Greenwater, "Clearwater" ~ 綠水﹑清水

水至清，則無魚，人至察，則無徒。
中文解釋: 水太清，魚就存不住身，對人要求太苛刻，就沒有人能當他的伙伴。

Water of Extreme Clarity is Void of Fishes; A Man Too Stringent in His Expectations is Lack of Companion.
~ A Chinese Idiom

Ryukin groomed in "old" greenwater

The title of this blog post has long been a very touchy subject for many Goldfish hobbyists.

I like to think of the greenwater and "clearwater" as tools to groom our fishes. Knowing why, when and how to apply these tools is the key to enjoying a successful hobby. In grooming fishes, the basic parameters to play with are stocking, feeding frequency, type of feed and amount of space amongst others. Apart from genetic factors and depending on how these parameters interplay, in general, the greenwater is ideal for colour finishing, wen growth, and providing a more stabilised temperature for fishes in drastic weather conditions while the "clearwater" is great for developing colour depth, regulating wen balance and longitudinal growth.

A farm in Suzhou, China stocking young red cap
Oranda in greenwater during the colder months

Though the Internet is a good source for learning, it is also an information jungle. It is sometimes difficult to be objective when our judgements are biased by what we learned from some sources. There are those who would argue that a certain tool or methodology is invalid simply because it doesn't work out for them, so by this argument, they have eradicated the possibility that they may not actually know how to apply the tool properly in the first place. Yet, there are some, who for ego's sake or personal agenda make out strained interpretations and far-fetched analogies that one tool is more superior than the other by presenting skewed experiments and concealing important facts. 

Accepting that there are different routes to nirvana, we can be more objective to open our eyes, our ears and our minds to different perspectives. Along the line of achieving balance and harmony with the understanding that extremes measures almost always backfire, we would not fall prey easily to such radical arguments. 

Japan - Seed Ranchus kept in light greenwater,
Grandmaster Ishikawa's farm

For the sharp-eyed readers who wondered why I use inverted commas for the word "clearwater", let me posit that nothing can change the fact that sunlight is the life-line of all living things; a stable body of water with good clarity where fishes flourished will be directly or indirectly exposed to sunlight and having some form of plant/algae matter. Even the organic waste from dead plant matter is beneficial for the wellbeing of the aquatic ecosystem. The greenwater, on the other hand, can be a beast if not moderated; fin burns, over development and stunted growth are some of the side effects. Any tool, no matter how powerful, is a double edged sword to weld - Power is nothing without control.

Japan: Ranchu kept in "clearwater"
grazing on wall carpet algae.

For my dear readers who still can't see my point, I am sorry for the rambling. The summary of this blog post is:  just let the fish do the talking :)