Five Fortunes at Your Door ~ 五福臨門

Prosperity Makes Friends; Adversity Tries Them.

~Publilius Syrus

The Chinese Lunar New Year coincides with Valentine's Day this year. Most Chinese all over the world will be celebrating the reunion dinner tonight. I had  mine too and my guests were awed with 5 big georgous Side View Ranchus that I imported recently.

Competition grade Side View Ranchus

"五福臨門" (5 Fortunes at your door steps) is one of the popular Chinese auspicious wishes for the Chinese Lunar New Year. These premier Ranchus are bred in the Chinese province of Fuzhou (福州), world famous for the Chinese Side View Ranchus. The Ranchus from Fuzhou are commonly referred as 福壽 (Fushou) which means Prosperity and Longevity.

Batch A at 31 days old after hatching

There wouldn't be any fresh supply of daphnia until the 4th day of the Chinese New Year. This allows me to taking a breather from my early morning chore of buying daphnia for the next few days. Though this year, I  am experimenting with controlled feeding and had fed relatively lesser than previous years, strangely the BBR seems to grow as fast. Maybe the Wolffia is doing wonders.

I would like to wish all my Chinese readers a very Happy and Prosperous Lunar New Year and everyone Happy Valentine's Day!

Making the head ~ 頭を作る

The Heart Is Forever Making the Head Its Fool.

~ François de la Rochefoucauld 

The BBRs are growing fast and their colour change is imminent. This is a  very crucial stage to start "making the head" of the BBR as the foundation of good funtan growth lies before their colour change. The green carpet algae and bloodworms are essential for making nice Ranchu head.

This year, I am also experimenting with wolffia columbiana (common water meal) which is used by some Japanese breeders. Wolffia from other pond sources should be sterilized before feeding to the BBRs. It should be safer to culture them with plant fertilisers.

Wolffia columbiana

First meal of bloodworms
taken on 7 February - 25 days after hatching

A Picture Speaks A Thousand Words ~ 妙在不言中

Be Silent, Or Say Something Better Than Silence.
~ a German proverb

Too busy to pen down my thoughts these days. Since I couldn't engage my brain before I open my mouth, I don't wana talk too much.

Here are my updates of my 2010-A batch (spawned on 10 Jan 2010):

2010 Batch A

Video taken on 3rd February