Haze ~ 煙霧

自我是光明的遮眼紗。

Ego Is The Veil That Shuts The Light

~Author Unknown

It's hazy these days - the unwelcome haze has returned to Singapore again :( Rain, shine or haze I would still have to tend to my beloved fishes. Every end of the year is both my Pearlscale breeding season and a time to bring my family for a holiday. I have to reduce my Pearlscale spawns to a manageable number in order to enjoy my overseas holiday with peace of the mind.

The game plan is to grow them bigger as fast as possible so that their flaws  are more obvious for me to cull confidently. Structural and feature flaws in the back curve, scaling, and finnages of the Goldfish would not be discernible until they grow bigger. 

Interestingly, we can usually see more of our own flaws as we "grow" - in skills and self-esteem. When we failed, our pride supports us but when we succeed, very often, our ego would betray us. Ego results in a swollen head and arrogance while pride gives a swollen heart and the pleasure of accomplishment with humility.

Fortunately for us, the haze in Singapore is still very minor compared to some cities in Malaysia. Let's hope the rain and the cooler weather would bring respite to the hazy conditions. 

Pictures:
1. Moderately hazy Singapore's skyline

2. Month old fish have not develop the scaling and rounded body

3. 6.5 weeks old fishes with more matured features

Balance ~ 平衡

我夢想著掌握平衡的藝術。
What I Dream of is an Art of Balance

~ Henri Matisse

It would be getting even tougher for me to balance new commitments in both family and work from this year onwards. One of my resolutions is to spend more quality time with my family as I have been doing with the Goldfish hobby all these years.

Having overcome most of the technical issues with regard to Goldfish breeding,  it is time to move on to more refinement in the process. Hopefully with improvement in techniques and more stable bloodlines would make it more time and effort efficient to manage my Goldfish breeding programmes.

"Balance" would also be the focal point for my Goldfish breeding road map, especially so when I have chosen to breed two varieties of short-tailed Goldfish. I think it would be as challenging to create a well balance and graceful swimming Pearlscales with Dragon Eyes and Pompoms just as the Top View Ranchu. In order for a fish with heavier front portion of the body to swim with balance, I would need to work on specific features to offset its CG (Centre of Gravity).

I am currently busy with breeding my Pearlscales. This would be very exciting yaer as the F3/F4 are usually important milestones after a major outcross. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Pictures:

1) Bred in 2010, a Calico Short Tail Dragon Eyes Pearlscale displaying excellent balance.
2) Red white Short Tail Pompom Dragon Eyes Pearlscale.
3) Red black Short Tail Pompom Dragon Eyes Pearlscale with some head wen.

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.