Thailand Farm Visit....Mr Boss Ranchu

The first impression that strike when I met Boss Ranchu is not his fishes, but his personality....a very cheerful, warm family man with an ever ready smile. Even his size is not typical Thai....I think he got some Northern Chinese blood in his ancestry...just a wild guess as I did not get a chance to ask him...he is tall and "big frame" like the Northern Chinese.



Boss Ranchu stay in a huge bungalow very close to where the Crown Prince of Thailand residence is. His home is in a peaceful neighbourhood where security guards mann the main entrance to the estate. On one side of his garden, he built his ranchu farm....neat rows of tubs with proper piping and ventilation. Boss Ranchu is a perfectionist...his set up is well thought out...even his engineered air pump system is an eye opener.

Its a great experience seeing and finally pieceing together why Boss Ranchu fishes have a distinctive look that is "A" typical Boss Ranchu. This guy is so in love with his fishes...so passionate a ranchu keeper that his tub are absolutely clean...he move his fishes to a new tub of fresh, clean water every day....liken to stay in a 5 Star hotel...fishes well fed, water pristine and tub not crowded at all. He shared his feeding technique and as he is a full time family man, ranchu keeping provide a very good outlet for him to use his time looking after his family and play ranchus ...all at home....how marvelous can one's life get!!

Live bloodworms...one big plastic bag full about Sing $3.00





I saw his latest imports of Kawaii, Takao, and Tashiro. The fishes are excellent specimens and I particularly like the Kawaii. Below are some fishes that just came out from quarentine...by now the fishes would, with Boss Ranchu tender loving care blossomed to excellent young Nisai.







Its an eye opener witnessing Boss Ranchu farm....its the ideal and perfect ranchu set up... but sadly not easily replicated in our apartment style ranchu keeping in Singapore...."SPACE". For what I witnessed and experienced visting Boss Ranchu, some private moments at his home and at Hanajima where we were looking at fishes..that moment of hobbyists' excitement and intuitive communication will forever be ingrained in my mind...Boss Ranchu know fishes and talk fishes....love fishes like he love good food and that is contagious!!

“Anywhere is walking distance, if you've got the time.”
Stephen Wright

17 Days Fries

Thailand Farm Visit....Mr Ae Ranchu Star

Last November, I had the golden opportunity of visiting Mr Ae, RanchuStar Farm in Bangkok. Mr Ae or P'AE as he is known to his Thai friends is a humble and unassuming hobbyist with great knowledge in grooming and breeding ranchus.

Mr Ae visited Singapore on two different occasions and I was priviledged to meet him and tap his vast ranchu knowledge...thus there was much excitment and desire to see first hand his farm set up and his fishes.











While I was at Mr Ae's farm, I chanced upon Master Kashino San and he shared a few pointers with me. I also took the opportunity to ask Master Kashino San whether he uses Kageyama in his breedings and he said "yes he does use Master Kageyama bloodline." During Master Yatake San visit to Singapore, Master Yatake mentioned Master Kashino as one of a small handful of top ranchu breeders that he highly respect.



Past few days been staying up late taking care of my young fries and also waking up early to try and spawn another few more spawns. The weather been very ideal....rain in the day and very cooling night and early morning.

Some 12 days old fries....




"Everything negative... pressure, challenges,
is all an opportunity for me to rise"......Kobe Bryant

"Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they really are."....Malcom S Forbes

A hobby should be all about fun and enjoyment. I have done my breeding for the year... just as I thought. To me, breeding ranchus is a money losing game. Even before I had my first spawn, I had done my math..."there is no money in ranchu breeding". Passionate hobbyists breed because of that "grey matters" in their brain that urge them, put their energy into overdrive..... drive them mad to tinker again and again just to see whether they can breed better specimens that thrill them no end and yet not satisfied even when they succeed or fail to keep on doing it again and again. Just like Freddie Mercury ....

"If I had to do it again, yes, why not, why not. I'd do it slightly differently."


Serious ranchu breeding is a long journey of self discovery...a journey that seems to have no end in sight. When one improve, there are always so many other attributes that also need improving. Serious ranchu breeding cannot be learned overnight nor can it be shared over a simple cup of drinks by fellow hobbyists. To breed good ranchus entail many disciplines and much preparations and thoughts have to be continously explored, noted and experimented during the course of ranchu husbandry. Unless one breed and get their hands dirtied then can one understand serious ranchu breeding. It is very disturbing to see self appointed "Master" spouting deprecating and sweeping remarks about the quality of our local breeding standard without even spawning a batch of ranchu fries before and not to say whether can recognise fertilized eggs or even recognising whether a picture is a ranchu fry or a butterfly....simply baffling!!

Like one very good student of ranchu and somebody quietly respected in the small ranchu community in Singapre repeatedly remind fellow hobbyist friends on their individual ranchu journey...in his words...

"If you wanna share or teach another fellow hobbyist...make sure what you share or teach is something you have done and understand and not from heresaid and unfounded."


Some new spawns I am having right now....

The Ham Story.....

This is the story of an accomplished chef. He always cut off the end of his ham when he cook. When asked why he cut of the ends, he said it makes the ham taste better. Because he is an accomplished cook, everyone believe him and many also cut the ends off their hams. One day, someone who know nothing about cooking or the accomplishments of the chef, questioned him on this practice. The questioner was not satisfied with the answer and retorted with a "why?". The chef exclaimed that he is an accomplished cook and his culinary prowess always proved he is right. The questioner replied "but it does not make any sense, why would cutting off the end of the ham make it taste better....please explain?

The chef had no answer other than he had always done it this way and he always just taste his ham for proof. The questioner would not relent and formed hypothesis of his own ...... "was it the bone or some other gland that was removed? or maybe it let the juices out..." The questioner reason back and forth looking for a reason the chef would agree to until the chef grew tired and dismissed him. In a moment of reflection, the chef became troubled that he could not answer why the ham was better when he cut off the end.....he is a great chef and had to be right for his own self worth. As the day went on, this began to bother him more and more. He searched his memory to discover how he knew this unarguable fact. He reflected as to where he learned this until finally it dawned upon him that he was taught this by his mother. He called his mother to ask her why the ham tasted better when the end was cut off. To this the mother replied....what are you talking about? I cut the end off the ham because I did not have a pot big enough to cook it in and that was the only way to make it fit(Story was shared by an American hobbyist)


Lotsa time as we play ranchu, we follow what was passed down from friends, from the nets etc etc etc and over times we become creature of our own habits..... we become routine keepers and dare not experiment to improve our skills. Below I share a video of one of my recent spawn where I try to make a 3 pivot tail split into a 4 pivot tail....it is for my learning/sharing experience....enjoy





The reason for using a nail file is....

A fused tail have a thick center bone that fused the left and right lobe of the tail in the center whereby where there used to be a split, the tail is joined. By filing the thick bone in the middle, I am trying to thin it out so that the tip of the tail in the middle will eventually split up. I heard it will fuse back again...hope to see and experience it myself.