Just when I thought things were settling down, nature decided to up the ante. Enter: the otters. Yes, otters. Those "adorable," fluffy, Instagram-worthy pests that everyone loves? Turns out, they’re also ruthless, fish-eating ninjas. After 40 years in this neighborhood, I never imagined I’d be waging war against wildlife. But here we are.  

The first otter attack was a gut punch. In one night, nearly my entire Dragon Eyes Pearlscale bloodline—a labor of love spanning almost two decades—was wiped out. Poof. Gone. It was like watching 20 years of work get flushed down the drain, except the drain was a gang of hyper-efficient aquatic predators.  


I didn’t have time to despair. I immediately stimulated my remaining Pearlscales to spawn, hoping to salvage what was left of the bloodline. Otters are protected by law in Singapore, so we can’t trap or retaliate against these pests in any way. To keep them out, I reinforced the pond perimeter with higher fences and weighed down the protective netting with heavy bricks. Then, a glimmer of hope. One week after the first attack, some of my fish spawned, and I collected the eggs. Maybe, just maybe, I could rebuild.  

Video recorded last month... All these RIP 😭😭😭

But the otters wasn’t done with me. The very next day, they returned. They scaled the higher fences, tore through the reinforced netting, and decimated my remaining breeding stock. It was like a bad sequel to a movie I never wanted to watch in the first place.  

a few beacon of hope...

So now, I’m back to the drawing board, thinking of better otter exclusion measures and hoping for the best with the last spawn. These eggs are my final shot at saving my Dragon Eyes Pearlscale bloodline. 

Maybe luck will be on my side, and they’ll escape the brink of extinction this time. But all good things must end someday. My creation will vanish eventually when I am too old to keep the bloodline alive. Yet, if they do disappear, it won’t be because I didn’t try while I still could.

So, here’s to hoping, persevering, and maybe praying for a few more miracles. Life’s challenges—whether family, otters, or both — can’t break you unless you let them. I’ve done everything I can. Now, it’s up to fate.

The Farm, the Fish, and the Passion

 

The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.
~ Walter Bagehot, English journalist and economist

The farm is my heaven and haven

I

High quality butterflies

t’s been a while since I last wrote. Life, as it often does, took its course—between running the goldfish business and managing the farm, I found myself consumed by the day-to-day operations. Writing? That was something I kept putting off. But recently, I had come to realised that I had forgotten why I started all this in the first place. It wasn’t just about running a business—it was about my passion for aquatics.

I began as a hobbyist. Watching goldfish grow, creating new varieties of goldfish and ornamental fish, and seeing the delicate balance of an aquarium thrive—that was what excited me. Over time, my hobby became a full-time job. The work was rewarding, but I realized I was losing touch with the joy that originally fueled me.

One of my new creation hybrid endler (poecilia wingei) popular with nano tank hobbyists

Now, in this semi-retirement phase, I’ve decided to slow down and refocus. The farm is still thriving, but I’ve freed up some time to reflect and reconnect with the hobby that started it all. Not just goldfish, but guppies and other ornamental fishes too. I’ve been breeding various ornamental fishes for some time now, experimenting with the challenges of hard-to-breed varieties and creating new varieties. There’s something thrilling about seeing a unique new breed come to life—a fish that didn’t exist before, born from careful breeding and attention to detail. It’s one of the things that keeps me excited about this journey.

This blog is about more than just the fish breeding process; it’s about the joy of living your passion. I’m excited to share these stories and lessons with you—because this is more than just business for me. It’s about living a life I love, doing what I’m passionate about, and sharing a wonderful hobby and how to do it right.

Thank you for joining me again. I’m looking forward to sharing more with you.

The SingPost Goldfish Definitive Stamps 2019

Be like a postage stamp, stick to one thing until you get there.
~ Josh Billings

SingPost recently launched Singapore’s 2019 goldfish definitive stamps. I am honoured that the image of one of my goldfish was featured in the 1st Local and Local Stamp Book designs.

The image is of a Telescope Eye (a.k.a Dragon Eye) Pearlscale that has been on the main banner of my Facebook page for some years. Born and bred in 2010 in Singapore, it won first prize in the Pearlscale class at the 2011 Aquarama International Goldfish Competition. This uniquely Singaporean creation was the product of a breeding program that I had begun in 2006.

