Rank these Sanke.....

[dinh]

As part of ZNA NorCal meeting yesterday at TSEKoi, we used these 5 koi for learning about Sumi on Sanke.... and also ranking exercise....

So here you go, please rank from 1 to 5 and explain the reason.....

[Richard Rombold]

Dinh,

To my untutored eye, and based off this single photo, I'd rank #4 first in the tank. That would be starting on the left and counting clockwise. I know the value of conformation, and this is the smallest and probably youngest fish in the tank, but size and potential are two different things to a breeder. And as such I weigh potential above all else. Four is a beautiful fish with a wonderful balance and grace to it. It's tsubo sumi is ideal and will continue to present well now and many years later. The underlying Hi is also almost ideal. Good quality. Well placed. To me though a Kohaku or Sanke has to have that traditional Hi patch on the head. It's timeless. I'm not a fan of irregular markings on the face. It's like this year's fashion trends. I prefer the classic. Four also has a wonderful shiroji base as do all the fish in the tank. Its body is well balanced and symmetrical. It just needs another good year in the ponds. As a judging exercise you stay in the present, and there are some excellent Sanke in this tank, but I see the greatest potential in this koi. If I were to give a number two it would be for #5. An imposing fish but with out being able to see the left side of the fish I can't gauge it's full merit. One and three are a coin toss and two is a distant last. Beautiful fish. Thank you for sharing. This will be great. I always pick the fish in the reverese order of the judges.

[Tamianth]

I'm not even going to try any statements at this point since I'm learning thing still actually.

5 (I like the bold lightening sumi and body), 3, 1, 2, 4 (4 looks like a male to me?? )

[Sangreaal]

Kinda hard to judge the fine points of conformation of all the sanke in the pic, but I'd judge in this order:

4--neck and neck for conformation with #2, but better pattern
2--nice conformation, thick beni--perhaps the nicest skin quality
5--dramatic pattern, a little weak in the rear conformation-wise
3--just don't like that triagular patch of sumi--distracting on a otherwise nice koi
1--don't care for pattern or guppy conformation

Marie

[dechoong]

1-5 clockwise from left to right...

1st. #1. Greatest potential. Body looks kinked from pic but I think it's just distortion from the moving water.

2nd. #3. Great head structure.

3rd. #5. Good body frame but a little heavy and messy on sumi.

4th. #2. A wild card.

5th. #4. Not a grower... probably male and as good as it gets. Best pattern though.

Just my 2 cents

-Dennis

[dcny]

For Today: 4, 2, 1, 5, 3. Since we're picking for show today, and we're talking about small sized fish, it's gonna be mostly about the pattern. To me #4 the best distribution of sumi on the body. The sumi is faily uniform in size so none of it is too distracting. It has sumi in the shoulder area and the hi pattern is well distributed as well. I like #2 for the same reasons as #4 but the sumi and hi pattern is not as well distributed.

I'll have to think about the for tomorrow part of it some more but at a first look, I'm not sure I would purchase any of them. They all look a little too finished at this size. If I had to pick one, then I'd take my chances with either #1 or #4.

-Dan

[rockman]

Quote: Originally Posted by dcny For Today: 4, 2, 1, 5

My thoughts exactly.

I am certainly no expert here, but I like this game since I happened to match the sanke judging at last spring's young Koi show at Pan Intercorp and that is how I won my kohaku

[Steve Nguyen]

Dinh,

maybe you post a couple more pictures so people can have some different angles of looking at the fish. I assigned numbers to them and repost the pix.

Steve

[dinh]

thanks for numbering.... pix didn't come out to good for them... here are few more....

[Richard Rombold]

Thanks for the extra angles. It points out the difficulty of judging from pictures. New angles confirms 5 to be a very solid Sanke and now in my opinion the best in the tank. Having placed so much emphasis on 4's pattern and head, the top shot shows that it's conformation is lacking more than thought, hi is weaker than expected and the window in it's beni is very distracting. I hesitate to even rank the fish again since new angles would reveal new details. However, this is fun, games and most of all educational so 4 drops like a stone down to 4. Second choice I am moving 1 to that spot. Third spot goes to my original distant last koi #2. New angle shows that the elongated first step is not nearly as monotonous as it appeared from the first photo and there is a very strategic patch of sumi showing that wasn't visible initially. Also, new angle shows a wholly new body conformation. That puts #3 at the back of the pack. This is just a guess since we still haven't seen the right side of the fish. Thus ends the rantings of a lunatic.