Mid Autumm Festival Goldfish Competition

SamGoldfish and RafflesGold jointly held a Top View Goldfish Competition to celebrate the Mid Autumm Festival at Dawson Shopping Center.
I was there with 3 fishes as there were only 2 classes of tosai <14 cm and <11 cm. Quite surprisingly the turnout was very encouraging as those who participated in the top view ranchus were mainly small time hobbyists with very little years of experiences like myself.(My 2nd goldfish competition.)


The Grand Champion went to my good friend and goldfish buddy, Nazari. He is an eye opener who have a snack of picking an average fish and groom them to their potential..In the 14cm class, his fishes were placed 1st and 2nd and these fishes were leftovers from imports that many hobbyists have rummaged thr' and thr' before he set his eyes on them. I still remember the Grand Champion of his from the Fish Hub Comp...a Kashino left in a tub to be sold with no buyer till he appeared....great inspiration to the wannabe hobbyists. Another 2 friends, Alan and Jenn(husband and wife) also did very well....fishes bought and groomed from young were also highly placed. All the winners can be seen here....

http://www.geocities.com/GreenNgoldSG/midautumnshow-frame.html


I am happy to see four of my spawns entered this competition by their new owners. Though they did not win any prizes, I am happy that the new owners groomed the fishes to the best of their abilities and made the effort to enter the competition to gain experiences and learn...hopefully improvements and interests can grow even further from this comp experience.

Some pictures of them...

Owner Bro Howard

Owner Bro Andy

Owner Bro Andy

Two of my fishes were placed in the 11 cm Class....



My other fish that went to the comp, but was unplaced.


The judges for the Comp were from The Ozeki Club and they conducted themselves in an impartial manner. I have met for coffee session a couple of times with bro Wee Yap, but on the Comp day after the usual greetings, he excused himself saying politely that he was one of the judges for the Comp. Nevertheless, after the results were announced, many participants including myself, managed to engaged all the judges in discussion about ranchus especially the judges' opinion about their fishes. Hope more opportunities of this nature occur regularly between the Club and the wannabe hobbyists, as healthy discussion foster goodwill and help promote the ranchu hobby.

I also met many other hobbyists and I am glad that some new ranchu hobbyists who have spoken to me through internet goldfish forums and wanted to venture into the ranchu hobby attended the competition. Hope the brooding of new bloods into the ranchu hobby gain momemtum as it is very hard for our lfs to import top view ranchus when buyers/players are few and between. Covenant Goldfish and Dream Koi did not do a single import this year...haiz that is sad for those hoping to ranchu hunt.

Hope to see more activities for goldfish keepers and hope to see more fellow countryman join the goldfish hobby.

Breeding

In breeding of any species of animal or fishes, there are 2 relevant characteristics that serious breeder always have revolving in their head as they plan their breeding. One is to look at the Genotype characterics...genetic makeup of the said species by studying the bloodlines behind it and the other is to look at the Phenotype characteristics that are portrayed physically by studying the species through the breeder's eyes.

In ranchu breeding sad to say there aren't much genetic material to work upon unless one is a student for many years, know where to get the right fishes and have bred consistently.

Given my handicap and limited experiences, I try looking at the phenotype characteristic of my fishes and I am considering pairing these 2 fishes for my upcoming spawn. The male is a pure Kudou while the female is a half kudou.

Kudou Male





1/2 Kudou Female

It's a small world.....

I was a student in America in the late 70's. One summer vacation, I drove to California and stayed with some friends at Huntington Beach. San Diego Zoo, Spruce Goose, Malibu Beach, Disnelyland, Universal Studio, LA Chinatown etc etc were some of the places I visted. One particular place and an incident stayed vividly in my memory even today.




While touring LA Chinese Theatre, I was drawn to an oriental man hawking his wares in a makeshift wooden tray...very similar to those early days Singapore peddlers hawking their wares at the old Bugis Street or even Sungai Road. In the tray were the usual cheap imitation gold chain, fake jade pendants, rings, pens, lighters etc etc. As I approached the street hawker I was shocked to see that he was the guy who used to set up his trade outside my parents' shop which was just walking distance to Sembawang Shipyard. Apparently some American sailor took a liking to him and sponsored him to America. We chatted in our animated Singlish and both felt we are living in a really small world.

About 2 weeks ago I had a vist from my elder bro-in-law. While viewing my ranchus, he kept on saying that he know of a doctor friend who is very good with goldfishes,keep many varities and even concoct his own fish food. He was telling me how dedicated this doctor is to his fishes and out of curiousity, I asked how did he know of this doctor. To cut a long story short...my bro-in-law own a dental lab and did dental cases for this Dr Wee.This is a really small world.

