Saragoi / Kohaku / Kujuka spawning

[KoiOnline]

Hi, I am Paul from South Africa.

During January 2008 I had a surprise late spawning in one of my ponds. The female was a ginrin Saragoi and the active males were Kohaku and Kujaku.
I only took out one plant filled with eggs to see what it delivers by way of experiment.
I got quite a few nice Ochiba’s, and surprisingly a Ginrin doitsu/mirror Platinum Ogon(only one) and a few Kohaku’s. See the photos.
The bulk of them are silver/grey (probably from the Ginrin Saragoi mother) with metallic golden or yellow/green patterns (probably from the Kujaku(wagoi) father) on the silver/grey. It resembles Kujaku but some are almost metallic Ochiba(net effect). Some with dirty white heads and some with golden heads.What variety will this be and what is your opinion on quality?




A few are ginrin like this:

[dick benbow]

curious as to what food you feed them being in S. Africa, do you use locally produced koi food?

[PapaBear]

The "ochiba-esque" ones with the golden heads are very similar to one we kept a few years back. It looked very interesting at this size and the burnished mask on the face was cute... It got over it and turned out like this after a few years... Finally go rid of it the other day

[JasPR]

Good Morning Paul. Not every koi is a variety with a name. That is a very western 'urge' to name the 'inbetween' stuff. Unlike tropical fish or any other wild fish that has a scientific classification and then common name, koi are man made domestic fish and the names given are only fixed within 13 varieties. These are nishikigoi. Outside of that grouping, and the various breeds that exist within the major 13 classifications, are fish that at best can be called colored carp or pond grade koi.
In addition, Ginrin fish are Ginrin first and variety as subtext classification.

Do remember that the value of a gin rin is in orderly rows of well defined and glittering scales. The fish 'below' the scales is of consideration and the recognized varieties are then classifed within Ginrin A and Ginrin B.
You have an excellent nextwork of ZNA chapters in your country that can education you further on the finer points of ginrin and variety. JR

[MikeM]

It always fascinates me how Kohaku can show up in such a genetic stew.

Have fun raising them... and be on the look out for new homes!

[KoiOnline]

Thanks for all the replies. On the question about food, yes, we do have very good locally produced food and I prefer that. The Hikari etc, are normally quite old by the time it reaches our shelves.

I do not have a lot of expectations on these koi except for the Ochiba's. However, I love to experiment and have produced quite a few very interesting fish. There is always a very interesting fish that pops out that are worth growing on, and I am going to keep a few to see how they end up.

They do not live up to the standards of the Japanese koi which I import, but somehow they are more special, purely because I bred them myself. It is fun and exciting.

Yes, there are only 13 formal varieties, but it is still nice to at least classify fish under these varieties and their sub varieties, and to see at a later stage if your assesment was correct, and that is one of the aspects of Koi keeping that makes the hobby so fascinating.

Thanks again for the replies.

[Erns]

Hi Paul

I think these will grow well in those mudponds you were planing!

How big was the Soragoi female? I think the ones to keep would be the Ochibas if the hi on the kohaku male was good?

I've got a 70cm Goromo female and just got a male. We should spawn them in spring as a joint effort to learn from if your ponds are ready.

[KoiOnline]

Hi Erns

Sounds like a very good idea. Just waiting for final approval of subdivion before starting the mud dams. The dams (12) should be ready by spring. Will let you know.

[Spudsy]

i think the last few look more like ginrin kujakus, time will tell i guess