Old Beijing has a tradition of raising goldfish. The goldfish with a jumping tail makes daily life lively like a fairy. Today, Zhongshan Park still continues the tradition of raising goldfish, even outdoors in the cold of spring, they are still alive and vigorous, adding a bit of joy and auspiciousness to the spring. There are also old Beijing families who have specially opened up a fish pond and raised a few koi fish to enjoy a different leisurely pleasure in their busy lives.
The dragon species "goldfish is favored in the Year of the Dragon."
Goldfish are beautiful and fragile, and watching them move can reach the realm of selflessness. If you want to experience the leisurely fish, you might as well go to Zhongshan Park to have a look.
At noon on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, Nanchang Street, although the Spring Festival is coming to an end, is still full of tourists. Many ladies and children dressed in ancient costumes come to Zhongshan Park to take pictures, pavilions, red walls and green tiles, quiet in the middle of noisy, not a scene.
Few people have noticed that in the northeast corner of Zhongshan Park, there is a Yu Garden, the promenade in the garden is painted with the theme of the Dream of Red Mansions, on the wall on one side of the promenade, there are dozens of fish tanks with a blue background, each fish tank has a kind of goldfish, red and white butterfly tail, and gold, red Wangtianyan, red lion head, silver scales three-color Liujin, red Danfeng, purple Danfeng pompom, five-flower orchid, jade seal top red and white high head, red king character tiger head ......When winter goes to spring, when it is warm and cold, there is such a colorful corner in the antique garden on the side of the Forbidden City, which can be regarded as a wonder.
In fact, the history of goldfish breeding in Zhongshan Park has been more than 100 years this year.
Zhongshan Park began raising and displaying goldfish in 1915 and was the first park in the country to display goldfish. At the beginning, the director Hua Nangui donated 4 pots and Ma Huitang donated 10 pots. At that time, in the west of the south gate of Zhongshan Park, there was a goldfish exhibition office in the open space north of Nantu Mountain, which was fed by Xu Guoqing, and the Xu family lived in the goldfish pond in Nancheng, and sold goldfish for a living for generations. In 1917, the goldfish breeding and display were expanded, 6 cement fish ponds were added, 550 goldfish of various colors were purchased, and 12 mud fish pots were purchased. In this year, the director of the park, Le Yongxi, also presented goldfish along with dozens of mud fish pots, wooden sea pots and fish farming tools. Since then, new species have been added year by year, and donations from all walks of life have been made from time to time. In 1931, the goldfish exhibition hall was moved to the southeast corner. In the winter of 1938, the goldfish exhibition hall was rebuilt. In the spring of the following year, the goldfish was officially displayed and named "Zhile Tuan". At that time, there were 21 varieties of various colors such as dragon eye, egg phoenix, pom-pom, looking at the sky, turning cheeks, pearls, etc., with a total of 1,022 tails.
After that, the park's goldfish breeding declined, and by early 1949, there were only 716 goldfish. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the goldfish in Zhongshan Park were gradually restored and developed, and there were 1,495 ornamental goldfish in 1953.
In 1980, in order to expand the tour area of the park, a group of garden scenic spots were built in the northeast corner of the inner altar for raising and displaying goldfish as the main content, and it was named Yu Garden because of the homonym of "fish" and "enjoyment", which means the garden of fish appreciation.
Due to the careful breeding of fish farmers and the selection of excellent varieties, the goldfish in Zhongshan Park enjoy a high reputation in the capital because of their beautiful body shape and bright color. But raising goldfish is not an easy task. From "Goldfish Xu" to the present, there have been several generations of "fish handles". "Fish handle" is an old name, because most of the goldfish farming is the model of the master and the apprentice, which belongs to the old Beijing tradition of the honorific title for fish farmers. Master Wu, the current "fish handle" in Zhongshan Park, told us that goldfish are difficult to raise, and they belong to Lin Daiyu among the fish, which seems to be a little "weak and can't help the wind". The difficulty is not in how complex the knowledge is, but in how difficult the skills are to replicate. Different goldfish, different ages, different states, in different waters, different seasons, different environments, all need "customized" fish farming methods, first-time fish farmers raise fish to death is too normal, even if he is an old fish farmer who has raised fish in Zhongshan Park for seventeen or eighteen years, he has to slowly explore, one thing and one fish.
