It all begins...

[Erns]

And ends with kohaku. Or so I've been told!

This is one of my top girls. Marudo, 6 years old. 78cm (30") measured tonight. I hope to enter her in our local show in August.

The pics aren't great. She bled through her gills and she would not stay still!!

But I think I got enough to discuss her a bit. She is slowly finishing but has some way to go still. Her shiro is a lot better that these pics show because of the blood in the water. Her beni is really incredible to me. I have nothing in my pond with beni this red. I think she can do with a bit more body but I'm working on that.

Thoughts welcome.

[gspotmc]

Erns,
She looks really good. Can you send her over to the States. My 16K pond only have 6 kois.
Michael

[MikeM]

She is going to look good after the cool season does its work.

[aquitori]

Let her rest somemore for the show, but very nice Kohaku!

[Erns]

Quote: Originally Posted by aquitori Let her rest somemore for the show, but very nice Kohaku!

Thanks. She worked hard the last 3 months so the cooler water will do her well!

I find it really amazing that the members on this forum (including me!) can spend day's and pages and pages on a thread talking about koi that there really should not be much said about! But when somebody posts a decent (in my limited opinion) koi, after 180 views we get well, 3 reply's. Nothing about the breeder, the bloodline, when she came from Japan, how she was raised, water conditions to avoid shimmies with this type of beni, not even a comment about how the sashi and kiwa is finishing etc. Truely amazing.

[jsullivan]

Although I have very limited (practically none) knowledge on bloodlines and breeders, I think she is beautiful! I haven't yet learned my koi vocabulary, so I can't use the proper terms yet, but I think the vibrant red color is amazing!

By the way, Erns, thanks for the pictures you sent to Tim! As beginning koi keepers, we are both very impressed with your pond and koi.

Julia

[PapaBear]

For any fish to look that solid when it is stressed is pretty impressive. I'll be very interested to see fresh pics after it's had a chance to settle in. Very impressive body and rich color.

[Lam Nguyen]

Erns, I think that she is a very impressive koi that will be competitive at any koi show. I have refrained from giving my opinions earlier because koi of this caliber should deserve comments from the "pros" in this hobby. When you first posted this thread, the only thing that went through my head was how I could go about obtaining a koi like her from when she was a youngster (tosai or nisai) and growing her up to 30" by the time she is 6 years old and with such impeccable conformation and w/o any husbantry defaults.

Like what others said, I think that her shiroji will improve given a cooler environment. Please keep us posted on how she does at koi shows.

[gspotmc]

Quote: Originally Posted by Lam Nguyen Erns, I think that she is a very impressive koi that will be competitive at any koi show. I have refrained from giving my opinions earlier because koi of this caliber should deserve comments from the "pros" in this hobby. When you first posted this thread, the only thing that went through my head was how I could go about obtaining a koi like her from when she was a youngster (tosai or nisai) and growing her up to 30" by the time she is 6 years old and with such impeccable conformation and w/o any husbantry defaults. Like what others said, I think that her shiroji will improve given a cooler environment. Please keep us posted on how she does at koi shows.

LAM,
FIND A DEALER THAT YOU CAN TRUST AND HAVE HIM PICK OUT A NISAI (HIGH QUALITY) AND LEAVE IT IN JAPAN FOR THE NEXT 3 YEARS. OF COURSE YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER THAT IT IS A GAMBLE AND WE DON'T KNOW WHAT MAY HAPPEN TO THIS. INSTEAD OF BUYING 5 OR 6 FISH BUY ONE EXPENSIVE KOI.

[Lam Nguyen]

Ah, Michael, hence another dilemma that I am trying to deal with: while this is the route to go to have a good chance at obtaining a GC contender, I am still pondering whether this is the route I want to take. No disrespect to those who are doing this, and I don't know how feasible this is, but I want to be able to raise a show contender from when it was a tosai or nisai. I want to be able to control the water parameters, diet, environment, ect. so that I can bring this koi up from when it was small to Earn's 30" Marudo kohaku. Anyways, just a thought.