As I mentioned before, I bought five cow ranchu from an importer in Indonesia (Jakarta Goldfish Centre). They came from De Quan Farm in Fu Zhou, China. Only one male survives until now and he has been my favorite so far. One amazing feature of the fish is the growth of its black pigment. When I compared the fish before and after, I can hardly recognize him. So, it is confirmed that the black pigment in cow ranchu can grow.
This is the picture taken on December 2019:
And this is him in October 2020:
Marvelous, isn’t he?
However, the growth of the black pigmentation on the offspring is quite challenging. Until now (almost 4 months old), the black pigment does not seem to grow at all. Most of the offspring are white with some black spots underneath the transparent scale, which look like bluish or shadowy color. I am hoping that the black pigment can come out to the outer layer of the transparent scale. Some people reported that it usually happens late on the fish. Hopefully they are correct. The rest of the offspring resemble calico. I will post their pictures on the next posting.
Feel free to share what you think about the transformation of this cow ranchu on the comments below 😊 Thank you.
In my previous attempt, I crossed topview ranchu (Andou line) with wakin. I called the offspring Kinranshi since they looked similar to the Kinranshi goldfish type I saw in a book. I already made a post about that project.
Now, to move the project forward, I crossed the Kinranshi back to topview ranchu. I used three lines such as Andou, Kudou / Murakami (the seller was not sure about the line of this particular fish), and my own line (forgot to record). The results are varied. They are not yet conformed to the standard of topview ranchu, so I called them Kinranshi version 2.0.
Some of them are thin and long, some have thickness on their backbone, and some are shorter. Some have collapsed tail and some have wide-spread tail. The head growths are also varied. I am glad to see these rich variations. It triggers my imagination how to direct the next development of them.
Itu pertama kali aku jatuh cinta pada kehidupan di dalam air!
Pamanku, yang waktu itu masih muda, punya piaraan baru. Ia mengajakku datang melihat-lihat piaraannya itu. Di lorong sempit yang dia jadikan taman itu, aku melihat sebuah jedingan bekas copotan dari kamar mandi yang dijadikannya tempat memelihara ikan. Wadah dari semen itu sebenarnya kecil saja, tapi bagiku yang belum genap berusia sepuluh tahun, jedingan itu terasa besar sekali. Aku melongok ke dalamnya dan tiba-tiba aku menemukan sebuah dunia lain. Sebuah dunia yang begitu bening! Aku bisa melihat pasir hitam yang ada di dasarnya. Ikan-ikan kecil beraneka jenis sibuk berenang di antara beragam tanaman air yang ada di dunia lain itu. Ada yang berkejar-kejaran, ada yang sibuk mencari makan di sela-sela daun atau di dasar, dan ada pula yang bersembunyi di balik bebatuan mungkin sedang bermain petak umpet dengan temannya. Seakan ikan-ikan itu tidak peduli pada kisah dan keluh kesah dunia manusia. Mereka punya kisah mereka sendiri. Berbagai perasaan berkecamuk dalam jiwa kecilku. Aku belum pernah merasakan kesegaran seperti ini. Pada saat itulah, aku jatuh cinta pada kebeningan itu.
Aku belum mengerti tentang ikan pada waktu itu. Bahkan aku sempat menanyakan ini ikan air laut atau air tawar. Pertanyaan yang bodoh, mana mungkin guppy, neon, dan platy dipiara di air laut! Aku ingat pamanku menangkap seekor ikan gepeng transparan untuk ditunjukkan padaku. Namanya ikan kaca, katanya. Ikan tersebut bening seperti kaca, sehingga kelihatan tulang-tulang badannya. Tidak ada ikan koki di sana. Perjalananku sampai mencintai ikan koki masih panjang.
Singkat cerita, setelah aku lulus kuliah, aku tinggal di surabaya. Orang tuaku membelikanku sebuah rumah. Aku beruntung memiliki seorang ayah yang merasa kewajibannya baru selesai jika sudah menyediakan sebuah usaha lengkap dengan modalnya dan sebuah rumah bagi anak2nya. Aku bersyukur mendapatkan rumah itu, tapi aku tetap mengajukan syarat. Aku minta ada kolam di rumah itu. Ayahku mengerti. Dari kecil aku selalu minta seperti itu. Dahulu sepulang dari rumah pamanku pada pengalaman pertama jatuh cinta pada dunia dalam air, aku minta dibelikan ikan. Akhirnya, ketika penjual ikan pikulan lewat, aku dibelikan. Piara di mana? Di ember seadanya. Tak berapa lama ikan tersebut mati. Lalu suatu kali aku pulang dari gereja melewati pasar Splendid di Malang di mana orang menjual ikan berjajar-jajar. Di sana aku melihat ikan-ikan yang lucu dengan warna dan sirip yang menarik! Aku bertanya, ikan apa itu? Oh, itu ikan mas koki, kata penjualnya. Lucu sekali! Aku pulang dengan tidak bisa tidur nyenyak karena memikirkan ikan-ikan tersebut. Maka dimulailah perjalanan cintaku dengan ikan mas koki. Lambat laun, melihat aku suka memelihara ikan, papaku membelikanku sebuah aquarium kecil, yang karena tidak ada raknya, ditaruh di lantai. Aku suka tidur di lantai di depan aquarium itu sambil memandangi ikan-ikan mas kokiku. Aku rajin mengurasnya, bahkan pernah membuat ayahku marah karena aku memilih malam-malam menguras aquarium ketimbang belajar untuk ulangan sekolah besok.
kenangan ikan mas koki mutiara masa kecilku
Aquarium kecil, berubah menjadi aquarium besar. Semua pekerjaan menguras aku kerjakan sendiri. Aku ingat ikan favoritku adalah mutiara ekor panjang yang pernah kulukis. Sampai sekarang kental sekali ingatanku akan ikan itu. Aku juga pernah punya oranda yang warna merah dan putihnya cemerlang sekali! Entah pikiranku yang membesar-besarkan keindahannya atau memang ikan seperti itu pernah ada, sampai sekarang aku jarang melihat warna seindah itu. Padahal belinya di pasar ikan murah-murah. Ketika ayahku mendapat rejeki dalam bisnisnya dan bisa membangun rumah baru, ia membuatkan sebuah kolam untukku. Itulah pertama kalinya aku punya kolam sendiri. Waktu itu aku belum mengerti tentang filter, jadi kolam itu tidak memiliki filter sama sekali. Dan setelah aku lulus kuliah, bekerja di Surabaya, diberi hadiah sebuah rumah, aku pun membuat sebuah kolam juga di rumah baruku. Agaknya aku tidak bisa hidup tanpa kehadiran sebuah kolam.
