Grow out Showa

[Birdman]

Here a couple of pictures of the showa I got for our club grow out contest. Don't know who the breeder is but Matthew will know. it was 5 1/2 inches when I got it in July and is 10 inches now. Male or female? Any guesses? Any future potential?

[MATTHEW]

Nice looken fish... Isa is the man.........

[PapaBear]

I wish I knew more about Showa development firsthand
The beni looks to be going south, particularly in the dorsal area... but I hear that with some bloodlines it is fairly common for it to fall off early and then rise up again later. The sumi seems more stable from the first photo to the last and has kept up with the growth better.
I hope others with more expertise will speak up because I have a LOT to learn about showa development

[Birdman]

Both photos were taken today, just different sun angle. Here's some of when I got it in July, Pics not very good.

[dick benbow]

Larry here is a lesson on the pecs for showa and a way to see things from a positive nature for this koi.

take a look at the last pics taken when steve first got the koi. The pecs were full of black but if you look close at the first pic on the left you will see that the leading thicker ray of the pec is white. This is an indicator that as this koi grows there is the opportunity for the black to crawl back and produce the motoguro that we all desire. A solid black leading ray and chances greatly diminish for this to happen. So there is a start for you.

here's another, many times with tosai showa a false black covers the body/tail section and then later reduces to reveal a tail stop red that wan't noticed before. Steve's koi obviously never it had it to begin with. BUT many do, and in selecting a koi ( steve got his in a blind drawing ) even if you have to put it in a pan and take it outside study that last inch or so of the body at the tail and look for any hint of red. Many times those selecting showa tosai get discouraged because there is no red tailstop in the group they have to select from...so keep this in mind as it may give you an extra advantage in your search...

in addition to Isa, daiinichi, and igarashi kazuto as well as Sakai of isawa and hiroshima... make some awesome showa koi....

[MATTHEW]

You will have a better idea in 7 years as to how it will finish. That is what Rod told me.. See any good ones????

[dick benbow]

a few years back Matthew, when bluewater first started getting some of Isa's showa tosai in, I went thru the entire batch and upgraded about 3 or 4 for Rod as i remember...these olde eyes work better from a tub of live fish then a photo.......Lol! I like your goshiki...( go shee key ) or as Mat from Quality koi calls it (well Ross does too! ) gosh-key

[PapaBear]

It is official... photos suck for Koi evaluation The lighting and photo angle difference between the first two made the beni look months apart from each other to me
Now, comparing only the two facing right (which really are months apart ) I can see the difference in pec development you were talking about Dick. In the relatively short time there does seem to be some of the "right direction" change you mentioned. The sumi does seem to be cleaning up some of the blurry look around the edges in the head/shoulder area (or it may just be the photo's). Beyond that I don't see much in the way of change other than the body maturing.
One observation and question about beni. Does the window in the Dorsal Beni cause a demerit in showa the way it does in sanke and kohaku? It looks like it may break open toward the lateral line anyway, but I wondered if it even mattered on a showa. As a matter of personal taste it makes no difference to me either way. Just wondering from a relative "value" standpoint.
Matthew... I'll tell you what I CAN'T see in that bowl... any bad looking ones Christmas is coming and there are visions of showa plums dancing in my head

[dick benbow]

liked your christmas analogy larry...LOL turkey's not even cold and already the talk is of Christmas....

I think it would be a fair statement to say of gosanke beni, since they compete for the prestigeous title of GC, that what applies to kohaku and sanke would also be applicable for showa. ( I have it on good authority that a stealth showa will be in the running for the all japan show and likely to take it....)