Comments on my new kohaku

[mingaun]

Hello

I just purchased this Momotaro tosai yesterday. What do you all think? Any comments? She is a female at 37cm.

[dick benbow]

looks like a pretty fish with great potential for size. Here's a pretty one from Toshio sakai

[farne230]

Dick: Is Toshito sakai's kohaku bloodline a darker red beni?
Bob

[mingaun]

Quote: Originally Posted by dick benbow looks like a pretty fish with great potential for size. Here's a pretty one from Toshio sakai

Dick the beni in your picture is quite red compared to mine. I notice that the shiroji is better as well. Could this be due to the softness of your water? I know my koi was living in hard water which could account for the slight dullness to the shiroji.

On a side note, my koi was born at end of July 2007. I feel 37cm is a bit small. She must have been underfed for some time. Would this affect her full growth potential? If i start feeding her good quality food regularly, is it possible for her to catch up growth till where she should or able to be at?

regards
Mark

[MikeM]

Minguan: I like her very much. I wish I could see the Beni in person. There is a type of Beni that is a very light orange when young. When it is on a koi whose skin is right, and it permeates deep into the layers, it 'grows' almost as if it has a life of its own. Your koi has something of the look, but the photo does not give the detail. When you look at a scale do you seem to be looking through a piece of colored glass, as if there is a depth far more than what we know to be the thickness of a scale? If so, I think you have one to cherish. You have a few years to see what I mean... if you have what I think you may. And, like Dick said, what a body for growing.

[dick benbow]

the kohaku I posted is typical of the new marusome beni, Toshio has created. Not any better or worse than any other top breeder's just his own. To be honest i have to fight the urge to negaite this new redder than red beni as for decades I've always looked for the safer orange that eventually turns more red but never looses it's orange cast. So I quess you can teach and olde dog new tricks, but I'm still learning cautiously.....

Many times koi will get their length and then fill in their body afterwards which I suspect with yours from Momotaro. It has a long head so I do believe it'll get good sized. 15 inches is not a bad size.....there was a very famous sanke bred by toshio that became the national fish. It was purchased by a famous hobbyist, Komiya....as a nisei , and at 5 when it was still smallish and the owner was not happy with it's progress, it was almost sold. But Toshio talked him into one more year in the mud...and yep...it took off.

I think you care for your koi carefully and you have a very nice addition to your show team.

If I had a magic wand, and could wish for something for this koi, I would wish for a deeper beni step on the shoulder. That would give it a bit more stability as that area rounds out and developes into that barrel chested look. Enjoy your koi, I think you'll have fun raising it...

[mingaun]

Thank you all for your kind words. Looks like there is nothing much to complain about. Now it is up to me to keep up her potential, if she turns out bad i can only blame myself . Will keep you all posted on her progress.

Mark

[Lam Nguyen]

Mark, if you don't mind, I would like to take a stab at your kohaku. I think that there are many things to like about this koi. The conformation is good with good tail joint and body length. Like Dick mentioned, 15" for an ake nisai who has only had one summer of growth is pretty good. But then again, if I remember correctly, you said that you live in China and perhaps growth rate over there is different than in the states. The milky shiroji is very soft and silky and I believe will become whiter with time. I really like the nidan pattern of this koi. Hard to explain, simple yet sophisticated at the same time. Awesome tail stop and great head pattern. She has good sharp kiwa and the orange-red beni color that many people prefer. A little heavy and wraps down past lateral line, so should grow into this heavy pattern nicely when she is 20+ inches in length. Definitely the type of pattern that I would look for in a young kohaku.

I don't want to take anything away from this koi but there is no such thing as a "perfect" koi and we cannot learn without looking at her potential weakness. The first thing that I notice is that her beni is not too thick. I know that she is only an ake nisai and has been growing. But even when you look at the core of the beni scale, there is a deeper and thicker red. However, I feel that it's still not thick enough. Another potential weakness is the white window in the right shoulder beni. Will the beni break to remove this window or will it remain the same? The only other potential fault is the split tail. Will it heal completely over time? I guess time will tell whether the window will break and the tail split will heal completely. Good luck with your first kohaku and please keep all of us updated on her development.

[mingaun]

Quote: Originally Posted by Lam Nguyen Mark, if you don't mind, I would like to take a stab at your kohaku. I think that there are many things to like about this koi. The conformation is good with good tail joint and body length. Like Dick mentioned, 15" for an ake nisai who has only had one summer of growth is pretty good. But then again, if I remember correctly, you said that you live in China and perhaps growth rate over there is different than in the states. The milky shiroji is very soft and silky and I believe will become whiter with time. I really like the nidan pattern of this koi. Hard to explain, simple yet sophisticated at the same time. Awesome tail stop and great head pattern. She has good sharp kiwa and the orange-red beni color that many people prefer. A little heavy and wraps down past lateral line, so should grow into this heavy pattern nicely when she is 20+ inches in length. Definitely the type of pattern that I would look for in a young kohaku. I don't want to take anything away from this koi but there is no such thing as a "perfect" koi and we cannot learn without looking at her potential weakness. The first thing that I notice is that her beni is not too thick. I know that she is only an ake nisai and has been growing. But even when you look at the core of the beni scale, there is a deeper and thicker red. However, I feel that it's still not thick enough. Another potential weakness is the white window in the right shoulder beni. Will the beni break to remove this window or will it remain the same? The only other potential fault is the split tail. Will it heal completely over time? I guess time will tell whether the window will break and the tail split will heal completely. Good luck with your first kohaku and please keep all of us updated on her development.

Lam, firstly i am impress with your analysis of my koi and thank you for being frank. I believe it is spot on, though i did not realise it till you pointed it out . Actually i saw so many kohaku till my head went dizzy. In the end he showed me this one in his main pool that he keeps those he feels have better future. The moment i saw it, i took it in a heartbeat. So much for cheap kois, i just did not like them. Lam i am from Malaysia and not China, though Chinese.

Yup the tail is split a little . That in fact was bothering me a bit. It was injured when they tried to catch the koi from the pond and it jumped and injured itself. I am quite worried about it and hope that it will heal. What do you or the rest think? Would it heal?

Mark

[Lam Nguyen]

Mark, I can see why your dealer would keep this kohaku in his special pond. Very nice koi indeed. I also know what you mean about "love at first site"! I have been there and done that and I have only been in the hobby for about 2 years. Because I am still new to this hobby, I don't know whether that tail split will heal completely or not as I have not had any personal experience with fin splits. I will leave that up to those a lot more "seasoned" than me to respond. I would like to say that it should heal completely, but that is just my assumption. Lovely kohaku, so simple yet sophisticated at the same time.