Went to buy some clay for my new pond and was offered this fish at R1800

Female Kuchibeni Sanke at around 50cm's. I think it's a bargain and will be taking her next week.

I think she is beautiful and I have been searching for a while for a nice sanke....they're just so difficult to come by.

Your thoughts?

Sorry for poor pics....but like I said, just went there to buy clay and this sanke just stood out for me in a big way.

I really like this fish!

very nice body shape for a female sanke, if you keep her in good water conditions and feed her properly. For her to reach 80cm or above is not difficult.

I got there and saw this sanke in the one pond and pointed it out to a colleague of mine that was with me, when the salesman got there I asked him if there was anything on the floor that he would recommend and he went straight to this fish and recommended her. Said they had her for R5000 recently and need to clear out some fish so have now dropped her price to R1800.

I cannot wait to get her!!!!

My pond should be ready by wexnesday next week, will collect and add her then.

Hi Cliff,

At first glance a nice fish,

My concerns however is that the shashi is not good, not sure if it will come right.

Kuchibeni refers to lipstic and this fish has the hi too much on the nose to be called that. IMO it only has a red nose.

The hi on the head could have been more towards the nose past the eyes.

All that said it is still a nice fish to own and the price is not bad, I think those were the reasons for the reduction

Good potential and a good buy. Hopefully the sumi will come up / develop at the right places.

I agree with Neville that it is not strictly speaking a Kuchibeni.

The hi on the nose in my opinion makes up for the fact that the hi does not extend far enough between the eyes.

Cliff,

It is not that good photo to begin with, and as always is it difficult to judge a Koi from a photo.

Normally the black on Sanke is stronger on the tail-side of the fish, but the black on the fish is strong on the front part already, as if on a “finished” Sanke. (Taking in account that it is already 50cm long.)
So if the black “finished” the shashi (scales overlap in front of the red pattern) will not become better, although the kiwa (the back of the red pattern) has a clean cut finish.

I feel that the prize is a bit high for this fish.
Where did you purchase the fish?
Do you know the bloodline?

A good pond fish, but if you like it, goes for it!

I personally think, a koi should be judged in 3 different areas:

1) Body Shape
2) Colour
3) Pattern

For this Sanke, at my opinion:

1) Body Shape = good
2) Colour = good (white is snow white, sumi is very dark and shinny, at least the hi on the body and the head are similar)
3) Pattern = ok, but not good.

It's very difficult to find a koi which will be good in all 3 of those areas, so it's up to the koi keeper to choose and think about which of those 3 areas are more important than the other area.

By the way, i am sure this sanke haven't finished yet.

Both the hi and sumi still got sashi. Also, the sashi is quite even from the photo. Which is a good thing.

Hope this help....^^

I like it a lot.

I managed to get some better pics, hopefully these are better for everyone

Hi CLIFF

A very pleasent looking sanke.
Bargain for that size.
Skin quality look excellent ,nice white and even Hi.
Sumi still seems to be coming out on shoulder, good body.

Sumi not well balanced as rear is lacking it,and sumi should rather be on shiroji and not too much on Hi. Sumi should look like stepping on sanke.

Enjoy the fish not a bad buy

Anver

Went past today and had another look at this sanke....bowled a smaller sanke which was nice and a third of the price......but in the end went with this sanke........just something about it that I really like....also a 50cm sanke like this one for R1900 (they had it at R5500 not long ago) which I eventually bargained down to R1550 is definitely a bargain.

I'm so happy with my new purchase and I hope the fish will have many more years in my pond

Out of the showas, and other fish I was looking to purchase I am very happy that I decided to go with this sanke.

cheers

Hi Cliff

As I have said before it is a nice fish the red nose I likem At the end of the day it is also important, no matter what everyone else says, You have to like it.

Nice fish will look good in the pond.

Hi,

I got this Sanke for R 2500-00
It is a Female, 45cm: Breeder is Mayaishi,Japan.

What did you pay for the showa and who did you buy them thru??

your sanke is nice, bit skinny for my liking but nice........and at a grand less I'm pretty satisfied with my purchase.

On your sanke the head is pointy where mine is quite broad, what does that mean on a fish?

I really like mine, and just like the body and head etc...got a feeling this could become a nice big fish.

Also, think you have a much better camera that they do there at loolilocks

Pieter, that is very very nice and a bargain at that price.

I like it. buy it. Its better than those terrible showas.

Hi Paul,

Thanks. I agree it was a bargain

Cliff,

Got it from The Koi Farm ( Mario Wilkin) in Wakerville. The fish was imported by Billy Pretorius, South African Agent for KoiBio S.A.

http://www.koibito-southafrica.com/

Hi Pieter,

I know this fish well, helped Mario pick it. It turned out excellent, very good quality and definitely in a class of its own, not to be compared.

Just want to know something here, when my fish was photographed the pictures did not come out so nice. Did you buy a new camera.

Neville,

No, the fish is much better!

Use the small Kodak 650 with UV Lens.

Baie mooi Pieter. Jou vrou s'n?

Ja Jack dit is haar vis onthou hy is werkloos, kan nie vis koop nie.

Jack,

Nee jong sy hou van "glitter", net GinRin Koi vir haar!