'Monster kohaku'

[kiky]

These past few years, one of my local koi dealers has imported from Japan what he called as 'monster kohaku'. It is so called because he claimed that it will grow to monstrous size (very big jumbo).

Out of curiosity, I purchased one tosai in October 2002. It was about 35 cm at that time. True to his words, growth rate has been quite staggering so far. By February 2003, it already reached 47 cm. By now (November 2003), it is about 60 cm. To think that it is only 30 months old! This is certainly comparable to the growth rate of Momotaro's.

But what intrigued me is, who is the breeder? Is there really a 'monster kohaku' breeder in Japan? Does anyone here know? Or is it only a marketing gimmick?

[Brian]

Kiky,

There are actually quite a few that fall under this or a similar name. Any more details?

[soelistyo]

where did you buy this koi, in indonesia? which dealer? wouldn't the dealer know which breeder it came from? My guess, from the description you gave, is that the kois are not so far from its magoi origin.


60cm for a sansai though, truth be told, is not out of the ordinary these days even for gosanke. i have a momotaro kohaku, not one of their first class koi i'm afraid, that's barely nisai and already more than 60cm.

[James P]

I've been told that there is a secret breeder who produces kohaku that are 50 cm at birth. The eggs are basket ball sized and the koi are mostly grand champion material at 120 days of age. The female that throws these young is two meters long and eats only egg rolls. She is kept in 750,000 tons of water and special filters are needed to get her to the breeder's goal of having the first high class three meter kohaku in the world.



( hey, this is fun!! ) JR

[Bob Hart]

Made me smile, I needed that - thanks

[JasonS]

Shame on you JR! EVERYBODY knows that egg rolls stunt growth of high class koi. She is being fed live crabs that she slams against the side of the pond with her tail before eating the yummy bits.

She's very smart -- her and Koko are pen pals.

[saratogatan]

it is very tempting to grow koi fast, especially the beautiful ones. But I think it is more important to keep them healthy, happy and alive.

few months ago, I had a kohaku, 35cm at 9 months, growing at a rate of 4 cm per month after I got it. It was my best kohaku, but it is living in koi-heaven now. (suudden death, no wound, nothing).

I live in northern California, so, big grow can occur everywhere.

perople get so stucked up with growing koi fast, and yet still believe in the 'zen' aspect of koi. What a world.

stan

[aquitori]

Who cares about size anyways....the smaller the better I say....Okay?......Well, a koi's growth rate is in the first 2-3 years of life anyways. When they hit the magic make of 30 inches do they start to slow down....Am I amazed? No. If the quality does not get better as the koi gets bigger it is no good. It's one thing to grow big fish, but to maintain the quality is even harder. Everyone has the skills to throw food in the pond but not alot of people has the skills to condition their fish. Eggrolls? Must be some super protein eggrolls....

[saratogatan]

aq, with some luck you don't have to throw in much food. I feed them less than 0.5% of their body weight daily in the summer, and I have a pondful of fast growing nice kois. But, among them is a 28 month old ginrin sanke, at 6".

I have seen people who were feeding at 2% in the summer, and the young kois hardly grow. Go figure.

stan

[saratogatan]

aq,
talking about conditioning a koi, I don't think we are doing what the zen aspect of koi demands. In zen, there is no such thing as changing the nature. In zen, one find the inner wisdom that enventually opens the path to see the nature and jive with it, Endless peace and enlightenment will make one sees the ultimate beauty in all life, including the ulgiest koi you can find. I don't see how i can do that with a bottle of formalin in my hand.

I look back my last 18month in this hobby, I can only classify myself as an idiot. Inner peace were no where to be found, but constant nutty chase after water quality, desease, infestion, beni depth, emerging sumi, and many nutty terms/thing/goal.

I really appreciate what my mother inlaw told me: "raise a koi, appreaciate its life, and the peace it brings upon your life". I am extremely happy that my parent were no koi breeders, they might have culled me ages ago.

stan