New Bowls

Great find at the Asian Market during yesterday's trip to the Portland airport:

Spawning Behavior

Anticipation

It feels like just hours until the spawning season begins for me.  The group that I started prepping a little more than a month ago is about to pop!  I've been up at sunrise with my head in the ranchu pond to check for spawning activities.  Boys are chasing!

Update 4-1-15:  Sure enough I woke up this morning to ranchu spawning!  Here are the parents:

Update 4-4-15 11am:  Eggs should hatch sometime later today:

Update 4-5-15  11 am:  Eggs are starting to hatch now.
2 pm update:

Update 4-7 at 8 am:

Update 4-8 at 9pm.  This must be the largest spawn I've ever taken.....

Update 4-21  Just finished culling the whole batch over 3 days.

Update 4-26 Culled thru the whole batch again

Update 5-3 Culled the group again for the 3rd time:

Update 5-12-15 Culled the group for the 4th time:

6-10-15 These are the ones I will grow out for awhile:

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8-1-15: These are some of the best from this spawn:

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8-7-15: Definitely time to call these Tosai, I think:

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8-24-15:

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9-13-15

Many Thanks, Everyone!

I am very appreciative of the enthusiastic hobbyists and breeders that have been inquiring about and purchasing my ranchu.  Thank you!  Besides funding the food, water and electric needs of my ranchu the proceeds from the sales of this spring's ranchu offerings are going towards several upgrades to the ranchu house. 

Three of the large (4.5 gallon) brine shrimp hatching cones will be added to the system this year. I've been using 5 gallon buckets to hatch large volumes of eggs, but the problem is that the bucket is flat-bottomed.  In order to keep the eggs in suspension the airstone must produce a violent amount of air bubbles and I've been getting an orange paste accumulation on the interior of the bucket, airline and airstone.  These are pulverized newly-hatched brineshrimp, pulverized by the extreme air bubbles.  The cone's design allows a small amount of air to keep the eggs in suspension.

Adding several large ponds will be a major focus as well and I'm currently looking at 8x4 and 4x4 sizes for about 6 new ponds this year.

2015 Breeding Pair (hopeful)

This combination represents bringing together the best from two parallel lines of my SxK ranchu. Line 1 is notable for dramatic features, great heads, potential for twisted backbones, light hibernating. Line 2 is notable for balance, powerful movement, good hibernator, symmetrical backbones, weak headgrowth.  My goal is to combine the dramatic features of line 1 with the balance and power of line 2. No spawns between these two have occurred yet, but the 2014 spawns fathered by the white male were exceptional.

Winter Water Change

I've been reflecting on exactly how long and difficult the winter hibernation here can be.  The mild winter has been a welcome pace for the ranchu, but there are still several months of cold weather left. It is too much for these ranchu.  I will need to discover the best solution for shortening the length of winter for my ranchu.

This is my most exciting group of breeders for this summer:

Visit to High Ranchu

Earlier this month I was treated to a visit to High Ranchu in the heart of Washington DC!  Alexander is a passionate & knowledgeable ranchu keeper & breeder.  He lives on the top floor of the tallest building in DC.... very high ranchu indeed! I admire his dedication to the articles he's written for his blog & his commitment to spreading knowledge of ranchu.... very helpful to many in our ranchu community.  I am inspired to create a beautiful pond set-up in my own house very similar to his: