[Arthur]

MikeM and Dick,

I had the pleasure to have Hoshino-san from Koda Koi Farm around for the last two days and took advantage of his quiet patience to clarify his views on recent hot topics on "the boards".

As you can imagine, a lot of discussion was around koi health, growth, and also how to deal with these aspects in mud ponds.

Here is a rather inordered summary of what his thoughts were on the subject.

He repeated several times that growing tosai to nisai too fast will result in fading hi and in diminished heatlh. Since I want to grow tosai in a mud pond this summer I asked if 10,000 gallons (approx. 38 tons) per fish would be adequate. He responded that this volume would encourage to much growth with the risk of loosing color, and that a slower growth would benefit the koi long term. So I asked what volume per tosai (growing to nisai) he would recommend; he said 4-5 tons per tosai (that's only 1300 gallons). Needs more questions: I would think this is not enough, but I am not the expert.

About growing tosai to nisai he said that feeding several times a day in small quantities would give the best results. Aside from protein contents according to temperatures, he also recommends to use floating vs. sinking according to weather: sinking food for clear sky and warm weather (spread out in the shallows) and floating food in cloudy/rainy weather. His explaination about this was around the depth that warmer water reaches and the corresponding activity of the koi.

One other thing he said that I found very interesting is that one must keep mud ponds free of organic material (understandable) but also that seeding mud pond ponds with natural food like earthworms and fresh water shrimps was a waste of time and money. He said there was enough food naturally for the koi to snack on between regular balanced diet pellet feedings.

Oh, and this will certainly please JR, he also mention the importance of respecting the koi seasonal cycle as a natural way of ensuring long time health and quality.

An interesting perspective from a successful breeder and I sure wish I had time for more questions, but will follow up on some via e-mail.