Namun aku mengalami masalah.
Kolamku keruh. Sekeruh pikiranku pada saat itu.
Sudah kuupayakan segala cara yang aku bisa, tetap saja demikian. Aku sampai merasa putus asa. Setelah aku kuras, beberapa hari kemudian keruh lagi. Apakah ikan koki tidak boleh dicampur dengan ikan manfish? Rasanya bukan karena itu. Tiap hari aku lihat, apakah debu-debunya sudah mengendap dan kolamku sudah menjadi bening, tapi tak kunjung bening juga.
Kebetulan pada saat itu aku baru lulus kuliah. Ketika aku melihat masa depanku, aku tidak bisa melihat apa-apa. Keruh. Aku tidak tahu apa yang harus kulakukan dalam hidup ini. Aku tidak tahu bisnis yang diwariskan oleh ayahku ini apakah bisnis yang tepat untukku. Aku tidak tahu apakah pacarku ini calon istri yang tepat untukku. Aku tidak tahu! Aku tidak tahu! Semua terasa begitu keruh! Aku berusaha menenangkan diriku. Aku mencoba mengendapkan semua debu pemikiran itu dalam batinku. Tapi dalam ziarah ke dalam itu, aku hanya menemukan sebuah kolam butek. Bertahun-tahun aku dalam kondisi seperti itu. Oh, betapa inginnya aku lari mencari kolam jedingan yang kulihat di masa kecilku itu dan duduk menikmati kebeningannya lagi! Mungkin dengan begitu semua kekeruhan dalam batinku akan berangsur-angsur menjadi jernih. Mungkinkah kekeruhan hatiku membuat kolamku tidak bisa bening?
Aku terus berdoa. Aku terus memohon. Aku meminta batin yang bening dan pikiran yang jernih. Aku ingin dibebaskan dari rasa keruh hati ini. Aku pegang ayat yang mengatakan bahwa kebenaran akan membebaskan. Maka aku membaca banyak buku, mengikuti banyak seminar, dengan harapan bahwa aku akan menemukan kebenaran itu. Capek sekali hidup dalam kondisi keruh batin!
Suatu saat aku browse internet, yang mana itu masih sebuah luxury di jaman itu. Aku menemukan artikel tentang sistem filter yang menirukan filtrasi di alam. Aku sangat tertarik. Dan aku mulai menerapkannya. Alhasil, kolamku pun menjadi bening! Aku harap ada suatu sistem atau cara seperti itu yang bisa kulakukan dan membuat batinku pun menjadi bening.
Dalam kehidupan pribadiku, aku belajar untuk jujur pada diri sendiri. Aku menuliskan pikiran-pikiranku, perasaanku, dan apa saja yang ada dalam diriku dalam berlembar-lembar kertas dan berhalaman-halaman microsoft word. Aku harap ini membantuku menjernihkan pikiranku. Setiap akhir tahun aku melakukan tulisan refleksi atas diriku sendiri, dan membuat rencana-rencana pribadi. Dan seiring dengan perjalanan waktu, banyak hal menjadi jelas bagiku. Sekarang, meski pikiran dan batinku belum sejernih dan sebening kristal, namun sudah banyak bagiannya yang menjadi terang. Dan aku bersyukur untuk itu. Sampai tahap tertentu, aku telah menemukan kebebasan jiwa.
First, it is useful to categorize female fishes into four categories: very productive, normal productive, and less productive, and infertile. In the case of a very productive fish, we do not need to do anything and the fish will lay eggs by its own everywhere and anywhere. Even when there is no male partner, it will lay its eggs. But most fishes fall under the category of normal productive, which will usually lay eggs in a comfortable environment with the presence of male partner. The problem arises when we have the less productive fishes. We need tricks to induce the spawning. In the case of the infertile fishes, nothing can be done. The infertility can be of two kinds: the fish cannot lay eggs, or the fish can lay eggs but the eggs cannot hatch. So, our focus is how to induce spawning in the less productive fishes, which of course the tricks will also applicable to the normal productive fishes.
Basically, I use two ways to induce spawning: to make the fish comfortable or to make the fish uncomfortable (or introduce changes). I will try the first method before considering the second one.
I live in the tropical area, so my methods might not work for other areas. Each breeder need to find his / her own ways in the two frameworks.
If we use biological filtration pond or tank, then the fish will be comfortable in a mature filtration. If we use water change method, then it is better to have a routine schedule. Male partners should be present. Outdoor or semi outdoor environment will be good since it is in accordance with the fishes’ internal clock. Enough sunlight. Introduce plants. Do not feed with growth pellets or tubifex worms. Feed with wheatgerm-based meal. Use live food such as frozen bloodworm and daphnia. Mosquito larvae is a superb food for this purpose. Normally, these actions will suffice to induce breeding. The fishes will mate at around 5 am. It is an advantage to be in the tropical area that I do not need to take into account the winter season or the water temperature.
For the less productive fishes, to make it comfortable, we can introduce a productive female one in the tank. After the productive one lay eggs, we can remove her. We can hope that the less productive one will follow to lay eggs.
Another way to make her comfortable to spawn is to put bricks or clay pots in the pond. Somehow it is believed that the smell of the soil can induce the fish to breed. I do not know how true it is, but I sometimes use this method combined with other ways.
