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Originally Posted by JasPR  this is an interesting and really universal subject for most koi keepers moving through the learning curve.
It is a great idea to start with inexpensive male fish to learn on - especially in the area of husbandry. It is very likely that the newbie will kill a school or two before getting on top of the husbandry learning curve.
After that, culling is really part of the experience as the hobbyist is not killing those inexpensive fish as rapidly, or at all, as accumlation of numbers becomes a common phase.
There is also a 'collector' inside many of us and it is almost 'text book' that beginners first try and collect 'one of every kind' or pairs of every kind- or just can't resist buying anything that strikes their fancy while at a show or at the local dealers. The result is always huge numbers.
Typically the trend to start trading up in quality and down in numbers occurs around this point. I think this is a special phase of development and a transition from beginner to advanced hobbyist as the results of less fish per gallon quickly show the hobbyist in real terms, just how well the fish start to grow and look under these conditions. And disease at this point in the hobby experience becomes rare.
But I have to say, this also leads to an obsession for ever better koi- no longer in numbers but in quality aspects. And although this is very education and one tends to get a real handle on things like understanding quality and the subtle, but all important details of genetics of the higher grades, there is a downside. There are NO perfect koi. Each has gifts and weaknesses. And looking for perfection is fool's gold/goal. I think that at some level of the search for ultimate quality, is compromise and ultimately satisfaction in a collection as a whole. Indeed the judging experience treaches us to appreciate traits in individual fish for what they are. And the long term consumer experience ultimately teaches us that good koi are like street cars, another one will always come along!
It is very erie how established advanced hobbyists from all over the world eventually all seem come to keeping 12- 18 fish as a collection. Not sure why these magical numbers are always repeated in pond from 5,000 to 50,000 gallons, but it's true!
Peace and satisfaction to all---- JR |
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JR, I totally agree with your assessment because it's exactly what I am going through, and I am sure that other hobbyists are going through the same cycle too. I started out with buying a bunch of $35/koi or $100/koi at a show a couple of years ago, lost a few in the process of learning, went out to buy koi of all varieties, and even at one time writing down a list of all the different varieties of koi that I must have in my collection.
But soon I realized that all the top dawgs at a local show just had gosankes, so back to the drawing board I go. And while I still have a long way to go to, as Dick B would say, "complete the circle", I have narrowed my plan down to exactly what you stated above: having a 12,000-15,000 US gal pond with excellent filtration/water quality and 12-18 nice quality gosanke. But still, given all this, it's still scary and exciting at the same time comprehend how much more there is to this hobby: buying tategoi and leaving them in Japan, attending the All Japan koi show, and the possibility of winning it all at a local koi show. There's just so much more to this hobby!
