Is this a FUTURE koi?

[Eugeneg]

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People tell me it is preferable that show koi revert to tategoi state after the show, ie sumi should start going down and shiroji turns more yellow. Is it a fact that koi cannot remain finished for a continuous number of years?[/quote]

My concern is ; If getting a young fish ready for a show , showing transportation stress etc whether it can be harmfull in its development ?
After all if well looked after you might have it for 25 years and the first 2years of growth are the most critical .
Regards
Eugene

[KoiCop]

JR . . .

I chuckled several times reading your "Journey of Sexing Koi."

ppp . . .

A lovely koi. Only time will tell whether it's going to go up, hold at it's peak for a while or head downhill as a 'full package' koi.

As for sex and size, to paraphrase Art Lembke: At a certain age and a certain size, the appearance begins to supercede the reality. In other words, that a male-looking female might as well be a male. Again, only time will tell.

Eugene . . .

I see no reason why being shown one or twice per year during a koi's relatively short showing window should harm a koi since when done properly the stress should be both minimal and short-term.

[l113892]

I agree- I don't see the harm. A couple weeks a year, possibly during the prime growing season, where the fish are not getting feed.

[ppp]

Eugene,

The koi was being primed since last year for participating in this year's AJKS. Following that, I purchased the koi on their condition that it still be kept in Japan to participate in the Wakagoi show in April. Eventually they didn't enter it for the latter because its level of finish in April had dropped somewhat. If I had a choice, I'd have taken the koi back into my pond immediately after purchase for growth pumping. I'm not a keen shower anyway.


Being relatively new in this hobby, I still find it a nightmare buying shiro utsuris and even showas. Showas are marginally easier because one can always look at the beni placement and quality. The sumi is always such a huge gamble. If you've seen the photos of Musashi's development over the years, you'll know what I mean. Omosako doesn't even have a tosai photo of Musashi as nobody noticed this koi at all at that age. Even at 4 years old, her sumi was relatively sparse. It was only during her 5th and 6th years that the sumi came out in all its full grandeur.

[ppp]

Quote: Originally Posted by l113892 I agree- I don't see the harm. A couple weeks a year, possibly during the prime growing season, where the fish are not getting feed.

I'm not sure how koi are prepared for shows in the West, but over here, my dealer takes the show koi anytime between one and six months before the show to prime it for the show. He tinkers with the food being fed and the water parameters to ensure the koi looks its best on the day of the show. This process may also be stressful on the fish, I'm not sure. My impression is that in the West, many hobbyists just cart their show koi to the show without special preparations to raise the finish of the koi. Perhaps some do, I'll stand to be corrected if I'm wrong.

[Erns]

Quote: Originally Posted by ppp My dealer just sexed the fish again on Monday and confirmed it was female. Hope it wasn't a sexing mistake! I'm not sure if the rigours of the show circuit caused the head colour. This fish took 2nd prize 50BU in this year's AJKS. You can also see it on the Omosako website.

ppp, I took a look at it on the Omosako site. Took me a while to figure out it's the same koi! I think it's lost quite a lot of condition since it won 2nd place. It's really thin now compared to then. The sumi have finished more though but the body is quite a bit weaker. It might be the angle of the photo though. Even the motoguro have gone from pulling towards the base of the pec fin to flaring out in streaks again which is something I've never seen in my short time keeping koi. I always thought the sumi in the fins pull back to the joint as it develops?

I've got to agree with the idea of sending this one on vacation to a GOOD mudpond. I think you paid a pretty penny for it and the only way to see if it still has future potencial is to try to turn the clock back on this one.

[ppp]

Erns,

Thanks for your comments. I bought the koi on the basis of the Omosako photo, so I have no idea if it lost weight or not. It could be the photograph angle though - the Omosako photo was probably taken from a slightly forward position whereas the more recent photo (taken 5 days ago) looks more overhead.

You're right about the motoguro, and yes I think it's best for the koi to go into a mud pond soon. Hope it will turn out ok..