Cutest video ever!

I bumped into this video clip online today. This has to be the cutest thing ever! A little duckling is feeding the fish!

Giant Water Lily

From: The Living Rain Forest

"The Giant Amazon Water Lily was discovered growing in the River Amazon in 1801, and first grown in Europe in the mid 19th Century. Known as the “Giant Water-Platter,” the structure of its exceptionally strong leaves inspired Sir Joseph Paxton to construct an immense conservatory at Chatsworth House, in which the lily flowered for the first time in Britain. The leaves of the Brazilian species, Victoria amazonica, reach six feet across and can support the weight of a well-balanced adult.".....

Wow! That's amazing! I knew of these giant lilies, but I never know you could actually sit on one! I would love to grow these someday, but I don't think my whole pond will be much bigger than one leaf of these giants! Not for a few years, at least. The flowers are one foot across!

Here's another article click here where the story of the giant lily gets even more interesting. Check this out:

"Travelers to the Amazon observed that each huge flower opens for only two nights and that large brown beetles are often inside. In the 1970's, a team of scientists from Brazil and The New York Botanical Garden were the first to unravel the complex relationship between the beetles and the flowers. ...
....On the first night, the flower unfurls and scarab beetles are drawn to its butterscotch-and-pineapple scent and pure white color. They are also drawn to its warmth. The researchers found that the flower actually heats up. If the air temperature is 80° F then the inside of the flower can be a cozy 98° F. The beetles crawl inside to stay warm and eat special supplies of sugar and starch. Later that night, the flower cools, closes, and the beetles are trapped inside. As it closes, the flower changes color from white, to pink, to purple. All the next day the beetles stay inside, munching their special food.".....

The Ryukin

Another cute little chubby goldfish that looks very much like the Oranda (from a few posts back) is the Ryukin. These fish do not have a bulky hood, but instead they have a deformed high spine and distended belly, making them sometimes appear vaguely like an angelfish from a profile view. Again these have basically the chubby shape I like in a goldfish, but the hunchback effect is not something I go for. And ryukins just look like they must have an aweful bellyache! I wonder what would happen if I crossed Ryukins and Orandas? Maybe we'll find out! *sly grin* Here are the two types side by side. On the right is a young Oranda. On the left is a Ryukin. Notice the smooth transition from head to back on the oranda and the angle of the ryukin.


Here's another Example. Oranda on the left, Ryukin on the right:

Breeding Hoodless Orandas

I have always loved the oranda goldfish. I love their long fanned tails. I love there chubby bodies. But what I DON'T love is the oranda "hood"- a bumpy, overgrowth of flesh that grows on top of the fish's head as it gets older. Like this poor guy:

I have always thought that this feature made an otherwise elegant, streamlined fish look top-heavy and very uncomfortable. So I have decided to focus my efforts on breeding hoodless orandas. My favorite colors are calico, and panda. Here's a coulpe pictures of pretty calicos I found online. Also, I found a couple of neet articles. The first, a fish school? No, I mean a school for fish! Just have a look... it's really cute: fish school
And this is a great article on the oranda from Koko's Goldfish World