Dream of a Goldfish Fanatic ~ 魚痴愚夢

萬事始於夢

Nothing Happens Unless First A Dream

~ Carl Sandburg

My kinky gems ~ Dragon Eyes Pompom Pearlscales

A spark of insanity to create a completely new variety of Goldfish in Singapore was how it all got started. What followed next is years of planning and staying focus to make my dream comes true. It is more work in our climate to breed Goldfish because the tropical climate is not the natural habitat of the Goldfish. If for some reasons that the seed fishes couldn't spawn for that year or are wiped out by some diseases outbreak, everything would be back to square one again.

By 2010, I have incorporate all the exotic features from three different varieties of Goldfish into one strain of Goldfish,  however, there is still much work to fine tune the features in order to create the desired configuration of my dream fish. 

With no available literature pertaining to Goldfish breeding in the tropical climate, the pain and anguish learning from scratch and making all the mistakes these years can be very discouraging sometimes. The push factor to holding on to this mentally and physically taxing journey is the tremendous joy of seeing my dream fish coming slowly to life. 

In this blog post, may I share with you a video clip of my blood and sweat, powered by my fanatical Goldfish dream. 

Teething Problem

沒齒難忘

As Unforgettable As Losing One's Tooth

~ A Chinese Idiom

Most Goldfish hobbyists who do not use sand or gravel in their aquariums would have come across those mysterious white chips lying on the base of their Goldfish tanks. They are irregularly shaped hard, white and sharp pieces ranging from 1mm to 3mm. Hobbyists who use coral chips to buffer their water would usually attribute these as the small crumbs of coral chips from the filter bed but for those who don't, they continue to be baffled by the presence of these stuff.

I was also puzzled for years until I saw the carcass of a Ranchu. The row of sharp "chips" of various sizes lining along the throat/jaw bone of the Ranchu instantly solved the mystery. Apparently, the Goldfish would shed its teeth and grow new ones to replace the old ones over time.

Apologies for the gross image of the Ranchu skeleton but it is quite amazing how the teeth of the Goldfish resembles that of a carnivore.

Pictures:

1) White "chips" on the base of Goldfish tanks.

2) A Ranchu skeleton.

3) Close up of the throat bone with teeth.

Perspective ~ 視角

對事物的觀點掌握適當的視角後，許多事將能水到渠成。

When you get a proper perspective of your perceptions, you may be surprised how many other things fall into place. ~ Roger Birkman 

Appreciating Goldfish from the side view

It should be the effect of global warming that Singapore is getting very extreme weather nowadays. Scourging heat waves and heavy rain took turns to rein on our little island country. Floods brought by torrential downpours, stalling vehicles and falling trees are the talk of the town.

My fishes should have no complain about the weather mayhem except that they are given much lesser feeds than usual. In fact, growing them slower at appropriate juncture is another perspective of the art of Goldfish grooming. It is a very common perception for Goldfish hobbyists to equate good growth of their fishes to good keeping skills. However, pushing for growth too aggressively may affect the aesthetics of the fish; there are also more health related problems associated with overfeeding than underfeeding.


   Another perspective to appreciate the Dragon Eyes Pearlscale - from the top view 

In this time of the year, I have almost completed sorting out the TVR and Pearlscale breeders by their gender. While the relatively cooler weather this year is beneficial for nurturing good eggs in the female fishes, my only concern is, there may be too little rain next year to trigger the spawning. All the rain for next year seems to be pouring this year.