The Good, The Bad And The Ugly ~ 黄金三镖客

He hasn't any enemy in the world, and none of his friends like him.
~ Oscar Wilde

The odds of having good show fishes from goldfish breeding is always tough. From the thousands of fries, not many will be good. Breeding goldfish is a game full of hopes, disappointments and surprises - many young fishes that look promising do not develop more beautiful; some inconspicuous fishes suddenly stands out from the thousands and develop into more beautiful specimens. Breeding goldfish is the ultimate game of patience and hard work, it also "sharpens the eyes" - overtime, the breeder will develop a good feel of how features changes and the eyes to "see" the future potential of very young fishes.

In some ways, goldfish are like friends. From the many people we met in our lives, not many will become bosom friends. There will be friends who disappoint us and there will be friends who surprise and touch our hearts. However, unlike goldfish, it is not always easy for one to develop good eyes for assessing friends.

One of the greatest joy for me is to appreciate and learn about goldfish together with good friends - a pleasant surprise from TVR breeding comes over the weekend when I checked with Alvin about the Tosais that he is grooming. Earlier this year, I had helped to spawn from Alvin's selected pair of parent fishes and handed him the fries after they are hatched. Alvin has managed to develop the head very well for all the Tosais this year and I was also very happy to see a promising piece of show grade fish! It is through such teamwork and mutual sharing of notes that enable us to progress faster than we could have achieved alone.

The raining season is here again and I am feeling the itch to spawn my goldfish. I normally spawn my Pearlscales in this period but I am also contemplating to do a trial spawn of TVR. There are some interesting things I would like to experiment before the actual TVR breeding season next year.


Picture:
1) New variety Dragon Eye Pearlscales 2009 - the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

2) A promising piece of Tosai groomed from day 1 by Alvin, my good friend/mentor.

Video:
1) One of my favourite theme songs from my childhood Wild West Movie - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.