keep hearing about these grow-out contest...

[Auntiesue]

Quote: Originally Posted by keokoi I had my hand in an online koi growout contest.. It was pretty intersting to see the mixed results in everyone's skills to grow them out. Some went for pure growth and some went for better quality and growth. The Kohaks used were from Momotaro spawn and grandparent eagle. The contest was spread across the Nation with many mixed results due to different growing seasons. Some of the Kohaku's went down real fast and some held up really well with good growth and still obtained pretty good quality. Some went to shows and did very well. The Kohaks that went for super growth taxed the beni out and some showed just how much this bloodline could stretch. Quality went down though for sure... It was interesting to see all the different foods many fed as well. Joe

Joe, I still have the two "grow outs" from this "contest". One is gowing very nice - not too fast and female. The other is male and developed a shimi that I hope to remove this weekend and is the smaller of the two, but the colors are holding as expected. Not finishing too early so far.

Here are photos of both.

[MikeM]

I think the real value in keeping the records is for the other participants. If you see that other fish turned out much better (or worse) than yours, it helps you try to figure out if it was just the genes, or was it something in the environment. Others will be interested in your recorded info more than you are... perhaps that's why folks don't stick to it very well.

[Auntiesue]

I think it's very interesting to see the results and compare what others have done to achieve a goal, but I do question the gene pool even among siblings out of the same spawn. What are the odds that each fish, even siblings, have received the same genes? We all know that proven breeding stock produce some pretty bad babies - those are culled. So what do we learn from this sort of experiment? More likely we get an understanding of what others do when keeping their koi, but beyond that, wouldn't it simply be speculation? Comments?

[MikeM]

I agree. If there records of water parameters and the like, then the potential exists to come up with ideas that might help a person in the future. Without records, there is really little that can be learned... still fun to do.

Breeders will tell you that with tosai they have a difficult time predicting the future. After the Fall harvest perhaps 400 tosai will be selected for potentially growing another year ... in a pond that will get only 150. By Spring, the breeder can tell that the Hi is not as good as thought on 100 of them. Something else shows on 50 more. The breeder would be very happy to have 200 "worthy ones" from which to select the 150. The 50 "almosts" are the ones the hobbyist would like to get. ...If the experienced eye of the breeder has such a challenge, we lesser mortals have little chance.

[LizardBreath]

I would really enjoy getting a fish in a grow out contest. If I ever actually make it to a koi club meeting I will suggest it.

Lizb