Selecting Best Tategoi Showa...

[koifishgirl]

Good one Larry As always you have me rolling over in laughter LOL

[estanque_koi]

Truly exciting thread!
I think Showa is the most fascinating Koi variety.
They are superb, however they are way too difficult, aren't they?
I mean they are rather unpredictable.
I read that the Maruyama Showa winner at the 36th AJKS was sold as a Tosai (28 cm) in march 1996. Now we can think it was a breeder's big mistake to sell it at that stage, but it can show how difficult can be to ascertain the potential of showa tosai. This Showa won when she was 11 years old and 88 cm long.
Back to the original subject, I like Showa B and D. However, I'm a bit concerned about the gills of Showa B, they seems to be sort of flared...
What do you think?
I had a very nice male Sanke that was apparently allright when he was young, but flared gills became more and more obvious as the Koi aged.
Diego

[jnorth]

That is one of the problems with pictures of koi Diego. That koi may have been flairing its gills when the photo was taken. Hard to say without seeing it in person.

[aquitori]

Pretty interesting posts..I personally like Showa D and I would leave it in the mudpond. Knowing how my water is I dont have Showa in my pond, I can never finish Showa.

[Koidaddy]

Like the shape on B.

[KoiCop]

but I'll be honest: I would love to add koi C (the kindai showa) to my pond.

Yeah, I know I've got a soft spot for them . . . but I really like what I see here.

Acceptable conformation. Acceptable shiro. The hi plates are small but balanced, both front to back and side to side. All three colors on the nose. Some finishing sumi on the head. Balanced, tight motoguru; front rays not colored. Nice shiro tail stop.

Yep, I'd be tempted to pull out the plastic and buy myself an X-mas present!

[mojo]

no you don't have any heat, you rather are smart. the headache of choosing showa is is the sumi are on the way up or on the way down ? only the breeder know it. I remember last spring, Brett sales me a kohaku cheap. he said this kohaku have nice color but not too much of red. but he point some fade sumi and he said it's a gamble. if the sumi goes up you have a nice, nice sanke, if the sumi disappear, you have an average kohaku, i ask him is the sumi on the way up, or on the way down, he said several week ago he don't see any sumi. I take the gamble, 3 weeks later all sumi shows, and i have my best fish in the pond.
Among all 4 showa, C have the most sumi it can go down, or it can go up, either way you still have nice showa. All the others, it have only one way sumi have to go up to be a good showa. look at the sumi at their pectoral fin, the more we have it , the better sumi on the fish. and you do not see a lot at these showa at 16". The distribution of all color on C are balanced top to end, left to right. It a good choice. By the way this showa do not have a lot of shiro to be call kindai.

[Russell Peters]

Quote: Originally Posted by mojo no you don't have any heat, you rather are smart. the headache of choosing showa is is the sumi are on the way up or on the way down ? only the breeder know it. I remember last spring, Brett sales me a kohaku cheap. he said this kohaku have nice color but not too much of red. but he point some fade sumi and he said it's a gamble. if the sumi goes up you have a nice, nice sanke, if the sumi disappear, you have an average kohaku, i ask him is the sumi on the way up, or on the way down, he said several week ago he don't see any sumi. I take the gamble, 3 weeks later all sumi shows, and i have my best fish in the pond. Among all 4 showa, C have the most sumi it can go down, or it can go up, either way you still have nice showa. All the others, it have only one way sumi have to go up to be a good showa. look at the sumi at their pectoral fin, the more we have it , the better sumi on the fish. and you do not see a lot at these showa at 16". The distribution of all color on C are balanced top to end, left to right. It a good choice. By the way this showa do not have a lot of shiro to be call kindai.

Interesting.....

[mojo]

now look at fish D, notice the sumi at tail is not as dark as at the top. Since sumi start dark at tail then spread light to top,(reversed of Kohaku) this fish have a good chance on the way to fading.

[mojo]

now look at fish D, notice the sumi at tail is not as dark as at the top. Since sumi start dark at tail then spread light to top,(reversed of Kohaku) this fish have a good chance on the way to fading. However it is still an interesting learning period to see whether what you think is right with D.