| Hi Jason!
Look right now in your showa spawn for black babies and get rid of everything else. after the babies get a coupla inches bigger look for
deformities. then in the fall cull for pattern.
With the kohaku wait one month and discard the solid red and white ones. when I say red they probably will vary from yellow to orange. but get rid of the solid colored ones. then each month they should grow another inch and you cull by pattern only. by the time fall comes you look for density of the beni. remember a heavy pattern on a tosai is not pretty but a pretty one on a tosai becomes underwhelming as it grows.
when the shiros are three days old select just the black fry. then after a coupla months look for deformities especially in the head shape. there is so much to learn about culling these koi. there are lots of different sumi types. some show right away some are shaded and fill in later. you might want to select patterns that appeal to you that are full up, partial submerged etc and follow them thru and take notes/photos. this will help in furthur slections from this pair.
I just sold our #1 nissai shiro we had been keeping as stealth, hidden away. I could tell when it was three inches it was #1. the white skin tone, what black was showing was blue-black. the pecs were solid black and then as it aged it crawled back to next to nothing. this spring the pecs went solid black again and had just started crawling black. It had about one third black pattern the rest white. the black is beginning to fill in now to about 40%.
I hope you'll take photos and share your thoughts and experiences. Good luck!! |