opinions on this kohaku

[bush2131]

It is about 5 inches so i know its small but wanted to watch it delvelop. What do you thinks it potential is?

[MikeM]

I cannot really evaluate based on the photo. For a small tosai, the body looks good and the ginrin is excellent. Perhaps too finished for just 5 inches? ....A contender for Baby Champ maybe.

BTW, I think it unusual to see a 5" tosai this time of year, unless the spawning was in Florida in March... or in SE Asia?

[bush2131]

It is from quality koi in NJ. When you say too finished can you explain more what you mean?

[MikeM]

Since the photo is not close-up, I used 'perhaps', because I really cannot see the Hi as well as I would like. The phrase 'too finished' refers to how far along a koi has developed in relation to its size. There really isn't such a thing as 'too finished'. A koi has either reached the point of its pigments having developed or it hasn't. (And, oftentimes you do not know until the koi has passed the point of having fully developed pigment and has reached a plateau or is actually showing some decline in the pigment stability.) For a 5-inch koi I would be wanting the pigment to be more immature than the photo makes the pigment appear on your koi. That is because I want koi that will grow large, with the pigment progressing slowly in pace with the growth of the body. In other words, I do not want one that could contend for Baby Champion. It's a personal preference.

That yours was raised in NJ is an important piece of information. NKF has its main spawnings in late spring, but I know they also had some late summer spawnings last year. I do not know which spawnings produced yours. If yours is now a full year old, it is certainly on the small side. But if it was from a late summer spawning, it is 'normal' sized for its age.

Back to the gin rin... It is excellent. You just don't see such even, consistent rows of gin rin very often. And capturing it in a photo is quite a feat. I say I do not care for gin rin koi, and mostly I do not. However, there are gin rin Kohaku coming out of NKF and gin rin Showa out of Japan that are making me re-evaluate my bias. How about posting a progress photo in September? I'd like to see how the gin rin developes after a season of growth.

[bush2131]

Thanks for the explanation mike. i have had a few say it looks to finished but nobody went into detail. I plan on keeping track of how this grows and changes to try and learn more of what to look for in smaller koi.