Lately been very busy with work and what not...my fishes took a back seat, but I gotta start planning again as spawning season is just round the corner. I believe I can bring my breeding to another level, but still with very little knowledge and support of some experienced mentor, I am doing things the hard way and many times the wrong way.....it will never be a challenge if one doesn't challenge himself... I took the road...one less traveled by

Spawn C....Up and Away!!!

Spawn G 2009

Kudou M1 July 08 - July 09

Kashino F2 July 08 - July 09

Kashino F1 July'08 to July'09

Kudou F1 July'08 to July'09

Turkish Handspawning

If walls can talk...the truth will be known

Dry Handspawning by Japanese Breeders

Handspawning by Japanese Breeder

Female Sugiura Kunihiko Tokyo University Seki













産卵と受精 - goo ClipLife




Kazumi male Ashikawa (east west ozeki sibling fish)

Ranchu keeper's dilemma

The vision.....the pain
Effort done....is it in vain

To progress...must cut
If don't fit..just bleed my heart



10 months ago



June 2009




Keep this fella ....?

Spawn C at 15 weeks

Homeward Bound

As beauty as to behold

Another blip on my soul

Fought gallantly you did

Unrealized dream, expired seed

A tumour brought you down

Finally peace..... Homeward Bound

Learning to fly with pride...Singapore!!!!

Today I find myself philosophical. Hobby indulging can be very rewarding to the mind and soul....there is always the ever present, intense burning desire to always improve oneself and stand proudly above the crowd....done with pride and in humbleness can make oneself and also those friends and associates who share the same vision extremely motivated....this is what I would term "Calibrated Drive".....there is a lot of subtle and deliberate small rewarding experiences and interactions that hopefully helps create that positive response.

I particularly like this quote....

He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance. One cannot fly into flying.

Friedrich Nietzsche
(1844 - 1900)
German philosopher


In ranchu language, I find the "above quote" very relevant. Learning the basic of ranchu keeping like quarentine new imports, treating of sick fishes, buying fishes with clear intention (buying fishes knowing the bloodlines of the Jap farms behind the fish) are like first learning to stand, walk, run, climb and dance and hopefully one day "Fly into Flying". It takes a while, but it is extremely rewarding to see bros that don't even bother about quarentine and treating new purchases now relishing in their newly found set of disciplines in grooming and upkeeping and acknowledging the background of the fishes before buying the fish.(Yes as amateur ranchu hobbyists, we might get confused and sometimes at the mercy of unscrupulous sellers.)

I am happily motivated the past few weeks from seeing some of my breedings posted by some bros improved and grown so much.....these bros grooming skills improved tremendously...this will definitely spur me to breed better fishes. I always believe that "ranchu keeping is not rocket science" and that if I can do it, there are many others who can do it better and I hope that many others will do it better so that I stay motivated. Singaporean ranchu hobbyists are so fragmented and yet I harbour the hope that someday Singaporeans can excel and participate in some oversea competitions and garner recognition for Singapore...there might be Singaporeans who already achieved that goal of participating in the Thai Ranchu or even the All Japan Ranchu Show, but to many of us on the lower tier of the hobby, out in the wilderness....it is like watching a Japanese Samurai movie.


In many initial instances especially in the early days of the 80's and early 90's, many foreigners never even hear of Singapore. In early 1992, I spent a few months in a dog training school in West Virginia...the instructors were Americans and one of them thought I was from China and Singapore was a city in China and he was quite surprised that I spoke English. This is just my little story of a Singaporean adventure in his youth into the "hilly billies" Virginian Mountains to pick up dog training certification and how I left my small little impression in the West Virginian soil that Singapore is a country and we do know enough about German Shepherd dogs and we are no pushovers.

I am crazy about bloodlines(genealogy) in German Shepherd and I can rattle bloodlines that spread over tens of generations and at my peak I can even trace the lineage to the first registered German Shepherd ...Horand von Grafrath

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horand_von_Grafrath

One of my dog training instructor have just bought a male German Shepherd dog from Germany that cost like between 10 to 20% the cost of his house price...naturally he was proud of his beau.... he rattled the bloodlines and how he want to breed from this male....quietly I realised that this male throw weak ears.I showed him my dog... a female that I brought to the training school and introduced her as the repeat breeding of VA Yambo von der Wildsteigerland...he was shocked when I showed him the certified pedigree and we became quite good friends as we both enjoyed talking shepherds. After being there for 6-7 weeks and when my instructor was planning his breedings to his male dog, I thot I felt comfortable enough that I can tell him that his dog throw weak ears...the response was instantaneous, very uncomfortable and I was certain he felt very offended....but surprisingly....not so the next day.... becos that night, he called the breeder in Germany and the breeder agreed with my view....in his words as he told the German breeder that a Singaporean told him so and the breeder told him.... "that Singaporean know bloodlines".