If the comforting methods do not work, we might consider to make the fish uncomfortable by introducing change / surprise. Why uncomfortable methods might induce breeding? I read it somewhere that in the presence of death the fish might naturally think she need to lay eggs to preserve her descendants. So, the change might make the fish think she is going to die (smile). The mild measure in introducing change includes moving the fish from indoor to outdoor. Or if the fish is kept in outdoor, put her for several weeks indoor before moving her to outdoor again. We can also play with the water temperature. Try to keep the fish in a colder temperature for several weeks, then move to a warmer environment. Total water change can also be a surprise to the fish. Drastic water parameter change might be introduced also, mimicking the rain fall. Fasting (deprived of food) and then pumping the fish with good food can also be tried.
A more risky way that I sometimes use it to lay the fish in insufficient water level. This is the way I do it. As I make a total water change, when I fill the tub again, I put the fish in when the water level is still insufficient to submerse her. So the fish will be a bit stressful for a minute or two for lacking water, but will not be hurt / damaged. It is enough to make her think she is going to die for a while. This is the most extreme measure I take. But I seldom use it and I only use it for a hard case.
The breeding can also be induced by injecting substances such as Ovaprim to the fish. But I do not use this method.
These are the methods I use to induce spawning. My methods are simple. I am sure there are many more advanced and creative ways. I will encourage the readers to explore and to share their ways.
Basically, how we feed our goldfish is determined by our purpose of keeping. Some people might just want to keep goldfish for relaxation. What they want is their fishes to enjoy a healthy and long life. They do not bother much about pumping up the size of their fishes. For such people, feeding the fishes with staple /maintenance pellets once or twice a day will be sufficient. The fishes might not grow or might grow slowly, but the fishes will enjoy many years of happy life.
Some want to be the best groomer of their fishes. They wanted their fishes to grow in size (and shape) in no time. For these people, their purpose might be achieved by a heavy feeding such as six times a day, or even ten times a day, with growth pellets which contain high fat and high protein contents. Live foods such as tubifex worms, silk worms, might sometimes be used also.
Fish pellets can usually be categorized into three types: maintenance pellets, growth pellets and color enhancer pellets. The maintenance type is used as daily food with sufficient nutrients for the fishes. The growth type is used to foster the fast growth of the fishes. The color enhancer one is used to improve the red color and the shiny scale of the fishes.
As for me, since I am an experimenting with breeding, so my main purpose is to feed the fishes with foods that will induce them to breed. My feeding consists of pellets and live food. I use the wheatgerm-based pellets to induce spawning. The wheatgerm-based pellets can be categorized as maintenance diet type since they do not contain high fat and high protein, but sometimes can be categorized also as growth pellets since they help the fish to grow by optimizing the digestive systems. This quality of improving the digestive systems will improve the productivity of the female fishes. I also use live foods such as frozen bloodworm and live / frozen daphnia since they will induce breeding. Another excellent live food that can induce breeding is the mosquito larvae, but I do not usually use them. Tubifex worm and growth pellets are absolute no for the female parents.
My breeding activity dictates that I must grow the fries also. All good quality goldfish should grow thick backbone early as a foundation for life. Without it, they will have trouble swimming as their age matures. So, when they are young, I give them live daphnia and growth pellets grinded as fine as flour. As they are growing, I introduce frozen bloodworm and growth pellets. I used to use tubifex worms, but for the sake of convenient, I do not use it at present. I continue to give this diet to fishes that need to grow headgrowths such as oranda and ranchu. I employed heavy feeding for them. But for fishes that does not need to grow headgrowth like tosakin or butterfly, I switch to wheatgerm-based pellets only and do not employ heavy feeding to induce the growth of their tail with less feeding. My young fishes eat this diets until the age of roughly four months, where they started to breed. It is too early to breed them at that age, but I do not want to damage their productivity, so I mixed their diets with mainly wheat-germ based pellets. When they are ready to breed, at the age of six months and above, their diets consist of wheatgerm-based pellets and frozen bloodworms. The growth pellets and daphnia are provided once in a while. Only for fishes that I want to grow into big sizes I pump them up with growth pellets and frozen bloodworm.
After marveling and experimenting with the tricolor oranda for some times, I began to think about creating ranchu with such coloration. This specimen I am thinking of has been seen in Thailand, so it will not be a surprise that it will become available in the market in the next one or two years. It is still rare today, though. Instead of waiting them to be available in the market, I think it will be more satisfying for me to create one of my own. When I succeed, perhaps it will not be rare anymore. But it will still be a pride for me.
The first thing I did was to cross my tricolor Oranda with a ranchu. I did not think carefully about what ranchu would be best to use at that time. This might be my mistake. I did not remember it well, perhaps I used blue ranchu since they were abundant in my pond or grey ranchu which carries the recessive blue ranchu gene since I made many crossing using blue ranchu. The results were all grey fish (wild color) with predictable defects on the dorsal.
My plan was to do the F1 x F1. I was certain that I would get several tricolor fish with defect dorsal. I did not expect to get a smooth ranchu back curve at that stage, which was reasonable. What surprised me was that I got some blue offspring. It made the project complicated. I should use pure red or red-white color, instead. But it had happened. I sorted out all the blue. I kept only the grey color, in the hope that some of them will turn into tricolor. I purposely rejected the fish with full dorsal and kept only the ones with defected dorsal. Yet, I must admit, those fishes with perfect dorsal were cute. Some of them resemble Yuan Bao. I could not help to keep one of them alive. Here is the lucky guy:
The second surprise I got was that the expected tricolor never appeared. I waited for four or five months, and these F2 were still grey. I lost hope in them turning into tricolor or any other color. I realized that this was a failure.
