Shipped these out this morning at 4 am on Delta Dash! Watch out America.... a new dawn for ranchu has begun!
Update 4-26-15 Wow what a horrible experience. Delta has certainly not earned my repeat business. The amount of stress caused by this shipment has been enormous. I had no idea it was possible for so many employees, at so many different stages of the process, to so completely botch their different jobs. The timeline of missteps and lack of action I encountered with Delta was so perfectly orchestrated that it nearly seemed intentional.
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:
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.
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.
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:
