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It’s a year since my Tosai 2010 project started, I spent the afternoon pulling out the crew from the growing on tank for a measure up.
The Momataro Showa came in at 12-15cm, 30 in the box we picked up from Heathrow. They are now 55 to 61cm, nothing great quality wise but great fun. The third fish in the pics is going to be a true monster.
The Matsue Kohaku were a tad larger 15-20cm, here’s a quick clip; tosaidave on Vimeo
I’ve moved a few of them into the main pond but 3 Mutts remain here in the growing on, Jury’s out on the 5 step, skinny frame - but he just keeps getting longer.
Dave
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As a newbie to the whole Koi thing its great to see how Koi can grow so much in a short space of time in the correct conditions. You obviously know what your doing Dave, well done mate.
LOVE seeing these updates - please keep them up Dave, more than anything else your update record is so educational and of real interest to me that like to picture what may happen and then seeing what really happens so well recorded.
Thanks Dave - keep updates coming, they are a real credit to you and your skills.
Skills; All I do is feed em, well erm, more precisely the auto feeder does that.
I didn’t select these babes other than ask a trusted dealer to pick out a few little red and white ones when he was in Japan in the autumn of 2010.
The Showa were a bonus and my interest comes in seeing how fish from this fairly new Mako line develop over time, the line has the potential to produce big fish but how they would develop was far from clear. There’s a crew of their siblings enjoying a spartan existence in the wildlife pond without soft water and at lower temps and it will be interesting to see how they compare come the spring.
I will be very interested in the comparison between the au natural pond and the pampered existence . How did you make the choice about which went where?
Looking at the early pics I would have been most attracted to the frist showa I think... the update pics I like the last [4th] - from the pic the sumi seems to be superb and very promising based on the 2 lines near the head. I like more 'white' usually but that sumi quality looks so good.
The sumi really is 'working' - I have a sekiguchi showa I got from gatwick last year that is very slow on sumi development, something I actually like weirdly... I posted about it at the time [as I do heh] it has the basics of showa I love and then the fun of sumi development - I think sekiguchi are slow with sumi development but it does come strong.. must tell bloop my showa that
What you are doing is something I would like to do myself when I have the infrastructure to do it. I have a trusted dealer looking for a particular variety for me, they know I will wait however long - new thing for me to trust someone to choose for me outside the fun of a G & S.
If the showa is relaxed will tug it out next couple of days with the G& S shiro and do an update for people to see my poor choosing qulaities .
New mako line Dave? interested to know more... isn't a mako a kind of shark
Yes from the original pics the first Showa has more going for it, the 4th one didn’t make the original cut but sneaked in via the back door.
It was pretty much a matter of drawing straws for those that ended up in the wildlife pond such is my confidence in my “spotting“ koi. I’d guess they are around 10cm behind the pampered ones BUT the colder temps and harder water have brought the Sumi out so are a lot more “finished”. Amongst their number is a little Kohaku that went Sanke on me that’s gonna be a very pretty fish so a nice little bonus.
Think the thing with Showa is patience, far too many look at a fish at a year or two old and are looking for all the perfect attributes, my take is that a decent Showa will evolve and mature like a good red wine, and hopefully peak when it’s reached a decent size. These Showa were not wallet numbing fish so I don’t expect too much and anything half decent is a bonus.
The third Showa in the pics has simply enormous depth in her body roughly 4” more than the rest, now she is either deformed, or I’ve ruined her, or she could just get massive.
Dave as always the boys and girls looking stunning. cant help it mate, but there is still something about that 5 step that floats my boat as it did on the first day we collected these and got them back to our growing on tank.
i shall try to get my showa out today when i catch my shiro up, although not having the growth that you have had this year i still am please that i got the showa that i did from you. Thankyou.
well i id manage to dive out between rain clouds today and get a few photo's. not great pics as the light wasnt right and i was in a bit of a hurry to get them photo'd before the rain came down and the water in the bowl became too cold (trust me it was bloody cold too).
anyway here is my Showa that i got from Dave's little ones.... nowhere near the same growth as his have had but thats another story...
A Year on - a few of the babes 
. How did you make the choice about which went where?
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