难得糊涂 ~ Where ignorance is a bliss, it is folly to be wise

放慢你的步伐，你追逐的一切將倒回來抓你。

Slow down and everything you are chasing will come around and catch you. 
~John De Paola

2011 has been a great Goldfish breeding year and my day job getting ever busier. If there is just one important lesson that I gained this year, it is learning to slow down in life. Slowing down doesn't necessarily means slower or stagnated progress; in fact, when we give ourselves time to contemplate, sometimes, we could gain fresh insights and break new grounds in the things we've been pursuing.

2 ~ 2.5 years old Dragon balls

Taking a more leisurely pace in Goldfish breeding gives me time to plan on how to fine tune my bloodlines and preserve my energies for the next TVR breeding season. Slowing down also gives me more time with my family and friends, and I feel so much more wholesome. After all, a hobby is meant to relax and enjoy. It would be an utter tragedy if we can't even make strong trusting relationships and truthful bonding with our family and friends through a hobby.

Maybe age is catching up with me, or maybe I am just tired after all these years… many things doesn’t matters to me any more… I feel so much liberalized to care less… what that matters most to me is having quality time with my family, my good friends and my fishes.

The Oozeki Annual Ranchu Show (OARS) would be the next event I look forward to meeting up with my hobbyist friends again. May I wish all my readers - A Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!

Oozeki Annual Ranchu Show (OARS)
1st January 2012
Hong Lim Green Community Centre
20 Upper Pickering Street
12.00pm ~ 3.00pm

Greenwater, "Clearwater" ~ 綠水﹑清水

水至清，則無魚，人至察，則無徒。
中文解釋: 水太清，魚就存不住身，對人要求太苛刻，就沒有人能當他的伙伴。

Water of Extreme Clarity is Void of Fishes; A Man Too Stringent in His Expectations is Lack of Companion.
~ A Chinese Idiom

Ryukin groomed in "old" greenwater

The title of this blog post has long been a very touchy subject for many Goldfish hobbyists.

I like to think of the greenwater and "clearwater" as tools to groom our fishes. Knowing why, when and how to apply these tools is the key to enjoying a successful hobby. In grooming fishes, the basic parameters to play with are stocking, feeding frequency, type of feed and amount of space amongst others. Apart from genetic factors and depending on how these parameters interplay, in general, the greenwater is ideal for colour finishing, wen growth, and providing a more stabilised temperature for fishes in drastic weather conditions while the "clearwater" is great for developing colour depth, regulating wen balance and longitudinal growth.

A farm in Suzhou, China stocking young red cap
Oranda in greenwater during the colder months

Though the Internet is a good source for learning, it is also an information jungle. It is sometimes difficult to be objective when our judgements are biased by what we learned from some sources. There are those who would argue that a certain tool or methodology is invalid simply because it doesn't work out for them, so by this argument, they have eradicated the possibility that they may not actually know how to apply the tool properly in the first place. Yet, there are some, who for ego's sake or personal agenda make out strained interpretations and far-fetched analogies that one tool is more superior than the other by presenting skewed experiments and concealing important facts. 

Accepting that there are different routes to nirvana, we can be more objective to open our eyes, our ears and our minds to different perspectives. Along the line of achieving balance and harmony with the understanding that extremes measures almost always backfire, we would not fall prey easily to such radical arguments. 

Japan - Seed Ranchus kept in light greenwater,
Grandmaster Ishikawa's farm

For the sharp-eyed readers who wondered why I use inverted commas for the word "clearwater", let me posit that nothing can change the fact that sunlight is the life-line of all living things; a stable body of water with good clarity where fishes flourished will be directly or indirectly exposed to sunlight and having some form of plant/algae matter. Even the organic waste from dead plant matter is beneficial for the wellbeing of the aquatic ecosystem. The greenwater, on the other hand, can be a beast if not moderated; fin burns, over development and stunted growth are some of the side effects. Any tool, no matter how powerful, is a double edged sword to weld - Power is nothing without control.

Japan: Ranchu kept in "clearwater"
grazing on wall carpet algae.

For my dear readers who still can't see my point, I am sorry for the rambling. The summary of this blog post is:  just let the fish do the talking :)

Life With No Regrets ~ 無妄此生

鼎盛弊端 ~ Of Crest And Troughs

Every wave, regardless of how high and forceful it crests, must eventually collapse within itself.

~ Stefan Zweig

Enjoying my pearlies at home

All mortal beings will inevitably go through the cycle of birth, aging, sickness and death. Well-fed Goldfish in the tropical climate is on the "full throttle" of development and the price to pay for faster growth is a faster pace of deterioration. Comparing to the cooler climates where the fancy Goldfish can live for 10 years or more, the average lifespan of even the best kept fancy Goldfish in the tropical is just about 4 to 6 years only.

Just turning 2 years of age, my favourite tri-colour Dragon Eyes Pearlscale is now in the zenith of its beauty. I am elated that the injury it sustained on the right side its body during the Aquarama has completely healed and the new scales hardly review the old scars. While loving every moment of its glamour, I am also lamenting that from this point of its life onwards, it will be going slowly downhill and retiring from shows. I think it would be very difficult for me to breed another specimen matching this fish - a one-in-a-million fish with balance eyes, full armoured pearls even found on its peduncle, a beautifully set tail, strong colour and evenly matched patterns on both sides of its body,  good body structure that contributes to its balance, and it is plump but still swim with great agility and balance...

Video taken on 24th September for BBRs spawned on 21st August - 

their growth rate is at least double those in cooler climate

The day will come too that I become too old to breed Goldfish any more. But I have live this life with no regrets that I have created some fishes I love and getting to know so many truthful and wonderful friends to share and learn about the Goldfish hobby. 
Regrettably, quality do not always come hand in hand with quantity, be it fishes or friends. Good fishes and good friends - the more the merrier, but it is the paradox of life that good things don't come easy. We cannot hope for many real good fishes and real good friends in our lifetime, so having even one would be a great blessing not to be taken for granted ;)