Glory ~ 榮耀

真正的榮耀將根深蒂固的散播，

虛假的幌子有如落花不會長久。

True glory takes root, and even spreads; all false pretences, like flowers, fall to the ground; nor can any counterfeit last long.
~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

Ready to charge... 

With the festive mood in the air this time of the year, travelling on most roads is a bliss with much fewer cars. Presumingly many Singaporeans are having holidays overseas or just staying at home recuperating their energies for the new year ahead. I had my holidays too - just back from the cold winter in Korea for my family vacation. It was cold, indeed very cold in Korea and how I had wished that my Ranchus are hibernating in that weather!

Some of my local bred that would be
competing in the Nisai class

This is also the time of the year I got very excited to experiment on new techniques to condition my breeder Ranchus to spawn. Once again, it's the déjà vu of grappling with producing good quality and sizeable spawns. Alternatively, I could have taken the easier route to import Ranchus that are ready to spawn, but this is a last resort as I may have problem in maintaining my very own Ranchu bloodline in the long run.

The weather in Singapore is now optimal for spawning with huge temperature swings and very heavy rains, bringing about cooler days than most time of the year. I hope this would be the prelude to cultivating good quality eggs for the female Ranchus.  

Do look out for the Oozeki Annual Ranchu Show (OARS) on 1st January 2013. Now in our 12th year, this show will again be depleted of Oya entries due to a crisis two years ago. However, we have learned much and made good progress with quite some decent Nisai fishes to showcase. Hopefully these Nisais will close the gap for the Oya class in the following year.

It is a tough path to adhere to the traditional Japanese's show standard of categorizing our fishes by age rather than by their sizes, but we have learned to enjoy this challenge. The Ranchu art lies not only in keeping nice Tosai fishes but also in maintaining matured fishes beautifully year on year. All the Ranchus in the OARS are groomed from young imported BBR/CBR or locally bred in Singapore by our members. 

The OARS is a truthful and honest showcase of the Oozeki Club members' successes and failures in the Ranchu art for the year. To me, all the fishes that made it to the OARS are winners and a true pride and glory for their rightful owners.

Though competition entries are only restricted to club members, the public are most welcome to view and share their Ranchu journey with us in the OARS.

The time and venue of the show are:

1st January
12:00pm ~ 3:00pm
Telok Ayer Hong Lim Green CC
Upper Pickering Street


May I wish my readers a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!