Herding Instinct ~ 群集本能

說得太多﹐想得太少。

But Far More Numerous was the Herd of Such, Who Think Too Little, and Who Talk Too Much.

~ John Dryden


Spawn A ~ Photo taken 17 Mar

 Herd behavior pertains to the behavior of animals in herds, flocks and schools, and to human conduct in stock market bubbles and crashes, mob violence and opinion forming. In many cases, circumstances can conspire to undermine the wisdom of crowds if a few individuals in a population  could exert an excessive influence to kick start people's "herding instinct" and rally around an absurd idea.

Herding animals do better when they live in larger social groups than in solitude. In the wild, many animals depend upon their sheer numbers to gather food, confuse or ward off predators to ensure a higher chance for survival.

Video taken on 25 March ~ a school of Spawn A BBRs
 

Likewise, our domesticated fancy Goldfish do better in a herd too; they are less stressful, more accustomed to humans and develop better when they are kept in appropriate numbers. Though a group of Goldfish, especially Ranchus swimming and glazing together is a charming sight to behold, however, a bigger number of fishes translates to a bigger challenge on water quality. The successful hobbyists balance their stocking based on the size of the fish, the space and the amount of food to keep their fishes healthy. 

Our Goldfish reacted out of their basic instinct for herding and could not rationalise, shouldn't we humans? ;-) 

In a Trance ~ 心神恍惚

People Who Say They Sleep Like a Baby Usually Don't have One. 
~ Leo J. Burke

Spawn A ~ 21 Mar

Another devastating earthquake, this time in the land of the Ranchus shocked the World. The wrath of nature just reminded us time and again of how fragile and unpredictable life is. Everything from ships, houses and cars looked like toys in the tsunami... It was very sad to see so many homes, families and lives lost, and even more worrying is the radiation from the nuclear facilities. Let's hope for the very best for the survivals of this tsunami and for mankind to evade a potential nuclear disaster.

Spawn B ~ 21 Mar

Merely 5000km away from Japan, I feel somewhat awkward that I am fully engaged in another kind of worry - in providing the best I could to 4 spawns of BBRs with enough food and water changes to keep them growing and healthy. Frankly, I have  not got the time to review them in detail this year. Sometimes, I feel myself in state of trance losing the sense of time while rushing to juggle fish, family and work. I think I badly need a good ZZZzzzzzzz… but no matter how tired I am, I have never failed to wake up very early to buy live feeds for my babies.

Spawn C ~ 21 Mar

Spawn D ~ 21 Mar