Originally Posted by AbsoluteRanchu

So why don't you tell me what you know about fish, first so then I can tell you what's wrong, or right with it. Last I check there are no breeders of TVR in SG. I met a couple of farms there that are trying to breed, plus a friend of mind, Mr.Lim Heng Nai, and one more dealer that's working with my Thai colleagues. There are no competition that utilized Japanese judges, so the correct information is very hard to come by. Most of the people who import the fish, seem to be the one who set the standard, which by the way is not in accordance with the Nichiran standard. My experience comes from running a professional outfit and successfully breed TVR and arranging competitions with Masters from Japan in accordance with the International ranchu standard. Also I know almost every dealers of ranchu in SG from my visits and I also have many SG friends who are ranchu hobbyists. And if I can go by all the fish that showed up for the Yuhua Show, you guys have problem with space and most of you raise fish in small aquarium with very little sun light. The TVR do not grow very big and the colour and scale condition need improvement. We used to have similar problems ten years ago in Thailand.

Most SG hobbyists are not experience about competition standards (topview particularly). I asked many hobbyists at the National Show on what they look for while they select fish, and most of them would say that they have to rely on what the dealers tell them and by the prices. Most of the dealers do not know how to treat their ranchu properly at their shops, thus they could not possibly convey the right message, and then there are no fish over 18 cms. That is the result of the lack of proper knowledge. All the Oya at the SG national show came from Thailand. I, however, saw many beautiful nisai fish at the Show but most are very pale and lack width and size. These fish could grow into even more majestic oya, with the proper caretaking.

Most people learn from dealers, who themselves, do not have the expertise in how to promote good health, how to feed properly or even how to remedy sickness. Many of the fish at the Yuhua competition were sick. It really bothered me that most of the owners didn't even know that. These are some of the basic knowledge that should be widespread. You should know if you are killing your fish from either the lack of knowledge or bad information, don't you think?

I would hope that fish keepers are similar people, those who care about taking care of their fish. If you are an expert then, please ignore my post; or even better-offer some advice. If you come into my house and you see that I am doing something wrong, I would hope that you would try to help me by telling me. But if you would like to make trouble about nationality and create unfriendly atmosphere then I think that you should go else where where it's more political or contact me personally. I am an adviser here because I am an expert in TVR, and my job is to advise people about them to spread the proper knowledge. If you think that my advice is wrong, please tell me how I am wrong, correct me and tell me how I can improve. I think that ultimately, we all want to talk fish more.

Peace and sawasdee krap