Hi to all koi lovers
Earlier on another thread I posted some early results of growth rates of two kois, bred by different people but have one thing in common they reside in an artificially created soft water environment. A topic that has had much debate especially since many hobbyist that use
soft water in conjunction with momotaro bakki showers have experience growth rates equal to or more than mud ponds in Japan in normal sized koi hobbyist ponds.
I am very happy to say that these growth rates have now been achieved in Australia using the same system. I believe better results would have been obtained if the guidelines to using bakki showers were followed. For those that haven't read the previous thread of good growth rates here is a description of the pond.
- 30,000L
- 1.55m at deep end (has shallow end where showers are and a deep end)
- No settlement tank, pumped from bottom drain
- No shade fully outdoor experiences full sunlight from 6am to around 4pm
- 100kg of bacteria house (recommended amount is at least 150kg due to full sunlight exposure)
- Pond turnover rate 30,000L per hour (should be a minimum of 1.5 times)
There are 26 koi ranging from 13cm to 36cm, they are all fed momotaro all season koi food around 3% bodyweight per day which works out to be around 200g at the moment. Those of you reading this will notice that not all the koi have grown at the targeted rate but it must be kept in mind that genetics plays a huge part and these are koi that are bred in Australia majority by hobbyist that do not have the facility to selective cull and breed for koi that are capable of hi growth such as momotaro koi. Australia's koi industry is tiny compared to other markets like asia, UK and US, south africa. Still it would be nice to grow a gosanke past 80cm here in Australia or even jumbo tosai with the help of heating in winter. Some of these koi were placed in the pond in september when the water temperature was still around 15 to 17 degrees. Water temperature only begin to stay constantly over 20 degrees after the 8th of Oct this must be considered when looking at the growth rate of these koi as temperature is very important the best growth rate is achieved around 25 degrees and higher. I believe that most of these kois begin to really grow around the 8th of October and onwards. The following kois have been measured today after around 1 month.
If you can't see the photo please right click on the box and choose show picture 11cm hariwake 
17cm hariwake, after 1 month 
9cm kohaku
13cm kohaku
11-10-2004
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