| Good evening and Happy Easter!
Luke, you disappoint me when you pull this twisting stuff as if we are all too dumb to recognize when you are spinning--
The original debate/conversation was about removing a winter cover to give koi more light in midwinter during thaws. I suggested that this was counter productive as it rouses the fish in stasis when they will have to return to that condition once again very soon and moving around wastes valuable energy stores. And a poor trade off to boot; to trade a few degrees of heat gain for a distruption of stasis. Do you remember that???
In response, you brought in the old methods of how koi used to be kept by Japanese, that I had discussed before.
And now you are pulling a 'hot air tactic' of trying to rouse the crowd regarding cruel methods the Japanese used to use. Hey Einstein, the alternative in those days was to leave them out under ice! Experience taught those mean Japanese that covering the koi or bringing them in and placing them in vats under the floors of the house allowed a greater chance of predictable survival than leaving them in the reserviors.
So lets review---
1) koi only have so much energy once in a state of winter stasis. Rousing koi by stimulation ( including with light simulation due to removing of the cover) in mid-winter is not a wise decision
2) the old time Japanese found that providing shelter and darkness gave better survival rates than leaving them exposed to the full force of the winter elements. It was not cruel, it was actually a kind act.
3) science backs up the basic observation of those early Japanese koi keepers, in that cold water and reduced light all ease a koi into winter stasis. Even koi under ice get less light for two reasons- 1) in winter sunlight is lower in the sky and 2) cold water along with ice cover and then snow cover shade all place a cold blooded, melonin producing koi into a state of rest. To rouse or disturb a koi in such a state is a waste of energy and counter productive.
So those are the facts and that is the science. - JR |