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