Contrast ~ 對比

一個擁有邏輯思考的人與現實世界拼成了很好的對比。

Somebody who thinks logically is a nice contrast to the real world.

~ The Law of Thumb

I closed the chapter for year 2012 TVR breeding last week as it is getting too late in the year to spawn TVR. The tremendous efforts required to groom the BBR would become too much to cope when the workload in my day job ramps up by the middle of the year. Overall, I am glad with the improved consistency in features in the BBR but unfortunately, the overall quality of the fishes still fall short of my expectations. If only I could have a bigger spawn, I think the results will be much better.

For the past 4 months, I strive in vain to get a sizable TVR spawn. In fact, for the years breeding the TVR, this is a problem that keeps haunting me. I have come to accept that the low fertility of the TVR is attributed to genetic dead-end. Even when I had tried to out-cross to another breeder's line and avoid direct inbreeding as much as possible, the average spawn size for TVR is relatively much smaller compared to my Pearlscale. I reckon that in Japan, the bloodlines of TVR are still very closely related amongst different breeders.

2011 breeding - contrasting pair closer to the traits I aim for

In contrast, my Pearlscales are very fertile and never fail to overwhelm me with eggs. Within 3 days of conditioning the Pearlscales indoors for spawning, I have an egg glut!!! Very soon, I have to stop collecting Pearlscale spawns too.

 

Pearlie egg glut - collected on 30 April

Power & Dignity ~ 權勢與尊嚴

權勢好比一個淑女: 如果你必須告訴別人你有權勢，那你不是真正的擁有權勢。

~撒切爾夫人

Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't.

~ Margaret Thatcher

Some of the BBRs are starting to change colour. They are also big enough to devour pellet food which provide a wholesome nutrition compared to a diet solely on bloodworms. While bloodworms are generally believed to promote head wen and streamline the body shape, the pellet food promotes bulk and "muscle", thus rendering the torso "strong and powerful". 

Nevertheless, the Ranchu keeper should beware the ill-effects of over indulging to attain size and power, for in the Law of Conservation of Nature, the exploitation and "abuse of power" will eventually backfire. A Ranchu should look strong, powerful and yet fluid and dignified in motion. Analogically to the human World, the cohesion of power and dignity is also very difficult to achieved in the Ranchu World. 

If we study the sumo wrestlers: they can be very agile despite their size and power, and that is how the art is truly respected. Extreme fatness lose out in agility while extreme power lose out in grace and dignity.  ;-)

Harmony ~ 和諧

藝術是與自然並行的和諧。

Art is a harmony parallel with nature.
~ Paul Cezanne

Having the water temperature ranging from 26˚C to 30˚C means that the Goldfish is in constant metabolic overdrive. The growth comparing the videos shot within a few days is exemplary of how fast the BBRs can grow in the tropical climate when given ample food.

The black-baby stage is a very critical stage because the foundations for resilience to diseases, future development of head wen and body structure, etc are established during this stage. After they changed colour, it may be too late to reinforce. The tropical warmth also expedite the process of colour changes for the BBR raised in tropical climates compared to BBRs in the cooler climates. As such, I am racing with time to push them very hard before their colour change.

Breeders residing in different climatic regions should not benchmark their growth rate too closely with each other. Making use of the "feel" from our experiences to develop grooming techniques that gel harmoniously with mother nature, things should not go too wrong.