But I did not give up. I started the project still using the same F1. But this time I did not do F1 x F1. I crossed the F1 back to the tricolor Oranda! I expected this move to produce a better chance of having tricolor fish. Yet, I worried about the shape turning back into fishes with full dorsal. So, I tried to keep all the offspring alive as many as possible till I could see the dorsal clearly. Thank God, I ended up with enough defect dorsal fishes. They look like this:
And yes, I faced the same problem again. I have kept them close to four months right now and the majority are still grey! I could not explain this. Yet, this time I am lucky to have two fishes mutated into tricolor! Some more mutated into red-white fish with no trace of melanin – I will wait for a little while for them since sometimes the melanin can appear again.
From the two tricolor I get, one has minimal black pigmen. She will be used as my plan B. She looks like this:
But the other one has a lot of black pigment and the color looks strong! I don’t mind about the lack of red color. Tricolor usually comes in either tricolor or panda color. No problem for me. This fish will be my main parent fish. This is the beauty:
My plan is to mate her with ranchu again. And the new F1 will be crossed back to its mother. The new F2 will be a tricolor fish that looks closer to ranchu, yet with imperfect back curve. I will need to repeat the whole two step process again to create a better quality of tricolor ranchu. So, the total time I need from now will be four generation, or approximately two years. Well, I think I will just enjoy the process.
Sewaktu kecil, ketika uang jajan pas-pasan, mampir ke toko ikan dengan perasaan minder. Ikannya bagus-bagus, tapi duit di kantong tidak memadai. Apa daya. Jadi saya lebih banyak ke toko ikan untuk berkunjung saja, melihat-lihat, tapi tidak beli. Untung pemilik toko ikan di Jl Bangka, Malang, waktu itu sabar. Orang dipersilahkan datang, minim tegur sapa, dan tidak beli pun tidak apa-apa.
Saya juga pernah menjadi pembeli yang aneh. Di sebuah toko ikan yang lain, yang sekarang sudah tutup, saya melihat burayak ikan koki ditaruh di aquarium di sebuah rak bagian bawah. Ikan koki di toko itu mahal-mahal, jadi sebagai seorang bocah yang naif, saya berpikir burayak-burayak itu pastilah akan menjadi ikan yang bagus. Karena itu saya berniat membelinya dengan penuh harap harganya tidak mahal. Tapi sang pemilik toko mengatakan itu tidak dijual. Dia tidak tahu burayak 1 cm mau dihargai berapa. Tapi sy terus menerus merayu dia. Saya yang membuka harga. Saya berikan uang jajan saya seminggu untuk membeli 1 ekor burayak tersebut. Mungkin karena merasa terganggu, akhirnya ia menjual satu ekor burayak koki kepada saya, anak kecil yang rewel ini. Saya senang sekali. Burayak itu saya taruh kolam bersama koki2 saya yang lain. Besoknya, burayak itu sudah lenyap.
Ketika saya dewasa dan memulai karir di Surabaya, saya kembali mulai berburu ikan mas koki. Saya mencarinya di iklan jitu koran Jawa Pos. Mendatangi rumah-rumah pedagang sambilan itu membuat hati deg-deg an juga. Harga ikannya mahal-mahal. Dan saya merasa dinilai oleh penjualnya, orang ini punya uang atau tidak. Jika saya memberi kesan tidak mampu beli, sikap mereka menjadi ketus. Biasanya saya tidak datang lagi ke tempat mereka. Hanya kepada penjual yang saya merasa cocok, yang enak diajak ngobrol dan tidak menghakimi, saya bisa menjadi langganan.
Akhirnya itu menjadi kebiasaan saya dalam bertransaksi. Kalau merasa tidak cocok dengan karakter seorang penjual, ya sudah, diam-diam saja menjauh. Saya pikir saya tidak rugi apa-apa. Malah penjual itu yang rugi karena kehilangan calon pembeli masa depan.
Calon pembeli masa depan? Iya. Bukankah kondisi selalu berubah? Seseorang yang hari ini tidak mampu beli ikan, suatu saat bisa jadi mampu. Jika penjual sudah mengusirnya pada waktu dia tidak mampu, bukankah berarti ia sedang menutup masa depannya dari rejeki? Tapi meski seseorang berkelakuan aneh (seperti saya waktu kecil) atau tidak mampu beli saat ini (seperti sy juga dulu) namun tetap dilayani dengan baik, tetap dimaklumi, tetap dijadikan kawan, suatu saat mungkin ia bakal beli, atau menjadi customer besar.
Hanya sekali saya marah. Waktu itu ikan yang saya ingin beli, dikatakan tidak lagi dijual. Tapi jika saya benar-benar menginginkan, maka akan dipertimbangkan untuk dijual. Kesan saya waktu itu, saya disuruh mengemis-ngemis dahulu untuk diijinkan membeli ikan itu. Saya marah besar. Dalam bahasa Jawa saya berteriak “ga tuku iwakmu ga patek-en.” Tapi dalam hati saja saya mengatakannya. Yang pasti, saya putus hubungan dengan penjual itu untuk seterusnya.
Ketika saya makin menekuni breeding, mau tak mau saya harus menjual ikan saya juga. Kalau terlalu banyak, mau diapakan lagi selain dijual? Jadi saya juga berada dalam posisi sebagai penjual. Memang pengalaman sebagai pembeli itu membekas dalam hati. Saya tidak ingin memperlakukan pembeli seperti saya diperlakukan oleh penjual-penjual yang ketus dan sok. Saya merasa calon pembeli berhak mendapat informasi sejelas-jelasnya tentang ikan yang mau dibeli. Calon pembeli juga berhak untuk tidak cocok / tidak jadi membeli. Yang pasti, saya akan melayani mereka dengan ramah. Jika mereka tidak membeli sekarang, mereka tetap adalah calon pembeli saya di masa depan. Mengapa saya harus menutup pintu masa depan saya hanya karena mereka berlaku aneh atau tidak jadi membeli?