According to the shape of the red and white lion head, the goldfish has types such as "literary species", "dragon species" and "egg species", and the image is intuitive. Each stage has its own aesthetic atmosphere, some people like the phoenix tail to open and close, some people love the lion head Danzhu atmosphere, and the eyes of the "dragon species" are prominent like "dragon eyes". Nowadays, Zhongshan Park has varieties such as dragon eye butterfly tail.
The red dragon clear butterfly tail is now all over the world, due to the progress of hybrid technology, the shape of the body can be as you like, "only people are good, with the times of change". A few years ago, "Thai Lion" was popular, and now the cute "Lanshou" is popular on the Internet. According to Master Wu, many "dragon species" goldfish in the Year of the Dragon have also begun to attract everyone's attention. The "Red Eye to the Sky" in Zhongshan Park is very distinctive, because the eyes are long towards the sky, it has been loved by the people of Beijing since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and it is a fish species with a long history in the capital.
Red Eyes. 
The private courtyard of the red king tiger head opened up a fish pond to raise koi.
As an ornamental fish, koi fish are raised in many garden ponds in Beijing, but there are not many koi fish raised at home. It is even rarer to raise a famous one. Aunt Zhang's family in old Beijing, because they raised a large pool of koi, spread it by word of mouth among relatives and friends, and it became a legend. The author came to the door on the third day of the Lunar New Year.
Aunt Zhang's community is on the edge of the South Fifth Ring Road, close to Nanhaizi Park. During the Chinese New Year, there are few cars on the road, and the community is very quiet. As soon as I entered the house, I heard that it was a reporter from the evening newspaper, and Aunt Zhang greeted with a smile: "Have a cup of tea in the living room first, or watch the fish directly?" ”
The living room is connected to the balcony, and from the entrance door, you can see the lawn outside the yard, which is transparent and bright, Aunt Zhang raised her hand and pointed to a corner of the courtyard hut: "There is the fish pond, go to the sofa by the fish pond and sit." ”
As soon as the door opened, there was a pool of ten square meters in front of me, the water was as clear as promised, only to hear a sound in the water, more than 20 koi fish more than one foot long swam to the edge of the pool, red, white, golden, black, orange, flower, colorful ......It's a lot bigger than the usual koi fish. "They're not alive in winter, but when you look at them in summer, they're even more lively. "Aunt Zhang's son, Mr. Mo, is in charge of taking care of these koi. His friends called him Brother Mo. Brother Mo came to the edge of the pool, squatted down, stretched out his hand, and touched the heads of the koi one by one, the fish not only did not hide, but rubbed around affectionately, Brother Mo proudly said: "Look, they are human!" ”
Aunt Zhang's fish pond.
The koi fish fed in the fish pond sit on a small sofa by the fish pond and watch the fish swim around, "all swimming as if they were empty and have nothing to rely on" ("The Story of the Little Stone Pond"). The pool is not small, but it is all "indoor": the small courtyard on the first floor is enclosed. This indoor fish pond has some origins. When his new home was renovated in 2013, Mo Ge started raising fish and bought a few koi seedlings to keep in a stone horse trough. Later, the trough was too shallow, so I had to build a pool forty or fifty centimeters deep. The fish continued to grow, and when they reached four or five pounds, they had to be moved. So with the efforts of the family, a large indoor pond was built as a new home for koi. It's been five or six years now, and I haven't moved again, and there are not many fish, not one less. Most of the fish were only one or two years old when they came, and now they are in their teens, and they are still growing up.
One winter a few years ago, a koi named "Red Lips" began to get sick and its epidermis ulcerated, and Mo Ge quickly fished it out to "isolate", in addition to putting it in a separate tank, adjusting the water temperature, increasing oxygen, and regularly taking it out to apply medicine. When he started to apply the medicine, the fish turned up and down, and Brother Mo said to the fish: This is to cure your disease, you should be obedient. "Red Lips" slowly quieted down and lay on the ground, as if he understood. Once, when ** didn't work, there was only one breath left, and Brother Mo wanted to put the fish in the pond outside. Halfway through the drive, Aunt Zhang turned her head to look at the fish in the box in the back seat, and suddenly felt reluctant, so she hurriedly discussed with her son, or don't let it go, let's go home. And just like that, the fish was brought home again. Unexpectedly, the fish slowly **. Today, "Red Lips" swims carefree in the pool, as if she had never experienced that thrilling journey.
