some small koi

[Russell Peters]

Quote: Originally Posted by koifishgirl LOL yes, that is my nephew and he is a keeper. He loves helping me pull my ponds

As my wife says, "good help is hard to find".

[koifishgirl]

Well you still have not told me what you think of the koi? You have went all around that. Please tell?

[PapaBear]

Quite a few with very nice Shiro imo. It is easy to spot the Momo parents in the shiro and beni on the kohaku you've got.
Several of the LF's look interesting and I think I'm with Dick on them. Better than you give them credit for and worth more time. Just off the top I'd say you've got some nice potential on the bekko and sanke LF's, and there is one that looks like a decent hariwake too.

[koifishgirl]

Hey Larry,
I guess there is two the hariwake, and longfin sanke that are fair. I put all these in a mud pond.

The momo I am going to grow out and use them to breed. I have a female that has pretty good color and body and I am trying to get a male out of them to use on her. I am short on good males. I am thinking since they dont ever come out like the parents and dont breed true, why not give one of them a chance. There is only one good momo of the three and that is the three step. Only thing is the pattern does not drop far enough down the lateral line, so I am thinking it wont look good when it gets bigger. But who knows. I would really like a little more insite on this, maybe someone will jump in a open my eyes to a few things.

Judy

[MikeM]

No long term keepers IMO. Set aside a couple that please you to grow another year for learning purposes. Find a buyer for the rest. Next time, no random spawning!

[JasPR]

Judy, I have unfortunately gotten a cranky boy reputation as I always seem to be raining on someone's parade on these boards. I'm not that negative a person- honest!! But we all have to admit that some times these boards get so syrupy nice that they are downright cruel to the person asking " do these spandex pants make me look fat?" I mean they do want to know right? :0)


So in that spirit----
There are no koi with any real future in these pictures. It looks like you have spend a lot of time and money getting this grow out up and running and you deserve to get better results. Maybe it is the breeders you are using? Or maybe the general quality of your stock? Or maybe this is just the rest of flock spawning? Whatever the case, I would not waste time growing these fish any further and it is probably best to find homes for them so you can concentrate on a fresh start.

Best of luck, JR

[koifishgirl]

Yes, I do agree that I dont need anymore flock spawn. Last year was a mess for me and I hope to get a controled spawn this next spring. To be honest with you the culling process is something I am still lacking. I cant tell what a young koi will turn out to be yet so I am still learning. That big momo koi was a nice sanke at a smaller size and now there is no hi but a small spot on the head. The dropping of color is still a mistery for me and once it drops off like that does it come back. Why does a koi fade anyway. I did move these four from a mud pond to a lined pond and that is when the sanke lost most of the hi that it had. Beats me.

[JasPR]

That's the spirit! You are putting a lot of energy into this and you have a great setting there for better results. So why not go for it!
Fish loose color for three basic reasons- the genetics is not strong and the color is either thick but in one hard non-elastic plate or the beni is thin and one dimension and breaks up as the koi grows quickly.
And the third reason is that the fish goes through some shock/stress and the steroids released contract and destroy new color cells. This event is 'intensified' if the one of the first two reasons are also present.

Find yourself some good breeders or better, if you are not yet confident in your culling eye, stick to something easy to cull, like chagoi or ochiba. Maybe aka Matsuba or asagi? That should give you a better, more uniform outcome.

Again, best of luck, JR

[koifishgirl]

This is my momo parent set. Should be good bloodlines but I have not done a controled spawn with these two yet. Last year I had to much going on and lost the spawn. Only got 12 koi and the four pictures above are the only ones that had any color. I do believe that if I spawn this pair again and take care of the babies I might get some better koi.

[koifishgirl]

well the picture did not come up. I am going to try again.