Selama suatu transaksi belum deal, maka tidak ada ikatan. Namun jika sudah deal, meski sebatas ucapan, maka itu harus dipegang. Selama belum deal, tidak ada wanprestasi. Tapi jika sudah deal dan tidak ditepati, itu barulah wanprestasi. Sudah janji membayar, tapi tidak kunjung membayar. Sudah memenangkan lelang, tapi membatalkan. Itu wanprestasi. Bisa di blacklist. Tapi bisa juga dimaklumi. Siapa tahu ada sesuatu dibalik itu. Siapa tahu suatu saat yang bersangkutan berubah dan menjadi customer masa depan. Bukankah rejeki di tangan Tuhan? Kalau Tuhan belum memberikannya sekarang, dan kita marah-marah kepada calon customer tersebut, yang rugi masih tetap kita. Rugi perasaan, setidaknya. Lebih baik untuk melupakan dan move on, menjajaki calon pembeli selanjutnya ketimbang tinggal dalam kubangan pikiran penuh emosi itu.
Dalam pertarungan pedang antara Miyamoto Musashi melawan Sasaki Kojiro, Kojiro mencabut pedangnya dan membuang sarung pedangnya ke pasir. Melihat tindakan itu, Musashi sudah tahu bahwa Kojiro bakal kalah. Mengapa? Karena ia sudah mengenakan attitude orang kalah. Dari mana Musashi menyimpulkan hal itu? Karena Kojiro membuang sarung pedangnya. Itu berarti di bawah sadarnya ia tidak berpikir untuk dapat menyimpan pedangnya kembali. Pikirannya sudah kalah sebelum benar-benar bertarung. Dan benar, Kojiro pun terkapar berlumuran darah di pantai itu. Sekarat. Saya berpikir, penjual yang sudah meragukan calon pembelinya di awal adalah seperti Sasaki Kojiro yang sudah membuang sarung pedangnya di awal. Bukan pikiran pemenang.
What amazed me in the first place was … the toilet at Kansai airport! Yup. While my wife was busy consulting the trip advisor at the arrival hall, I visited the restroom. Please do not ask what was my business there. But I could assure you that Japan had the most comfortable toilet in the world! Not only it had a heated seat and an adjustable rinse button, but it also had a speaker that could produce the sound of running water, which I could adjust the volume to my liking. Oh, they are so thoughtful of me! It was a very helpful feature for a shy person like me to disguise whatever I did there. I would definitely enjoy Osaka!
From the airport, my wife and I proceeded to our hotel by train. I was a bit perplexed to find the underground train station not as I imagined. I felt like in the middle of the second world war period. The station was dark and old with so many confusing tunnels. One stopping point could carry several destinations. If a person mistakenly entered a train too early by several minutes, he might end up in the wrong town. So scary for tourists with no Kanji learning like us! What a relief to be able to come out alive from that place.
My wife booked a hotel in the Dotonbori area, the heart of Osaka (so people said). I must admit it was a very strategic location. To the left, there was a large traditional market to the excitement of my wife. Well, wherever we went around the world, she was always looking for traditional markets. There seemed to be a deep connection between the two for a reason unknown to me. The first destination after we check-in our hotel was – you guessed it – the traditional market. It was at that market I saw people selling and eating sea-urchins for the first time. I wondered how it tasted. Several times I was tempted to try. But, on the second thought, we prefered okonomiyaki instead.
The busy Dotonbori Street
To the right of our hotel was the famous Dotonbori street, which was a superblock full of shops and dining places. It was really a busy area, a sea of people. So many things to see, so many to try. Not to mention the discounted store ladies could not resist. Walking down that street in the afternoon and at night gave a very different sensation. Yes, I must say, the place was transformed into a different world at night. Enjoying the river in the middle of the shopping area by boat after dark was romantic. The colorful light had a magical touch, especially when you spent the moment with your beloved. It was indeed a river of delight. When the boat passed through an extra-large and extra-bright signboard, my wife shouted in excitement,” This is the famous glico man icon! We must take a picture! Quick, quick!” Well, I did not know who the hell the glico man was. Perhaps an acquaintance of Ultraman or so. Anyway, as long as it made my wife happy, I would do it for her. After all, my profession during this trip was her private photographer.
The Glico Man Signboard
Our hotel room was small but neatly arranged. Not surprising. This was Japan. Many things were small, neat, and efficient. I quickly checked the toilet. It had a heated seat and the adjustable rinse button, alright. But no speaker! I was a bit disappointed not to find such an important feature. Anyway, the room was good enough – functional enough; you know what I mean – for our honeymoon: the third honeymoon, to be precise.
Yes, this was our third.
The first was almost twenty years ago when we got married. Boy, it had been a long time! We went to the United States at that moment. Oh, the memory of the days gone by! Since then …. Marriage was like a dream. A dream with sweet and sour dressing. Before I knew it, almost twenty years had passed. That’s how I would describe twenty years of marriage in three sentences. Now we were in our forties. I began to understand why the wise said life begins at forties. It was true. It was the time when reality intruded and the fog of dream dispersed. I still vividly remembered how my life escalated out of control since my father’s death three years ago, slightly after I entered my fortieth years. I hated God for taking my father’s life too early – at least, in my opinion. And I did not know why, my wife and I started to hurt each other emotionally to the point of damaging our marriage. It was when expectation turned into disappointment and kind words became harsh. Love grew cold and the heart searched elsewhere. It would take a miracle to recover what we lost. And a miracle we got, thank God! The miracle took the form of a new “me” – an emergence from darkness and brokenness. Only by then, we decided on our second honeymoon to tend what remained, to grow the love once more. It was a celebration of the second chance of marriage.
Our second honeymoon took place in Bali. The spirit was: Just the two of us. We roamed from street to street leisurely, checking on shops and restaurants, passing through the paddy fields in our way to the beach, and stopping for a scoop of ice cream to enjoy together. No hurry. I felt so free. We held hands all the time, a simple gesture we haven’t done for a long time. And we conversed! Yes, we talked about many simple things. This was extraordinary since our usual interaction was dominated by purposeful and necessary conversation mainly. And what more, she spoke to me in a gentle way! She gave me her time and attention. She listened to me willingly. That was extraordinary! Romance came in simple things. We were just like a teenager in dating. The world was once more ours.
