| Hudi,
Long term experience? Maybe not. Many of today's big fish breeders
have used the bloodline and techniques of toshio Sakai's Matsunosuke bloodline. He has over 20 years and his older brother and father a few before that.
Anytime you have a health issue of pushing a living thing to it's limits
lots of things come into play. Ever look into what happens to the health of Sumo Wrestlers after their glutonous weight gain and what it does to their major organs? Young tosai and nisai get their strength for bone and organ development from minerals absorbed from the water. It's not until they get older that the food begins to play a part of that same growth. Many koi never make it out of the growth ponds. they grow out of their color or simply are found dead at the draining.
With human beings the secret of long life has been the bodies ability to struggle with barely enough. Those that have rich foods and are over weight suffer from various diseases like diabetes and cancer, heart disease and others.
To me, there is a fine line in pushing koi. You don't feed heavy growth food at lower temperatures. you want growth not obesity. females after the age of three must go thru and experience winter or all the extra feed
and warmer temperatures go into egg production. For long term health
you must provide the genetics for growth. The uncrowded conditions of a mineral rich clay grow pond. feedings should be smaller amounts and more frequently.
I have watched top koi get purchased with everything going for them and end up in a pond too small, too overcrowded, too overfed with the wrong feeds. Then watch what happens when this same koi is taken to numerous shows the same year to degradate it's health just so that the owner can get his money's worth out of it.
interesting hobby of ours , heh? The breeder does everything right, the genetics were there, the hobbyist better know what they're doing! |