Koi For Sale

Dainichi Showa

Male (63cm), good body and pattern
(RM1500)

Takigawa Sanke

Female (48cm), good body and fast growing (RM800)

Momotaro Showa

Sex Unknown (54cm), good body and pattern,

Jumbo tosai

(RM2000)

Maruyama Showa

Sex Unknown (55cm), good body and pattern
GC Offspring

(RM2000)

Dainichi Kindai Showa

Female (56cm), good body and pattern

(RM2000)

Sakai Showa

Female (51cm), white shiroji,

interesting pattern, good body

(RM1000)

Oomo Showa

Female (50cm), good sumi and pattern
(RM1000)

Dainichi Kindai Showa

Male (62cm), good shiroji, pattern

female body

(RM1500)

Omosako Shiro Utsuri

Male (51cm), white shiroji and good pattern

Musashi Offspring

(RM500)

Oomo Kindai Showa

Female (55cm), good pattern

(RM800)

Omosako Shiro Utsuri

Female (64cm), good body and pattern

Musashi Offspring

(RM500)

Omosako Shiro Utsuri
Female (60cm), good body and sumi

Musashi Offspring

(RM800)

Takigawa Showa

Male (55cm), long structure and good sumi
(RM500)

Sakai Kohaku

Male (50cm), good thick beni and white shiroji

(RM800)

Ushizou Showa

Male (54cm), good body and fast grower
(RM800)

Momotaro Hi Showa

Unknown (62cm), large structure, strong beni and interesting pattern

(RM1500)

Maruyama Hi Showa
Sex Unknown (55cm), good body and big hump
(RM1000)

Maruyama Kohaku

Male (52cm), good beni and shiroji, interesting pattern. Kagura Murata bloodline
(RM1000)

Hosokai Showa
Male (63cm), high body
(RM800)

Oomo Showa
Female (58cm), good body
(RM1,500)

Hosokai Showa

Female (55cm), good pattern
(RM1000)

Maruyama Hi Showa

Female (48cm), thick sumi and strong beni
(RM1000)

Dainichi Sanke
Sex Unknown (54cm), good pattern
(RM800)

Dainichi Showa
Male (64cm), good body, big hump and interesting pattern

(RM1500)

Hosokai Chagoi
Male (58cm), good body and netting

(RM500)

Living On A Prayer In A Mudpond

This week, I took the plunge and sent 6 of my best female nisai fish into a mudpond program with a leading dealer here in Malaysia.

The Momotaro Showa is 48cm. Her brother is twice her size with excellent color and lustre, so I am hoping she will finish as a nice jumbo showa.

Next to her is a 53cm Maruyama Kohaku with excellent skin and pattern. I am hoping she will blossom into a jumbo beauty.

The massive body Maruyama Kohaku is 58cm, and one of my best potential jumbos. Her deep red beni is thick, and I am hoping that her hiban will stretch and break into separate patches to bring out her potential.

The 56cm Sandan Maruyama Kohaku was quite a dark horse in the beginning as she has a window on her shoulder that has since closed very nicely. Her rate of growth has been spectacular, and I am hoping the mudpond will bring forth her potential to the maximum.

The 70cm Momotaro GR Sanke is confirmed jumbo, and has grown from a gawky tosai into a voluptous nisai. Ginrins are not easy to grow, but this beauty has done well so far.

The Hoshikin Sanke is quite a Cinderella, and was a left over koi when I picked her up. Now 69cm, she is well on her way to jumbo, and I am betting that her sumi will finish nicely to balance up her hi pattern. One of the most voluptous kois in my pond, I am hoping she will come out from mudpond with an even greater body.

The benefits of mudponds for kois are well known:

• stable water quality and minimal fluctuations


• accelerated growth and brilliant color and lustre


• internal vigor, and resistance to and recovery from disease


• spacious natural environment, health enhancing minerals and abundant live food

Some of the kois coming out of mudponds are a sight to behold, and there is no question that a season of growth in a mud pond is beneficial to kois.

That is, if they survive the vagaries of living in the wild. Apart from natural environmental risks such as floods and landslides, kois are often preyed by animals in the wild.

In Malaysia, these include otters, sea eagles and monitor lizards!

And finally, there is that two legged beast, the most fearsome of all predators!

And so it is that I have placed my favorite nisais into the hands of one of the best koi dealers in Malaysia, with all the hopes and dreams that we koi kichis share in common.

For these kois, they deserve a break in a natural environment, and will be living on a prayer in a mudpond.

Jeff

Body Versus Pattern, Which Comes First?

When I first got into the Koi hobby some years ago, I read that in selecting koi, body comes first, then pattern, for the simple reason that you are unlikely to get jumbo kois with good patterns as they are hidden away by japanese breeders for auction sales at much higher prices.

In short, buy a big pattern fish with good body if you want to get a female jumbo, as fish with better patterns are likely to be males of smaller sizes when mature. By the time they hit jumbo, their imposing presence will more than make up for a less attractive pattern.

This is pretty much my modus operandi in koi selection, although falling for kois with fantastic patterns is quite a natural tendency to me, I must admit.

I had the opportunity to try out my selection skills on two (2) batches of Maruyama kohaku tosais of the same year last year (spawned May/June 2006), and after some months of rapid growth, here are the results:













These 2 kois were chosen for pattern, and turn out to be males :(













This fantastic Kohaku, now 53cm, was chosen for its sharp kiwa, white shiroji and interesting, and looks female :)













This 48cm Kohaku was chosen for her body and pattern, and looks female:)













This 55cm sandan kohaku, was chosen for her size and body, as she had a large window on her shoulder when I picked her. I was surprised the window has closed up, and she is now confirmed a female. A stint in the mudpond will no doubt set her well on the way to jumbo.













Both these females measure 57cm in length were chosen for their body as their pattern were large and thankfully acceptably interesting. They grew the fastest, and the humps and growth rates seem to suggest that they will hit jumbo :)

Well, time will tell and so far, my little experiment seem to match up with what was advised to me when I first started i.e Body comes first, then pattern.