Her habit of making the utmost of every opportunity remained. Even in a honeymoon like this, she thought about finding new suppliers for her fruit business. This time I did not object. I never had any objection to her business as long as she could keep the balance between attending to the family and the business. So, part of our romance in Bali was to browse through fruit markets. I knew she sold Black Sapote before – an exotic fruit in this country. I suggested her to find other types of rare fruits. ”Have you ever considered to sell the White Strawberry?” “Is there such a thing?” she asked in return. “Yes,” I replied. “I read about it on the internet.” “Well, I don’t think we can find it here, “said my wife, “But I know that Bali has a special variety of Mango which was grown solely here.” Then we tried to find a seller of Balinese Mango. It was not the season yet, but we found one. Too bad, the taste was not agreeable for us. Different people have different taste, I suppose. We discarded the idea of selling the mango.
In Bali, we visited the beach behind our hotel and sat for a while, enjoying the sunset. I remembered we saw two beautiful kites with boat shapes sailing in the dusking sky – one was black and another was colorful. The color contrast made me think about how different was my wife’s personality from mine. The black one must be me. Marriage is the mingling of two different souls, after all. We concluded our trip with a romantic night at the hotel combined with a discussion about how to improve her business system! Well, gotta accept her industrious personality. Is not marriage all about acceptance? I began to see the child in her vaguely, a willful child who wanted her own way yet yearned for approval and love. This was a beautiful experience, just the two of us. The Bali moment was so memorable that we wondered why we must wait almost twenty years to do so. That was how we came up with the idea of our third honeymoon. She suggested Osaka.
The two kites
Let me tell you that Black Sapote was available in Indonesia, though it was not a fruit we can find every day. It tasted as good as a chocolate pudding. But the White strawberry was nowhere to be found in this country. Human hearts value and yearn for things they cannot acquire. When we planned our trip to Osaka, we did not realize that we would soon meet the rare jewel.
But the trip to Osaka got complications. It almost got cancelled due to mishaps beyond our control.
In June that year, when my wife was busy with one of her online business, she was furious over a mistake her employee made. Well, my wife was not so tolerant of mistakes. As she was angry, she damaged her retina. A flood of fresh blood streamed out from the tear in her right retina, preventing her from seeing clearly. That was her first blow. Fear crept up in her heart. “How if I become blind for the rest of my life?” Fortunately, the doctor took a quick measure by sealing the tear with a laser. The prescription was for her to reduce her activity drastically for about a month. Forget about fitness. Forget about working hard and moving fast. Walk slowly. Lower your stress. Sleep in an upright position. Those were against my wife’s nature. She was an ever-active person. But she obeyed them patiently for she was determined to recover quickly. And how happy she was when the day of recovery came! The plan to go to Osaka at the end of November was still intact.
Another month passed without incident.
Then it was my turn. At the beginning of August, as I was busy with my fishes (yes, I was a goldfish enthusiast), I was stung by an electric shock. The situation was not favorable at that time. I was barefooted on a wet floor holding a brittle electric cable. I could not move my body. I thought I was gonna die. I could only cry out in my remaining awareness for God’s help. Miraculously, I fell backwards to the floor, and the cable was unplugged from its source. I was alive! But the hard bump in my head gave me vertigo since. Well, it was another story. What I wanted to tell was vertigo restricted my movement for several months to come. I could not drive. I became dizzy in a crowded area. And I should not get too tired. I must rely on my wife for many things. How could I go to Osaka with vertigo?
The misfortune did not stop. Two weeks later, out of nothing, my wife felt another stream of blood in the same location of her eye. The wound reopened, so we thought. This time, it was more severe. Her eyesight was a blur in the first attack. But now, she could not see completely with her right eye! This was a heavier blow for her. The local doctor concluded that the retina was fine, but he could do nothing with so much blood flooding her eye. Unsatisfied with the answer, we directly flew to Singapore to find a better solution. The trip to Singapore was a case of a man with vertigo leading his half-blind wife. What a scene! How weak we were! Where were our youth and vigor? Yet, the Singaporean doctor said the same thing. My wife needed to rest like before for three months to let the body absorb the blood. Three months of being inactive! That was too much for her. But, three months? That would mean September, October, and November. So close to our schedule to Osaka! How if she did not fully recover yet by the time? We prepared our heart for the possibility to cancel the trip. Well, health was the number one priority, right?
Our life was drastically changed. We were at the peak of our business. She handled two progressing business, and I ran a company of my own with seven branches which were still expanding. We purposefully worked separately since we were not good at cooperating with each other. But now, we agreed to slow down. It became our motto. Let the world run its course as fast as it wanted. As for us, we needed to slow down. I needed to take care of my wife, although I myself was weak. I also needed to attend to her emotional need for she was sad and fearful. This fierce tiger of mine had suddenly become timid. Every day she would raise her fingers in front of her eye to check whether there was an improvement on her sight or not, a behavior that reminded me of my late father. He also had a retina problem before he died. Yet, there was thirty years gap between my wife and my father. She did not suppose to be like this.
My wife recovered quicker than we thought. Praise the Lord! We would not need to waive our tickets to Osaka!
But, then … something worst happened.
In November, my wife told me that we had almost overdue vouchers to do free health check-up for both of us. She did not want to waste them. I agreed to do it since I thought it would be quick. Half a day was more than enough. My wife and I felt healthy; we had nothing to worry. Her eyesight was improving, and my vertigo was not as severe as before. What was different in this health check was the abdomen check. We never did this before. We took it for granted. Usually, we concerned only about the blood test and cardiac health. If the free voucher did not include the abdomen test, for sure, we would not sign up for it.
I remembered. It was Tuesday.
Coming out from the USG abdomen test room, my wife looked tense.
“What happens?” I asked.
“The doctor sees a bulge in my left kidney …” she answered worriedly.
Oh, my God!
What was this, o Lord? Please, I did not want to hear something frightful. I hope it was not the thing I thought it was.
