Three Gonjiros Update

These are my updated pictures of the three Gonjiros. Sanke No.1 is now 40cm, up 4cm from a month ago. Sanke No. 2 is 43cm, up 5cm and Sanke No.3 is 40cm, up 3cm.

PH8 is absolutely correct that Sanke No.3 (originally thought to be a showa as represented by the dealer) is a sanke although the pattern is deceptively that of a showa. On bowling up, the black lines on the pectorals clearly seen, so that qualifies her as sanke.

Overall, not too bad for a month's growth;)

Now, why am I fascinated by these Gonjiros? Their 3 female siblings that I bought earlier look like this:

The showa is 46cm, the first sanke 57cm and the second sanke a whopping 60cm.

The bodylines are very good, and their growth rates impressive coupled with interesting patterns, they are worth a bet.

Time will tell how they will turn out in the end, but so far, they are worth the trouble;)

Cheers,

Jeff

Mohantaro Grow Out Tosais

These are tosais from a local hobbyist who bred his Momotaro sanke with a male kohaku and a male showa. I think the male showa was too young and only the male kohaku spawned with the female sanke.

I suggested the idea of a Grow Out as a good way to disseminate the tosais among many hobbyists for raising in different pond conditions with regular reporting back on their progress.

These two tosais grew from less than 20cm to 45cm for the female kohaku and 41cm for the male benigoi in less than 6 months! Not too bad for a local breeding and the kohaku looks destined for jumbo.

Cheers,
Jeff

Living On A Prayer In The Mudpond Part 2

After the first batch of kois returned from the mudpond in November last year, I was so impressed that I decided to send another 20 kois into SPKC's Mudponds.

The pictures of the second batch of kois were taken after a month in quarantine(no feeding) before they were sent to the mudpond in early February 2009. Most of them have lost their girth somewhat, and hopefully they will come out of the mudpond with kick ass bodies.

The first picture shows a 66 cm female Sakai Kindai Showa with stunning shiroji. A big eater, I am hoping that her growing spree will continue and she will hit jumbo. Hopefully, her beni will consolidate as well.

The second picture depicts a 61cm female Sakai Showa with a prominent hump and interesting pattern.

The third is a rare 66 cm female Sekiguchi Sanke with pure white shiroji and clean pattern. She has grown long while in my pond, and given the Sekiguchi jumbo bloodline she inherits, she should put on girth when she finishes. Some of you will remember her as Olivia and that she was a left over koi that I picked up at about 36 cm in September 2007: http://www.koi.com.my/cgi-bin/koiforum/gforum.cgi?post=106215;#106215

The fourth koi is a 64cm Omosako Shiro Utsuri, a Musashi offspring from the Omosako Growout at Max Koi Farm in 2006. She has stunning snow white shiroji and good skin, and a prominent dragon motif on her left back that caused me to name her Dragon Musashi. If she hits jumbo looking as good as she does today with her mother's body and tail tube, she will be one of the most impressive shiros that I have ever seen.

The fifth koi is a 76cm Dainichi Showa that was placed in a discount pond by a dealer as a skinny 65cm sansai for going downhill. She quickly grew to 76cm in less than a year in my pond and her colours and body conformation are improving by the day. If she is true to her Dainichi bloodline, she should put on girth and may actually look impressive when she finishes as a yonsai jumbo!

The first kohaku on this second set of pictures is a 65cm female Sakai Kohaku which won 3rd prize for the 30bu category in the Singapore Koi Show in 2006. She has always impressed with her huge hump, thick tail tube and fantastic body, although her beni needs to consolidate and thicken.

The second koi is a 54cm female Maruyama Murata/Kagura Kohaku with a big hump, thick Kagura beni and interesting pattern.

The third kohaku is a 55cm Maruyama Kamiya/Kagura Kohaku with an interesting pattern.

The fourth fish is a Maruyama Murata/Kagura Kohaku with an interesting pattern and beauty spot on her cheek. I have had good experiences with Maruyama fish with two kohakus from the earlier mudpond stint doing extremely well.

The fifth kohaku is a 63cm female Oishi Kohaku. Oishi Koi Farm is well known for breeding kohakus with excellent beni and sharp kiwa. While this one does not have a great pattern, she surprised me by growing long rapidly and going by Oishi Koi farm's efforts to grow jumbo kois, she might very well surprise when she hits jumbo.

The first kohaku in this third set of pictures is a 72cm female Momotaro Kohaku. Her growth has stalled for a while, and I am hoping that a stint at the mudpond will push her past 80bu to fulfill her momotaro bloodline potential.

The second is an amazing 58cm female ginrin Dainichi Showa that grew 28cm in 6 months! She has a huge hump and interesting pattern, and signs point to her hitting jumbo.

The third is a 58cm female Hoshikin Sanke with stunning white shiroji, good skin and prominent hump. Her sister went into the mudpond earlier and is now above 80cm. She will be an interesting case study to dtermine if siblings from the same spawning can all hit jumbo eventually, some earlier and the rest later? The jury is out on this one!

