Quote:
Originally Posted by
mr_koi 
Hi All
Today was the second of four kohaku culls. We are only using one female kohaku parent this year. I tested this female in both 2005 and 2006, in those years egg production was very low and I could only raise a small number in both years, but it was enough to see the outstanding quality of her offspring. This year was the absolute opposite, she had an incredible number of fertilized eggs . She is a true Matsunosuke Kohaku. Joe and I purchased her as the premier sansai Kohaku back in Fall 2003 in a moment of shear koi insanity. She remains the most expensive Koi that Joe and I have ever had the privilage of handling. Sakai san originally recommended her as a contender for the All Japan Show, but after another years growth in his mudpond, she returned to Isawa, only to jump in one of his concrete ponds. The accident left her with a white window scar in the beni pattern. With this damage her show career expectation was over before it had begun. I'll post a current picture of her tommorow if your interested.
The koi displayed are around 2-3 inches in length at the first cull. I'm a little late with this cull as they are around 7 weeks old. I'll cull the other two ponds Tuesday and Wednesday. I took photos of certain koi that really caught my eye in terms of quality and pattern. The little buggers are very difficult to get sharp photos as they are constantly moving. I'll try and improve my photography tommorow. The bowl shot shows all the koi that Ross and Bob had caught with two seines of the tosai pond. I would estimate that there are about 40000 koi in that 6 foot bowl. I culled them severely to around 2000 keepers. Hopefully the next two ponds yeild about the same number.
Thanks for reading
Mat