Next was a hectic week for us. The doctor recommended CT-Scan for further examination. We scheduled it right away for the next day, on Wednesday. The result was consulted with a local kidney doctor, who informed us that 90 percent of this case was malignant cancer. It was an enormous blow to my wife. She could not even cry. What we could do was to gather as many information as possible from the doctor and what course of actions available to us. One consolation was when the doctor said, “you are lucky! Cases like this are usually diagnosed too late since symptoms only appear at a later stage. You discover it by accident. It is God’s providence. Now you are at stadium one. And also, the cancer was at the periphery of the kidney; there is a good chance it has not spread into the main organ.”
That night, we decided to get a second opinion from Singapore, since we were still Singapore-minded in terms of health care. We bought the first ticket for tomorrow morning for just the two of us – well, this was not considered a honeymoon, right? We researched the best doctors there and made an appointment for tomorrow. That Thursday, we flew to Singapore in the morning, consulted two doctors, and flew back to Indonesia in the afternoon. There was a big decision to make. And the decision must be quick. I prayed for her. That night, after much personal struggling, she made the decision for surgery with one of the Singaporean doctors. Actually, all the schedule for the surgery was fully booked. My wife couldn’t have one soon. But, there was one schedule available on Monday because the supposed patient did not make a confirmation. We quickly took the slot.
That Friday, I prepared all the funds necessary for the surgery, which was a lot. My wife prepared for the insurance documents. And we bought another flight to Singapore for Saturday.
We took the surgery package from the hospital to save money. The package gave us the standard room. But because all the standard room were full, they transferred my wife to the VIP with no additional charge. Hooray! I had something to tell about the service in the VIP room later on. For now, it was enough to say that the room was very comfortable, much more comfortable than our hotel at Osaka later on. My wife rested that Saturday in the hospital to prepare for the surgery, while I took accommodation in the nearest hotel.
My wife was in a terrible state. She was worried to the core. She silently questioned why all these happened to her. She worried whether she would survive the surgery or not. Would she wake up from the anesthesia? Would the surgery be a success? Could the cancer be removed completely? Would she stay alive? She was so depressed. She could not even pray. I realized she was entering the darkest hour of her life. I knew I could not show my worry to her. I exerted myself to be calm. I motivated her, assured her, and prayed for her. I was by her side all the time. I felt very close to her, a feeling I never felt before.
Then it was time for the surgery on Monday.
I accompanied her to the anesthesia room until the doctor told me to leave. I smiled at her, said some motivating words, and go. Then I cried in silence. All the worry that I suppressed so far in front of her came to me when I was alone. Would this be the last time I saw her alive? Had I been a good angel to her? Alone in the cold waiting room, I struggled. It was like forever. The waiting opened up a wound in my soul. Was I not familiar with this waiting? Three years ago, in this same hospital, I waited like this for my father’s brain surgery, and the surgery failed. My father died at this hospital. Oh, I was so afraid the same would happen again. “Oh, Lord. Please don’t do this to me …” It was my Gethsemane.
Then the doctor called me.
He told me the operation was a success! I was relieved to hear that. I just need to wait for her to wake up.
She was brought back to the hospital room in a semi-conscious state. I waited by her side. I looked at her. Was she the woman I love? The yes and no seemed to be a package. To love is a journey of success and failure. For me, it is a journey to appreciate who God has given to me.
My wife’s condition improved day by day. She could smile again. She was the type of woman who would never waste whatever good the world gave to her. The VIP room had a list of lunch and dinner menu, and to my amazement, the menu included lobster! Could you believe that? Lobster as the menu in a hospital! My wife ordered that menu almost all the time! And she devoured it by herself; nothing left for me. She was like a child with her childishness.
The doctor reported that the cancer was successfully removed. She did not need to worry about that for the rest of her life, so said the doctor. Only 1 centimetre of her kidney was cut out, so the organ was pretty much intact. There was no restriction on food. “Could I eat musang king durian?” asked my wife. What a question! Yet, desire is always a sign of life. “Yes, sure! Eat as much as you want,” said the doctor. I was a bit worried about that bold statement. The only restriction was not to lift heavy things and to swim in public for a while.
“I guess we need to cancel our trip to Osaka,” I said to the doctor.
“When was the trip?” asked the doctor.
“Two weeks from now. She must still be weak by the time,” I replied.
“I tell you what. By all means, go! Enjoy your time in Osaka!” prescribed the doctor. I could not believe my ear.
We took several days in Singapore to help my wife recover. Of course, she asked for the musang king durian near our hotel. We also used the opportunity to visit the eye doctor. The doctor was amazed to see her improvement. “Are you the same person as you were three months ago?” the doctor could not hide his amazement. My wife was in a happy mood. She thought all these experiences were a miracle. How could she not? She discovered the cancer by accident, and it was in an early stadium, and it was only in the periphery. Then the operation was a success. Then she got lobsters and musang king durian. And on top of that, the insurance (Manulife, I openly said) covered the bill in full! The only thing she forgot to count as a miracle was the presence of an angel sent to her: Me.
As for me, this was also a healing experience. I recounted before that I brought my father to this same hospital three years ago, and he died here. It left a trauma in me. Now, I took my wife to the same hospital, and she recovered. It healed her and me, at the same time. Three years ago, I also brought my father to the same eye doctor due to his losing eyesight, and he did not recover. Now I took my wife to the same eye doctor, and she regained her sight. What a curious life pattern! Just a coincidence?
Finally, Osaka!
