The Golden Decade ~ 萬龍十載

经得起时间考验的事物就是顶尖优质的活典范。
~乔治•阿曼尼

I love things that age well - things that don't date, that stand the test of time and that become living examples of the absolute best.

~ Giorgio Armani

My painting for the Vermillion Goldfish Club 10th
Anniversary Book

2013 has been a good Ranchu breeding year sharing and learning with some very good hobbyist friends. To add to my joy, this year is also the Vermillion Goldfish Club's 10th Year Anniversary. I am relieved to have completed a painting in time to commemorate this great moment in conjunction with the Aquarama 2013 and the launch of the Vermillion Goldfish Club decade book ~ The Golden Decade.

I feel very honoured to be part of a group of dedicated goldfish hobbyists in the Vermillion Goldfish Club. The club has done Singapore proud in the world wide goldfish community, helping to set up best practices and standards in the Aquarama goldfish competition as well as forging alliances with goldfish hobbyists and breeders locally and abroad..

Vermillion Goldfish Club members discussing
about Ranchu appreciation in our outdoor haven.
circa 2005

Forming an interest group or a club is not that difficult actually; the real challenge is standing together through thick and thin in a decade of good cohesion, mutual trust, great teamwork and true friendship ;-)

Customised Grooming ~ 定制培育

子曰: 因材施教。

Grooming in accordance to one's calibre.
~ Confucius

Every Ranchu is unique and merits detail study on how to groom each to the best of its potential. Besides structural differences, each fish has its own character and charisma. Some fishes developed slower and blossomed only later in their Nisai and Oya stages, while some emanates outstanding beauty even as a young Tosai.

Development rate of differs between Ranchus

Varying techniques to "tune" different Ranchu in various stages of their development is a challenging and interesting aspect of the art. It is a dynamic game of patience and control involving much creativity and intuition.



Training to make Ranchu indifference to human presence

Who's the boss? ~ 誰是老闆?

A funny story many should have come across...

One day, all the parts of the body argued over who would be boss.

Check on balance when pushing for growth
One of spawn C, 2013
picture taken this morning

The brain explained that since he controlled all parts of the body, he should be boss.

The legs argued that since they took the man wherever he wanted to go, they should be boss.

The stomach countered with the explanation that since he digested all of the food, he should be boss.

The eyes said that without them, man would be helpless, so they should be boss.

Then the asshole applied for the job.

The other parts of the body laughed that hard that the asshole became mad and closed up.

After a few days the brain went foggy, the legs went wobbly, the stomach got ill, the eyes crossed and were unable to see.

They all conceded and made the asshole boss.

So the motion was passed. All the others parts did all the work while the Boss just sat and passed out the shit.

This proves that you don't have to be a brain to be boss......

A female Ranchu showing signs of bloating
and egg engorgement.

It is such a joy to pamper our ever hungry goldfish with food and forget about the most important factor after food intake - digestion. A constipated animal with too much toxins accumulated in the body over time is definitely not a healthy animal. 

Goldfish does not have a stomach and thus, they cannot store their food for digestion. If fed too much, most of the undigested food will pass out together with their faeces through their long intestinal tracks. To aid digestion, food has to be broken into smaller pieces by a set of teeth located at the back of their throats. Without feeding them more food than necessary in every feed, goldfish will resort to scavenging for these undigested food in their waste and it may take up to 3 "poo-eating" cycles before all the unprocessed food are completely devoured.

In the tropical climate where the water is warm, the metabolism of the goldfish is high but food also turns foul rapidly. A constipated fish becomes bloated from the gases produced by fermented food in their intestines. To aggravate the situation, the rounder and shorter bodied fancy varieties usually have more problems with constipation as their intestines are cramped in a much smaller area. Allowing a suitable interval in between feeding times for food to be digested minimise the risk of constipation. It also encourages the goldfish to exercise as they scavenged for more food. In a way, it also reduces food wastage and helps to prolong the quality of the water.