Simple Joys 曾經滄海難為水?

Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.
~ Author Unknown

The Aquarama has always been enjoyable, meeting old friends and making new friends. The Internet has made the world so small that it has become a norm for breeders and hobbyists from different geographical regions to compete their fishes in regional shows. As the old adage goes : "competition is the best way for improvement", the development of new goldfish varieties and improvement of existing goldfish strains have escalated to an unprecedented level in recent years.

The aftermath of this Aquarama also left me with many things to ponder upon. Winning with one of my Dragon Eye Pearlscales motivates me to improve this new-breed of goldfish for future competitions. The next 2 years I will be focusing mainly on stabilizing the traits and strengthening on desired features. I am quite excited about the next generation of fries which will be keeping me occupied at least till the end of the year.

For my TVR breeding, I only manage a few so-so fishes after months of hard work. The main problems with TVR this year are the low fertility rate and the high casualty rates. The technique employed with TVR requires keeping them in very shallow water. Shallow water has less dissolved oxygen (DO), pollutes faster and reacts faster to temperature variations. The crazy weather conditions in Singapore this year also aggravates the situation of high TVR casualties. In contrast, I had my Pearlscales spawned in the same period as the TVR and kept in deeper waters without any casualties.

As a breeder, I aim to breed a consistent line of good fishes rather than be contented with the random luck of producing a few good fishes from tens of thousands. How can I improve on my bloodline of TVR to achieve higher yield of show grade fishes? I think I would first need to appraise my current technique of keeping seed fishes so as to improve the egg quality for next year. I would also need to refine my technique of reducing sickness of TVR in our warm tropical weather. Maybe I should even consider out-crossing to a new line of TVR from Japan.

Through all these reflections, I came to realize the things I have been focusing on all these years are mainly about goldfish competition - competing in the Aquarama , the MY Fancy Goldfish Competition (MFGC) and the Ōzeki Annual Ranchu Show. All the fishes I breed and groom are either for seed fishes or for the purpose of competition. Sometimes, I wonder how I had lost the simplest joy of appreciating a goldfish when I was much less experience. No longer can I admire a common grade goldfish like children in the aquarium shop. I have become too critical and picky that not many fish could catch my attention and make me happy.

BTW, I found some free time to sort out the Aquarama photographs to update the Vermillion Goldfish Club website. No wonder my family says that it doesn’t matter if I am free or busy because I am always with my goldfish. I better reflect on this too :P

Pictures:
1) Alvin interviewed by the Canadian crew from a ornamental fish magazine.
2) One of my tosai bred this year... would need to work harder on the wen growth.
3) The Dragon Eye Pearlscale that didn't showcase in Aquarama - it spawn right on bench-in day :(