Tank view of the First Local Stamp Pearlscale

The basic features of the Pearlscale are a roundish body and pearl-like protruding scales, from which the breed derives its name. The more commonly available strains are the Ping-pong Pearlscale and the Crown Pearlscale.

The idea of creating a new strain came about in 2005. I wanted to set myself tougher challenges in the goldfish hobby and was determined to refute critics who believed it impossible to produce quality goldfish in tropical Singapore. Thus was the blueprint of the new variety conceived, based upon the Pearlscale variety - one of the most demanding goldfish to properly cultivate.

A big pearlscale from the Little Red Dot:
Size from the top view of the First Local Stamp Pearlscale

My dream was to develop a Pearlscale with an adorable rounded body and short tail; and exotic oriental features in the form of dragon (telescopic) eyes, pom poms (velvety narial bouquets), and topped off with a mini crown. I also wished for it to have a multitude of colour variations and the potential to achieve an impressive size.

It does not take much imagination to realise that my ideas would be accompanied by a engineering challenge - a fish with a short tail on one end having the daunting task of powering a plumpish body which would sport the heavy payloads of dragon eyes, pom poms and a crown at the other end. Balance had to be achieved through careful selective breeding for the optimal backbone structure, body-head-tail proportions, eye size, tail shape and angle. This was important to allow the fish to swim with grace and refined deportment, and live a healthy dignified life.

Dragon Eye Pom Pom Crown Pearlscale came to life in 2013

A goldfish breeding programme is a long term project. It entails knowledge of goldfish genetics and show standards, water quality management, contingency planning, ample pond space and the commitment to track the development of the bloodline.

In livestock breeding, a stable bloodline is one that exhibits a high consistency of desired traits over generations. Outcrossing - ie mixing with unrelated strains or bloodlines - is necessary to introduce new desired features to the baseline pearlscale variety.

Power of the dream

However, outcrossing is akin to shuffling a deck of hitherto ordered cards - once done, it is difficult to predict the hand that will next be dealt. Stable and desired traits may diminish or even disappear in the new hybrid offspring. A bad decision in outcrossing or casualties in brood stock can have catastrophic - or even show stopping - consequences for the whole breeding programme.

Tank view of a Singapore Dragon Eye Pom Pom Crown Pearlscale in 2015

If the outcross proves promising, back-crossing - breeding the new outcrossed hybrid back to the original stable line - is done to reinforce any original desired traits “diluted” by the outcross. This process may take multiple iterations over years before the new bloodline stabilises. As such, preserving the “last working version” is crucial so that there is no need to return to square one, when things go awry.

Creating a new goldfish variety is a long game of patience with no guarantee of success. The journey was at times lonely, with few fans or believers when it began with the first generation in 2005. Singapore’s tropical climate has allowed me to breed up to 3 generations of goldfish a year (as compared to only one generation in spring for temperate climates like China’s or Japan’s). But even with the quickened progress, it took years to stabilised the new variety.

2019 Dragon Eye Pom Pom Pearl babies 5 month old

As of the time of writing in December 2019, this labour of love has endured for over a decade. Having given many of my best years to the cause, it all seems worthwhile whenever I see specimens developing nicely.

Whilst still less known here at home (at least before the stamps were launched!) the Telescope Eye Pearlscale has gained recognition internationally as a uniquely Singapore variety.

However, the quest for “pearl-fection” is a continuing passion and I would hope to continue enhancing the breed for as long as I possibly can.

My heartfelt thanks once again to SingPost for showcasing my work in the prominent way that they have!

You may purchase the Singapore goldfish definitive stamp set and Stamp Book from shop.singpost.com


Check out some of my blog articles:

My Goldfish Breeding Journey:
~ Dream of a Goldfish Fanatic
~ Aquarama 2011
~ Balance

~ Real & Imaginary
~ Culling & Selective Breeding 

My Goldfish Artworks:

~ Serenity
~ A Minute on Stage is 10 Years of Hard Work
~ The Art of Patience
~ 5 minute Pearlscale

Enjoy more than 100 goldfish articles posted in Goldfish ArtQuatics!!!