Fish farming is water farming. Under the sofa where we sit, a water filter works 24 hours a day, and there is a detector next to it that shows the water temperature at 85 degrees Celsius, there is a pH detector in the water, the family can't leave people, and the family has to take turns to travel over the years. Brother Mo told me that although he was so tired that he couldn't get out of bed for two or three days every time he cleaned the pool, he was really happy.
Perhaps because of fish farming, various plants and animals have been raised in the family one after another. A few turtles lay on the rocks basking in the sun, the salamanders hid behind the rockery, and the emerald green grasshoppers looked down on ......us in a small cage overheadWhether in terms of temperature, humidity or oxygen enrichment, the home is like a small "rainforest". Aunt Zhang likes this very much, she has had asthma for many years, and this environment makes her feel a lot more comfortable.
No fish is "left behind", and it is inseparable from the efforts of fish lovers. In addition to the sense of happiness, the fish "gives back" to the owner, and there are many unexpected joys. Aunt Zhang is an old Beijing, she lived in the yard near Chongwenmen when she was a child, and she raised all kinds of animals and plants at home, and now feeding koi fish allows her to relive her childhood, "Old Beijing has always had the breath of life, that kind of heart, and now everyone lives upstairs, but the neighbors are also unfamiliar, and there are not many opportunities to find traces of life in the yard of the bungalow." Now because of fish farming, I am very familiar with the neighbors, and they all say after they come to visit, "Your small garden is really good." ”
Goldfish Farming Tips].
For the first time, you need to remember the following three points to make your own goldfish raising level to the next level.
First, the density should be as scarce as possible. Due to their large size, goldfish are also highly oxygen-intensive fish, so thinning is essential for goldfish. Sparsely farmed goldfish are not prone to hypoxia, and there are fewer fish, relatively less excrement, and the water quality is relatively stable.
There are two points to pay attention to in sparse goldfish, the first is to raise less, generally speaking, according to the standard of 1 liter of water-cultured goldfish with a length of about 1 cm, such as a 60-liter container, the length of 10 cm of goldfish should not exceed 5. Secondly, under this premise, the surface area of the water should be increased as much as possible, such as using an open container, the wide water surface and the air contact area is large, and the amount of oxygen dissolved in the water at the same time is also large.
2. Try to feed in moderation. At the beginning of raising goldfish, it is better to feed less than more, and the amount of feeding is about 3 to 5 minutes per feeding. And it is best to feed it regularly and quantitatively, once a day in the morning and at noon, and not at night. If you have to feed the goldfish at night, it is recommended to keep the lights on for another two hours after feeding. Occasionally, you can stop eating for 1 day, or feed duckweed and other green fodder. Before feeding pellet feed, it is recommended to soak the feed until it is soft, so that the internal organs of the goldfish can also be reduced a lot of burden.
3. Try to be as stable as possible in water change. Because goldfish eat more and excrete more, too much excrement in the water will cause more and more harmful substances such as ammonia nitrogen, resulting in the deterioration of water quality. The most direct and effective way to reduce these harmful substances is to change the water dilution. The most important thing when changing the water is to isotherm. The so-called isothermal is to keep the water temperature of the new water and the water temperature of the fish tank consistent. It is recommended that fresh water be dried for 24 hours in advance, which will also remove residual chlorine from the tap water. Generally, if you see excrement at the bottom of the water or a lot of tiny bubbles have gathered on the surface of the water, and these bubbles do not burst for a long time, then we think that the water can be changed. When changing the water, first pump out the fish feces and other dirt, and then slowly inject the same amount of new water along the tank wall, and do not pour water directly on the goldfish. There is no fixed amount of water to change, less water is changed if there is less feeding, and more water is changed if there is more excretion.