[dick benbow]

Two years ago, I was able to get my hands on some Hosokai bloodline asagi babies. I learned a lot from watching them and reported my findings to this board. It opened my eyes to the value of Hikari Saki growth food.
Last year, my friend Dan got our hands on some toshio sakai
sanke and showa and are involved in a 3 year study.So it's a work still in proress...we're feeding a food mixture that Mat uses at nisei with surprising good results.
this year, as soon as Mat gets back from the UK, I'm gonna make arraingements to get some of his baby ochiba to raise for a year's study. Last fall while visting the harvest at Nisei koi farm, i was able to check on the mom and dads. Our NW group stayed an extra day and were treated to a look see at some of the tosai from this year's spawning with an early harvest.So if your an Ochiba fan, you'll have to stay tuned this spring for the start of another year of learning. Over the years that i have observed " the fallen leaves", it seemed it was easier to find a great patterned koi with no issues. As of late, I noticed at many dealers that really good patterns were harder to come by and that many times as this color variety grew, patterns dropped away, and maybe partially or not at all returned.
So what will happen from this breeding, and how fast will they grow? It is my intent to get back to hikari saki.....in the meantime what are your experiences with this color variety, good luck, good growth? easy to find? Hard? Share your stories " if you will"......