New Tosai Kohaku....and Showa

[cocoyboy]

Wow, very nice! I love the crisp lines, and the deep color. I like my kohaku's pattern busy like that.

[jacovors]

WOW The bodyshape !!!!

This is a very handsome koi.

[paulino88]

Hi doc,

Can you share the secret of attaining such wonderful crisp deep beni ? I m quite impressed ! If my memory serves me right, i might have read somewhere that you feed your kois sakai color regularly ?

Thanks.

[MikeM]

I am a bit jealous... not just that you have such a nice Kohaku, but that you are able to raise her from tosai. You then know that your efforts are responsible for the results. A review of your water conditions and temperatures would be nice on this thread.

[dtbh]

Paulino88, I have not used sakai pellets for a long time now. I rotate my pellets and they usually include Izeki (colour and growth), and Hikari (growth). What I always add is silkworm pupae given together with each feed. From my personal observation, even with our high growth rate, we don't need to give colour food all the time. I have experimented giving only non-colour enhancing food for months and their colour still held well.

Mike, strange that you asked regarding my water parameters. I am one of the lazy few who normally do not monitor them. Now that I am in the midst of planning a new experiment on BS/BH I have started monitoring them to get a baseline. Over the past two weeks the following are the average readings:

1. Temperature 28-29 degC
2. ORP 320
3. TDS 85
4. pH 6.7
5. DO 8 all round. I emphasise a lot on aeration. It has been posted in another thread that kois tend to accumulate near water splashes (eg return from BS/BH). I suspect aeration in these ponds are not optimal to start with. I have water splashing into 4 corners of my pond and my kois are everywhere. My rationale is that if my DO is near full saturation and evenly distributed there is no reason to accumulate at this returns. And the effect of good aeration on the kois appetite needs no further explanation.

Cheers, dtbh

[MikeM]

Well, the warmth does not seem to have hurt the Beni appreciably.

Hardness levels?

[dtbh]

Sorry Mike. My GH/KH testkit has expired. Will get another one soon. The last I monitored about 2 yrs ago my GH was always about 50.

[MikeM]

If the source is the same, I doubt it has changed ... soft, slightly acidic water. In that type of water comparatively little of the ammonia in the system will be in it's harmful form.

While we generally read that a pH above 7.0 is best for koi, the few pH readings I have seen for Japanese mud ponds have been both mildly alkaline and mildly acidic, so I'm not too sure what is really best. In the typical pond, the need for alkalinity for bio-filtration would coincide with a mildly alkaline pH. So, the general recommendations may be exactly right for pondkeeping, although not necessarily complete in regard to the preferred range for koi. ....Any way, I asked because we have such difficulty with Kohaku Beni in Florida. Hard, high pH water which is usually very warm for extended periods gets the blame. [In Orlando this summer we are now over 54 days in a row with daytime high temps (air temps) over 90F (over 33C, if memory serves), and still counting.] Water temps in the range you have are common. My intuition is that as long as dissolved oxygen is near saturation, the water temps are not as important a factor as hardness and high pH in development of red pigments. I also think it depends on the type of Hi, but that's about the boundary of my thinking. .... I'm not only jealous of your fish, but also the softness of your water!

[paulino88]

Thanks for the info doc. I guess my memory failed me then. I wonder what makes the beni stand out although koi kichi 1 did mention that silk worm pupae is good for hi ? How about exposure of your pond to sunlight ?

Moreover, same as mikem, i m actually envy your soft water parameter and high o2 content as well (8) ? these are what mine are lacking from compared to yours.

[dtbh]

Just back from a family holiday.

My pond's pH needs confirmation actually. I am using a Combo hanna meter (pH, TDS). I only have the solution to calibrate the TDS aspect and I have meanwhile assume the pH is accurate (since it is still acceptable). I have plans to compare it with another meter/test just to be sure.

Getting high saturation of oxygen is easy and we are blessed with soft water source. My knowledge on maintaining the quality of beni is really limited. I just assume that with good water, high aeration, enough sunlight, good diet (maybe silkworm helped) and good genes the beni should be OK and nature will do the rest.