Breeding Season 2013

A good deed is never lost: he who sows courtesy reaps friendship; and he who plants kindness gathers love....Basil

I remember when I had my first German Shepherd litter...it was in a makeshift garage on swampland behind my parent's shophouse. It was in early 1983 and as much as I had picked up reading on dogs giving birth, I was absolutely unprepared. When the mother dog went into gestation, I was both thrilled and wild with excitement, but I was also  ill prepared to deal with the mammoth task ahead... my dog gave birth to 9 puppies. In human terms..it is like a mother giving birth to triplets. I was very fortunate than as my Primary School teacher, Mr KY Chan was a reknown German Shepherd breeder and one phone call to ask for advice, found him rushing to my aid. It  was almost midnite and KY(as he was fondly remembered) taught me (with his fatherly kind of exuberance) my first lesson in breeding. He taught me how to clean the umblical cord with Iodine and how to tie the cord and vividly... I remembered he said "tie with red string as red is a lucky sign for birth".

 

I am also very fortunate in having friends in ranchu who are very kind and supportive in my pursuit of improving my grooming and breeding skills. In many ways because of time factor... when we have full time job and have to adjust and quicken some of the daily ranchu husbandry chores... advices and know hows shared by friends like Wee Yap, and a few others have helped me tremendously. Looking back when I first started breeding in 2007 and invited a few ranchu friends to my house to view my first amateur spawn....vividly I still remember how I fumbled through my first brine shrimp hatchery and how those friends pointed out that a few black babies got only one eye.

It is a long journey since then....breeding and gathering spawns after spawns. Year in and year out, I counted more than 30 spawns of various sizes that I did and I am still humbled by all the make up of the various spawns, their development and growth as I track as many of my self breds and try to improve and learn from my mistakes. Breeding is not a one size fit all nor does it entail continous success after one successful spawn...in an animated sense, it is like the game of snake and ladder... learn to avoid the snakes and climb the ladder. I am also humbled knowing some who has been breeding way longer than me...breeder like Wee Yap who bred more than 100 ranchu spawns and if taken into account the other goldfish varities that he bred and continously breed, it would have run into a few hundred spawns...somebody unassuming with deep in-depth knowledge and breeding skills who willingly share his experiences. Wee Yap famous quote "I am still learning"reminds me of how one should conduct oneself with humility.