It was the honeymoon that almost got cancelled! It became an unforgettable journey for us. It was a journey of a just-recovered people, physically and emotionally, and a just-recovered marriage. In my physical weakness, I continued to be an angel guiding my wife strolling along the dotonbori street. I just found out how attached she was to the okonomiyaki and takoyaki. I lost count how many times she bought them during our trip. But I must admit, I could not find the same quality of the food in my country! She was happy during this honeymoon, especially for having a private photographer like me, I guessed. We visited Nara to watch the deers lived and walked among humans. We visited the famous castle which was even more beautiful during this fall season. Yes, it was autumn. We purposefully chose that time of the year to see the colorful maple leaves. Hopefully, our old age would be as colorful as the autumn leaves. We visited several temples famous for their autumn view. Not to forget, we visited the Koriyama Goldfish museum. By day we travelled to these places by train, and we came back to Osaka at night to visit stores in Dotonbori street.
The deers at NaraAn autumn hill at Arashiyama, Kyoto
One theme of life emerged for us during the travel. We did not want to live in a hurry anymore. What we need was: to slow down. Yes, it was our new theme. To slow down.
One night, as we walked slowly through Dotonbori to go back to our hotel, I saw a woman displayed strawberries in her stall. At a glance, I saw something whitish. I paused for a moment to get a clearer view of what it was. It was … the white strawberries! Wow! I stumbled upon a treasure!
The heart’s desire
I was and would always be a shy person, I guessed. That was why I needed my wife. I asked her to buy the white strawberry for me. But after looking at the price, she decided to buy the red ones instead, of the Amao variety. At our hotel room, we consumed the Amao strawberry, and they were sweet and tasty. But I put on a sad face since she did not buy me what I wanted. When the heart yearned for a particular thing, nothing else would satisfy it. I reasoned where else could we find a white strawberry? When we visited the temple around Osaka, we saw people sold strawberries, but no white one, right? Even in Japan, the white strawberry was rare. This might be a chance of a lifetime. Why didn’t she want to buy them for me? I regard rarity highly, while she the price. I was like a child so persistent to her mother to buy him the toy he wanted.
The next day, she bought one box for me, consisted of roughly six pieces of the fruit. I was so excited. We consumed them in our hotel in no time. I was very pleased to have the desire of my heart fulfilled. Well, frankly, if I were blindfolded, I would not be able to distinguish the taste between the white one and the red one. I was not that sensitive to taste. I tried to figure out the flavor of pineapple that people on the internet said about the white strawberry, but I had a hard time discovering it. Perhaps, my yearning for the white strawberry was not entirely rational, as was the case with any desire. Anyway, I was happy over the white strawberry. One dream realized, one desire fulfiled. What an experience! I know life breaks people more often than let them acquire their dreams. I was blessed to finally meet the intent of my heart, though just for a moment. But as desire breeds desire, I began to think about being the first white strawberry farmer in my country! Was it possible? I knew it was not. But, I was familiar enough with living with impossibility, wasn’t I?
I asked my wife to buy three more boxes. I wanted to give one to my mother, one to my pastor, and one for ourself. Too bad, when we arrived back to Indonesia, they began to rot. I could not give them as a gift to my pastor. I managed to save some for my mother. I also managed to pick some seeds from the skin of the white strawberry and tried to germinate them, but to no avail. Well, perhaps I dreamed too highly, as I also dreamed too ideally about my marriage before, until reality intruded. Anyway, the encounter with the white strawberry was precious, as precious as the experience of life and death we just went through. Not all worked out as expected, and life was a constant adjustment to our expectation, a lesson to treasure what we already had. The story of the white strawberry is a story of the yearning of the heart.
In Indonesia, I tried to find white strawberry seed from the local online shop but cannot find one. I bought red strawberry sprouts instead. Perhaps I could learn to grow the local strawberry before one day – if it was possible – I acquired the seed of the true white strawberry. Dream on. But stay in reality. The climate in my town was hot; it was not a suitable condition to grow any strawberry, I knew. However, I still tried. Tried to forget about the white strawberry. Tried to grow what was available: the red strawberry and the marriage I had. This time, with more proper expectation and adjustment.
In the previous blog (see: https://hermantogoldfish.com/category/cow-ranchu/) I talked about buying several cow ranchus and crossed them with several ranchu variants. Since then, most of my cow ranchus have died due to illness and accident. I was left with one beautiful male and one unproductive female. This female laid eggs often, but none hatched. After several failures, I let the female go (I sold her). It occurred to my mind the possibility that the female had undergone a certain treatment to make her unproductive. I was glad to have two pure offspring which I posted on the previous blog.
I must admit that the two offspring were weak. One of them could not keep her balance which resulted in stunted growth. I was forced to terminate it early. The remaining one was female, which I keep until now. It had slight imbalance which grew more and more acute. It might not survive long. Here she is:
The good news is I had the chance to mate her with her uncle (the remaining male cow ranchu that I bought in the first place). I am raising two batches right now and will post them in the coming months when they are ready. It is my interest to see if they will breed true or if they will just be calicos.
From the cross between the cow ranchu and the common calico, I kept one female:
For sure the deportment is better than the pure cow ranchu offspring. She grows well, yet she lays no eggs until now. It has past her due time. I still hope she will lay eggs soon. My plan is to mate it back with the “uncle” (the initial cow ranchu).
My pride so far goes to the cross between the cow ranchu and the blue ranchu. I keep only one, also. He is a male with the kirin style pattern. He looks handsome now. My plan is to mate him with a blue ranchu. I would like to see what offspring will they produce. This is the pictures of the handsome guy:
It is interesting to compare them with their childhood pictures (in the previous blog).
Well, these are the updates for now. Hopefully they bring happiness to your days.
After so many years developing the blue and panda oranda from the panda telescope specimen, I finally get this blue one with a satisfying quality. The overall quality of the project is still varied. But this one female oranda stands out. Yes, it can still be improved, especially in the headgrowth feature. The color is stained with brown pattern, which might not conform to the strict standard. Yet, I do not mind the stain. In my personal taste, it improves the beauty. In the future, I might still make some crossing which might alter the character of my blue oranda in an unpredictable way. I welcome this unpredictability.
At the same time, I have also improved my photography technic. I can now take a picture with minimal reflection by employing black fabric and a little bit of photoshop to remove the debris and sharpen the image. So, here are the results. Enjoy.
hermantogoldfish 