Do you have a favorite koi

[dtbh]

My favourite has to be this shiro utsuri. I get a high with a fish that has a voracious apetite, grows well, and continue to surprise. This fish grew from 69 to 77cm within 7+months and her sumi continued to surprise from an almost bare head to this present pattern. And her apetite......yummy.

[Tom C]

Donald I did want a greenish non ginrin chagoi just like the one Kevin has. Here's Kevin's http://www.genkikoi.com/koisale2.html But having a wife that wouldn't have what she calls, a ugly big koi in the pond wouldn't work. She saw the one at Ken's that was a ginrin and she said they don't look all that bad. So we got a ginrin. The problem was I didn't take her to Kevin's with me. If she saw his, I think I could talk her into a greenish non ginrin chagoi. If I don't get the growth out of this one. I will then add another one to the pond. That one will be a non ginrin chagoi. But now that I have this one I am liking it a lot.

Tom

[Tom C]

dtbh, nice shiro. Also some real nice growth.

Tom

[hwong]

Hi, I am a koi buddy of Dtbh. My favourite is a 75 cm Sakai Sankei. I was very lucky to be able to purchase her and she has developed into a real beauty. Dtbh has kindly agreed to foster her and she is now being groomed at dtbh's pond and building up girth to ready her for the koi show in May. She won best in size 75BU in last year's competition and I am very confident she will do well this year. The picture to the right is as she is today. She is really a lot thicker than in the pic. Hope you like her as well.

Rgds
HWONG

[JasonS]

hwong:
Wow.

I'll give you the highest compliment I can think of. I WANT THAT FISH!

Thanks for sharing.

[MikeM]

Hwong: Beautiful. Please share how you have grown her to get such results in the tropical climate of Malaysia. We so often read that Hi degrades in hot climates, but that Hi looks pretty good!

[hwong]

Hi Jason, Mike, Thanks for the compliments. To be fair, this sanke when I bought her as a 3.5 yr old has everything you can ask for. The only flaw is the lack of Odome. The hi is persimon,thick and very even. The Sumi cannoy be faulted but needed improvement. She was a little slender. My job was to maintain her qualities, improve the Sumi and bulk her up. So right from the start it is a heavy responsibility.
The following is the description of the pond she was raised in. After she was fostered by Dtbh, i had the pond's filter system modified.

My Pond is 16 X 12 X 5.5 ft (25 tons) filter is 40 % the surface area. I was only 1 year into the hobby and it was a struggle to keep good water with overstocking. Water is tap water with Ph of 8. Pond is partially shaded. I use Brushes for mechanical filtration in 1st 2 chambers and the rest of 5 others are bio using Jap Mat.
All bio chambers are aerated. I have a 30 " uniring diffuser in the pond which is powered by a 120 watt air pump to provide aeration and air curtain to draw shit into the centre bottom drain. This with two other bottom drains feeds the 2 mech chamber. I flush bottom drains of all the filter chambers and the pond daily. This is equivalent to 5% water change daily. I use
I use 2 tsurumi 12000litre per hour submiserble pumps. one returns the water through 3 venturis and the other to a water feature.

I had been feeding my kois 3 times daily different brands of pellets like Hikari High protein but for the last 1 year fed good quality hi protein pellets produced by my koi dealer. It does not contain color ingredients. However I will feed color food 45 days prior to a competition and will fast the koi the last 7 days.
I dont have a problem with maintaining Hi on my kois bcos I had not been able to feed heavily without messing up the water. Usually kois eat very well in our all year round summer weather and will grow very fast. The Hi development cannot catch up with the growth and this thins out the Hi.
In our circle, my pond is known for producing excellent Sumi. I never did test my water parameters to find out why. I have a friend down the road who has same water source, his kois' Sumi dont do well. Maybe I shud do a test.

As you can see from this Sanke, the Hi has been very stable and the Sumi has devloped very well and sumis specs developed into larger laquer black Sumi. Sumi is the most important judging criteria for Sanke in competition.

Since April 2004, she has been taken care of by Dtbh who has been extremely successful in growing kois large and with good quality. So I was quite thrilled that he agreed to foster her. She has developed really well. She doesnt grow longer but much wider. Dbth did what I couldnt achieve no matter what I did. She is fed 8 times aday on high protein supplemented some color feed and silk worm. This koi is considered a finished koi.
I hope I didnt bore you guys.
RgdsHWONG

[swordfish]

Hi Hwong what took you so long to start posting in this forum? Finally you did. Please keep your post coming.
No you did not bore us,in fact,those are the neccessary things we need to know when somebody raise excellent koi & I'm sure most of the guys here want to know irregardless experience or amature keeper as well.
Great explaination. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

SF

[MikeM]

Dr. Teh: Your Omosako Shiro Utsuri is looking great. Now 77cm? That is a bit larger than when you posted her photos in November. Given her young age, I think you will surpass 80cm easily. Do you think she has the ability to reach 90cm?

Hwong: Some months ago Dr. Teh mentioned that there are areas of Malaysia where the water is influenced by limestone hills. Is your water drawn from such an area? I am not familiar with Malaysian geology.

I am very interested in all the two of you say. Koikeeping in warm climates is different than in cool climates. Most of what is written is based on experience in keeping koi in climates that have cold winters. The practices of hobbyists successful in raising fine koi in warm climates are very informative.

[dtbh]

Hi Mike

Yes, my Omosako has grown a little bit more since I last posted. She eats like a Chagoi and that is what I like of my kois (as I enjoy feeding them). Growing to 90cm? Not in my 20 ton pond. 80cm is achievable and my personal target is 85cm.

Feeding Hwong's sanke is really a challenge. She is what I term as a hit-and-runner ie stealthily eat and run with the slightest disturbance. We usually see this behaviour in males and this is one of the reasons why kois with this type of feeding behaviour tend not to put on girth/grow as fast. I have to modify my feeding technique just to suit her.....