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Herein lies another limitation of this hobby in that an average hobbyist is limited to the type of koi that s/he can keep in the pond. From looking at the pictures of the koi that you posted, it looks like your water is very conducive to sumi development. From what I have gathered, sumi development is based on (1) high pH and (2) very hard water. You said that your water is very soft (TDS = 50; GH = 40-60; KH = 20-40). How about your pH?
My pond is very good for beni development (pH = 6.8-7.2; GH - 60-80; KH = 60-80). I had several kohakus from SFF & Hoshikin and none of them developed shimmies during the past two years. On the other hand, I had a couple of Omosako shiros for about 1.5yrs and the sumi developed very slowly. As a result, I am starting to collect more kohakus than sanke & showa. IMO, I think that your pond is very good for koi with sumi.
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