WHAT DO YOU ASPIRE FOR

[kimr]

Hi All

I have been watching some video's recently and looking at some stunning Koi in members pond's and dealers and also Japan, and the quality of the Koi is outstanding to the point of taking your breath away. The more I look at these Koi the more I realise they are so out of my league. Not just price wise, but even with the one's I can afford I doubt I would be able to give them conidtions they need to stay the same let alone improve. I have had some good success with a couple of Koi, my best Koi was a Chagoi from Koi Water Barn brought in October 2005 at 15cms and cost £17.95, by july 2007 she had reached 62.5, and in March 2010 she was 77.5 cms. Sadly I lost her through egg impaction, but did she do well because of the way I looked after her, or was it just in her make-up that made her grow to that size.

I am trying to buy better quality Koi, but am I wasting my time, that is where I am at at the moment.

So what do you aspire to, I would be really interested in views

Thanks guys

[Gazza]

Hi Kim,

I think we all gradually move forward to trying to get some better quality fish and with that comes the evolution of looking after them better and giving them the conditions they need to achieve their full potential.

But its not just about the money there are many good quality fish out there that don't cost a fortune and have the ability to grow well.As i think you have pointed out the fish has to have the good genetics to grow to a good size so knowing a bit about the breeder and parent stock can be a big help. Chagoi and any single colourd fish will grow to a good size most of the time so they are a safe bet and the more complicated the fish is say Showa or Sanke then these normally tend to be a bit harder to do than single coloured fish.

Then comes the problem of trying to grow them to a good size and keeping the quality of the fish and thats down to the water quality and how good you look after the system how it performs but thats another topic

[kimr]

Hi Gazza

I guess what you are talking about being another subject is RO. As you know I looked into using the RO before I moved up here, but I didn't feel confident enough to go down that road at the time. I am still not sure I am 100% about it but I am doing a lot research about it again. But say I don't go down that road do I have the options with out it, I think not. Looking at the quality of some of you guy's Koi and I shudder at the thought of me even trying to get mine to look anything like that. But does that mean I have to settle for slow growing ok Koi. I am not asking these question's because I want to go into showing them, that is the last thing I would want to do, as my nerve's couldn't stand it. But I would really love some stunning Koi of good size and quality. My water keeping is ok, and I know I can treat most thing's if the need arises, but do I have to have heat and RO to get the growth potential. I purchased some Ogata Koi last year of much better quality and I know I am getting growth from some of them as I am finding loads and loads of differant size teeth this year, but we are having some good spells of heat this year which we don't normally have so that is proberly helping a lot in the gowth side of thing's.

Onwards and upwards so they say

[Gazza]

Hi Kim,

No you don't have to run RO water what i was meaning is getting the water in the best condition you can with what you are working with. By this i mean good filtration and keeping on top of things making sure all is as clean as it possibly can be. The better quality fish you can buy of course will have a great impact in how good they come out and then there is trying to pick one which will come good

Heat is a big part of growing a fish and especially when younger say Tosai which is when they need the heat to grow on but this does not mean they will not grow in an unheated pond many have done well in the UK in unheated ponds.