Beni Surgical Alteration

[Lam Nguyen]

There is a kohaku that I am very interested in that has a very nice thick pattern. The only fault is she has a small beni spot on her eyelid. I have read that the Japanese breeders/hobbyists use razor blades to scrape off beni on tanchos to make the beni pattern more round. To date, I have not heard anything about scraping/removing beni spot that is found on koi eyelids. Has any of you had any experience with this? If so, what was the outcome? Any suggestion is much appreciated.

[PapaBear]

Working on eyelids is something I wouldn't want to try myself. It just seems that there is too little skin to work with and too much potential for noticeable damage left behind. Even lemon juice would seem risky to me as damage to the eye itself from the acid would be possible.

[Eugeneg]

Quote: Originally Posted by Lam Nguyen There is a kohaku that I am very interested in that has a very nice thick pattern. The only fault is she has a small beni spot on her eyelid. I have read that the Japanese breeders/hobbyists use razor blades to scrape off beni on tanchos to make the beni pattern more round. To date, I have not heard anything about scraping/removing beni spot that is found on koi eyelids. Has any of you had any experience with this? If so, what was the outcome? Any suggestion is much appreciated.

I asked Mr Maeda a simmilar question . The answer was that you could remove weak beni by removing scales with a scapel but you should only do it on young fish and generally not done unless a client asks for it. I f there are no scales I do not think anything can be done.
Regards
Eugene

[schildkoi]

Lam,
Leave the eyelids alone...not worththe risk. Other skin places can be done and farely easily but on an eyedlid you run the risk of easily damaging the eye itself.

Steve

[aquitori]

How distracting is the beni on the eye? You have a pic Lam?

[Fishbreeder]

As far as I'm concerned "winter work" (altering patterns with dremel tools, etc.) is beneath contempt, a disservice to the fish, the customer, the hobby and a taint on the breeder/dealer that participates in such.

Koi are supposed to be examples of natural beauty. If we are to doctor them all up to try and make them look like something they are now, might as well make sculptures of koi and paint them like you want, instead of appreciating living, natural beauty.

Brett

[Lam Nguyen]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I kinda suspected that this would be the response. Just trying to get a feel for how many hobbyists are involved in altering their koi's looks.

Steve, I will leave the beni spot alone....in fact, I won't even purchase the koi in case I am tempted to do some surgical manipulations on that beni spot.

Tony, come to think of it, the beni spot on the eyelid is not as distracting as I thought it would be.

Brett, you brought up a good point about appreciating koi for what they are, as living, natural beauty. I know that it's kinda crude of me to bring this topic up. It's just that I have seen so many tanchos with perfectly round beni spots that there is no way that Mother Nature can create such naturally round spots. So I suspect there has to be, as you termed it, some "winter works" involved. Also, I have heard of shimi being removed and weak secondary beni being rubbed off with lemon juice that I thought I would ask to see if there is a safe and humane method of removing beni spots on eyelids.

[dinh]

well, here is the Sanke that has Beni on both eyes.... anyone willing to proceed for Beni Surgical Alternation ?

-D

[aquitori]

Quote: Originally Posted by dinh well, here is the Sanke that has Beni on both eyes.... anyone willing to proceed for Beni Surgical Alternation ? -D

The great thing about this hobby is nothing is ever prefect and nothing is the same. As the hobby being what it is presentation comes into play which is the artistic side. The Sanke that Dinh has post with the beni on both eyes doesnt distract one bit, but makes the overall look balance. What I usually tell hobbyist is when looking at koi you should always start with the head then work your way towards the tail. When you have done then back way a bit and look at the overall presences of the fish.

Dinh, you have a pleasing look to your Sanke and it is very "soft" to the eyes. The bodyline frames the pattern great and the beni on the upper part of the eyes adds character.

[l113892]

Lam-

In a recent issue of Nichirin(Dec 2008) there is an article on Tancho. There is a Tancho Sanke on page 39 with hi on the eyelids. The breeder- Marusei, expects that the hi will disappear as the fish gets older, at least that's what the English version of the magazine suggests.




Mike Pfeffer