| Three years ago I carefully selected 4 tosai Shiro Utsuri from Omosako to observe their development (and hopefully get a good one for myself). The selection was done according to the breeder's advice.
One year later, all four were still keeper although two were developing color faster a suspected to be males. That was confirmed at the end of summer, and off they went. The two females looked promising with little sumi yet but of top quality, just like lacquer.
Last year both continued development in the right direction: more high quality sumi in all the right places. One was a good 5" bigger and looked to become a winner.
This Spring, the "best" of the two lost all sumi over a couple of months (no stress). The second is still great, but smaller, and now has a little too much sumi for my taste.
Even with good genetics and good raising conditions, things can still go wrong. Any developping koi is a gamble.
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Arthur
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