The fourth showa is also an interesting case study as she is from the same leftover downhill batch as the fifth fish on the first set out pictures. A 65cm female Dainichi Showa, will she be able to catch up with her 76cm sister and hit jumbo? Time will tell.

The last fish on this set of pictures is a skinny 50cm female Dainichi Showa from the SPKC Dainichi Showa Growout in 2007. As the Dainichi bloodline is known to grow long and thin in the early years, she might surprise after a stint in the mudpond. She was a good looker at tosai stage, and if she remain true to her bloodline, she should be a good looker when she finishes.

The first koi on this last set of pictures is a 74cm female Omosako Musashi Offspring Shiro Utsuri. She is one of the largest of her batch and is expected to hit jumbo. Unfortunately, hi spots began to appear on her while under quarantine for the mudpond due to a change of water parameters. She has grown long and huge all this while, and it will be interesting to find out if she will put on girth. Her shiroji is usually whiter and pattern impressive and if she puts on girth, she might need some help with removal of the hi spots to return to her former impressive self.

The second koi is a 63cm female Sakai Kohaku that was not favored by the dealer due to her red pectorals. She has a sizable hump, strong beni and has always grown well. Will her the red on her pectorals recede sufficiently when she finishes so that her looks are acceptable when she hit jumbo? Time will tell.

The third koi is a fat 67cm Hoshikin Kohaku with strong beni but unimpressive ippon hi pattern. Only her growth rate and body confirmation qualifies her for a stint at the mudpond as I am curious to find out if she will indeed hit jumbo and when that happens, the white on her body will swell out sufficiently to make her attractive.

The fourth koi is her 59cm female sibling, and is an interesting case study toi find out if she can catch up with her sister and hot jumbo. Will her pattern consolidate sufficiently to become a nidan or sandan? Time will tell.

The last candidate is another "dark horse" 64cm female Dainichi Showa. Will she remain ugly when she finishes? Hmmm.... we shall see.

SPKC did a fantastic job with the first batch of mudpond kois. I am hoping they will do as well, if not better, with this second batch. The fish are expected to graduate from the mudpond in June. I am keeping my fingers crossed that there will be some encouraging surprises.

Cheers,

Jeff

Three Gonjiros

Lately, I have been captivated by a batch of Gonjiro kois over at Kelana Jaya Koi Centre available at very reasonable prices. Ah Kit, the owner of Kelana Jaya Koi Centre, mentioned that they were part of a pond of Gonjiro Kois he brought into Malaysia.

I bought 2 Gonjiro sankes and a showa (all turned out to be females) sometime last year and am amazed at their body conformation and growth rates, and decided to give these 3 leftovers (all females) a try out.

Good things have also been written on the stunning jumbo kois that they are producing: http://www.koi-bito.com/forum/koi-articles-interviews/9103-gonjiro-producing-interesting-koi-limited-space.html

These pictures were taken with my phone camera, and I apologise for the poor quality of the pictures. I will try to use a better camera when I update their growth in future.

The first 2 pictures show a 37cm showa with submerged sumi that should give a balanced pattern when the koi finishes.

The second set of 2 pictures show a female 36cm sanke with thick beni, interesting pattern and a small tail fan.

She is a hungry eater, and the signs are good that she will turn out jumbo.

The final set of 2 pictures show a 37cm female sanke with tsubo sumi and interesting pattern.

She has a longer body structure and indications are that she will end up jumbo as well.

Time will tell, and hopefully, they may grow true to their Gonjiro bloodline and be good enough to enter koi shows.

Jeff

Atarashi Sumi

Last October, I was Koi browsing with my Koi buddy Andrew over at Atari Koi Centre when we stumble upon a batch of leftover Matsunosuke kois.

We did not know then they were atarashi sumi showas, and as Andrew had picked the largest jumbo potential of the lot, a 23cm female tosai (see pic on the left), I decided to skip the rest.

I live to regret that decision, as I was then looking at a much smaller maruten female tosai which would have introduced me much earlier to atarashi sumi.

As luck would have it, Andrew has on real life practical record some koi development pictures of atarashi sumi. As his was a leftover koi, I think there are some more better atarashi sumi showas out there. If you own one, please do share and post your koi development pictures so that all forumers can learn more about this bloodline.

The picture on the left shows the tosai at 28cm on 19 December 2008. The second picture shows the tosai at 38cm on 13 January 2009. Amazing growth, as she was fed on special paste food

The next group of pictures show the tosai at 48cm on 9 March 2009.

Now, we have all heard that Matsunosuke kois tend to grow long first before putting on girth.

These pictures suggest that this particular atarashi sumi showa demonstrates an excellent bodyline at tosai stage, and you could easily apply the David Soon Jumbo Bodyline on this tosai.

Now, if the other owners of this early batch of Atari atarashi sumi kois could confirm a similar experience, then it would suggest that these kois are a departure from the usual long body matsunosuke kois.

The next batch of pictures are close up shots of the atarashi sumi. The sumi is thick lacquer shiny black, and the maruzome kiwa sumi is clearly seen as scalloped around the scales.

I would like to thank Andrew for sharing these pictures with us. If there are any more such pictures available out there, please feel free to share.

Cheers,

Jeff