Hello Everyone

I'm a total Noob as far as Koi are concerned. I breed Parrots, and have been interested in Koi ever since I dived in Wondergat(1991) and found 2 beautiful Specimens swiming alongside us.

Any way I recently (10 months ago) converted my Rock Swiming Pool (13000 litre) into a Koi Pond, (much to the disgust of my kids). Originally I just added a single 15watt UV Light to the system and filled the pond with a LOT of "cullings" to be sure that the pond would one day be ok for some "decent" fish.

(I have resized these pictures for quick loading, I hope I havent reduced the quality too much. They weren't great to start off with.)

After visiting a pond in Mosselbay in December I returned home and installed a new filtration system. My water cleared up in a matter of days. I'm sure the "Bio" will still take a while to mature, however as the pond has had fish in it for almost a year already I rekon it is already well on its way.


Getting to the point of this post: I recently aquired 2 fish and would like your input. (the good, the Bad and the ugly) Unfortunatly once again the pictures are not great, but I'm sure you pro's will still be able to give some feedback.

This first one is i believe a 42 cm male Kohaku.




This Second Fish is a 43cm male Doitsu Showa.





PS. I have a lot of "Cullings" if there is anyone looking to get their new pond started.

Soz Guys - I'm located in Stanford, West Cape.

Hi Coldet

Welcome to the forum.

The Kohaku is a good pond fish the Hi Plate (Red Pattern) is to far back on the head ideally you would like it to be more forward between the eyes but not touching the upper lip. The Hi Plate is also to far back touching the tail we would like to see a clear stop of about 1-2cm and then the tail. The fish is nicely balanced and the pictorial fins are well formed. The body shape is that of a typical male not bad.

The Showa is also a nice pond fish for now we will have to see how it develops in the future, there is a lot of underlying sumi (Black) to develop. The Koi is well balanced a Showa should have a 1/3 Shiroji (White), 1/3 Hi (Red) and 1/3 Sumi (Black), all three these colours should preferable be preset on the face and head of the koi. A Showa also should have some motoguru (Black colour in the fins originating from the ball joint in the pictorial fins) in the pictorial fins.

Filtration

Very nice DIY job!

Just make sure that the holes in the fingers of your sand filter are adequate size so that it does not clot up very often. Also use koi sand and not swimming pool sand.

Also invest in a pond vac to get the debris out on the floor of the pond. It will help clear your water more.

Regards

Collin

It is always difficult to judge from a photo, especially if the fish was not bowled.

We can not really see the quality of the skin, especially the shiroji(white), although the quality looks good from what I can see.

As far as patterns are concerned, I agree 100% with Collin.

Nice pond and very practical filtration setup.

Wow guys thanks for the very quick and positive responces.

Quote :

It is always difficult to judge from a photo, especially if the fish was not bowled.

You should see my "Bowl" pictures. With all the "glare" they were far worse. I still have a lot to learn.

Quote :

there is a lot of underlying sumi (Black) to develop

I take it you're refering to the greyish marks on the head picture of the Showa. Will those actually still "surface"? and over what sort of time-frame are we talking about?

For me to be able to put things into perspective when buying fish what should I pay for fish like these two "pond fish"?

Quote :

use koi sand

Yes I found this out the hard way - boy did my filter stink. The pool sand was like concrete after the December holidays.

I think I'm happy with my filtration setup - however, I wish I had done a little more research and found your website before I put it all together. It would have been "Better".

Regarding the Pond Vacume. In the process of my ponds transformation, (pre - the new filter) I "Rock Walled" off the entire top step and filled it with fine sea sand, most of which eventually ended up in the bottom of the pond (talking about like 4 wheelbarrows). Very cleaver Colin.

With the installation of the new filter I removed 90% of the Wall. Getting the sand out of the bottom - omw what a job. I manually removed most of the sand (1.5m Deep) then formulated my own Pond Vacume (not knowing that such items are available) using a section of PVC piping a 15mm Irigation bend and a hose connector. The garden hose creates the flow up the pipe and exits the pool via the pool hose. It worked!

Regards

Colin

Hi Colin

Quote :

there is a lot of underlying sumi (Black) to develop

I take it you're refering to the greyish marks on the head picture of the Showa. Will those actually still "surface"? and over what sort of time-frame are we talking about?[quote]

Yes, it will still service the time I can not give you. Sumi come up and go down due to feeding and environmental conditions.

[quote]For me to be able to put things into perspective when buying fish what should I pay for fish like these two "pond fish"?[quote]

From R1000.00 to R2500.00 all depends where you buy from.

Regards

Collin

Hi Coldet

That kohaku of yours seem to be very simular in shape, size, head marking and pattern to my kohaku. Did you buy it from platinum koi?