Before I left the training school, my instructor asked whether I can help handle his dog at the Canadian National Sieger Show....this is the biggest German Shepherd show in Canada(even today)and participants beside the Canadians, Americans, South Americans and Germans also participated and they brought their prized animals to show and hopefully win. The show was fiercely competitive and a little Singaporean handler was competing against GIANTS and won.





Hope to spur hobbyists to better themselves. Aquarama 2009 is round the corner...there are many professional and commercial entities participating....I am supporting and rooting for our small home grown hobbyists and hope they improve and win some honour for the backyard keepers and breeders....Cheers and Stand up for Singapore

(As posted on 1st of March 2009)

This morning woke up early thinking my fishes will spawn...



So from last weekend Waiting for spawn....

I managed to spawn some fries last Tuesday.today free swimming. (As posted on 7th March 2009)













Now Sugi X Sugi are about 7 1/2 weeks old.... 2 weeks ago, I lost quite a few bcos of heavy work load and failure to treat them fast enough when they fall ill.....as usual always the best died and I am left with 6 pieces....

The Award Winning Corn Story.......

There was a farmer who grew superior quality and award-winning
corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won
honour and prizes. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him
and learnt something interesting about how he grew it.

Today I feel horribly melancholic....sadly sentimental

I am sadden by certain events and I will take it in my stride. Nor matter what one think of oneself, public perception and insinuating remarks can sometimes stir emotion...gotta look beyond that and drown myself with songs that are always my comfort in time of solitude and......

The Mechanics of Movement

German Shepherd Dogs in competition, the gaiting or movement is the most exciting part of the show. The dog must be constructed as correctly as possible so that the sum of the parts added together ensure fluidity and far reaching gait. The wither must be high, the upper arm and the laid back of the shoulder blade must be close to the desired 90 degree. The croup must be well laid and long and the hind angulation must be angled with strong stifles. The hocks must also be of correct length and so does the body of the dog...of good length and the back strong. Its only when all these attributes are rightly in place that you see REAL "Beauty in Motion".



I am still studying and trying to understand the features that make ranchus swim powerfully and beautifully....just like a sumo wrestler...big, powerful yet agile in their movement. Many things come to mind like strong back, thick peduncle, big oza and well constructed tail etc etc.....haiz just like how I first started playing dogs....viewing whatever vhs tapes of GSD competitions especially the annual German Sieger Show and meeting up with the various German judges/breeders on their annual pilgrimage to judge all the various shows in Asia and Australia...Singaporeans are so lucky bcos many a times, we get short stop-overs by these German Masters on transit to the various countries.....over a few beers, we get to sit with these German Masters into the wee hours of the night, picking their brains and enthusiastically picking up the finer points of grooming, breeding and showing dogs.

Right now with internet and especially YouTube...for Jap ranchu enthusiasts, things are a lot easier, but there are so many other fascinating things and knowledge that internet can't teaches....the finer points of ranchu keeping,grooming and understanding can only be learnt from the Jap Masters....wish for the day that I have a chance to meet these Jap Masters.

AJRS Kudou Swimming

Good Friday...Spawn B ....some others

Good Friday....Spawn C 9 Weeks

Spawn C @ 7 weeks

Spawn B @ 9 weeks

My breeding set up

I am fortunate to own two of these fibreglass basin which is very good in keeping the water cool. I am using an Ice Probe Chiller and a transformer (sourced through a kind bro.) In the night especially during the cooler month of Jan/Feb the temperature in the basin can go as low as the low 20's, but any changes in temperature is gradual bcos of the fibreglass basin.
Eggs hatched averages 3-5 days and the fries are definitely bigger and stronger.




Inside the basin with airstone on high and water dosed with methylene blue to keep mould away.


The complete set up with styrofoam providing good cooling temperature.


Ice Probe Chiller and Transformer
Fibreglass basin
Day temperature

A sample of Spawn B...2nd phase just started

March 20th 2009(Spawn B 8 wks old)...some updates...quite a number of cbrs not feeling well...the erratic weather is the major factor...not eating well and not swimming well....a sample of those that are healthier, but bulk wise also far from ideal.




March 7th 2009Spawn B...7 weeks old(13 March'09)....I am now on the next phase of raising my spawn B which I hope to be abled to square the head and pull the stomach as far back as possible...hope to do my best before releasing most so that I have space to raise the other young ones...haiz space constraint!!