Preview of tosai selection
I have the week off work! Enjoying some family time, and ... getting on top of some koi jobs too.
The growing on tanks are bursting at the seams, and we've made the decision to cut short the growing on phase and perform our selections... tomorrow! We will go through the May, June and July 16 spawnings tomorrow - the best few will be put into our females tank to continue growing on this summer. The rest, will be on the move.
the august 16 spawning will stay put for now. but this may also get some selection attention later in the week.
A week ago, I pulled out 10 of the larger tosai from the may, june and july 16 spawnings, to measure growth and gauge their development. I netted a few of the better ones that I'd been keeping an eye out for, but not just the better ones... basically, what ever I was able to catch quickly.
The koi were very flighty , and I found putting two into each inspection bowl helped keep them calm long enough for me to take pics and get a measurement more easily.
Here's a log of the output from that day:
Inspection bowl 1: 37cm, and 37cm
Now, before you say anything... I know the tancho spot is too far forwards, and not symmetrical. Nevertheless... this is a distinctive koi that I've been able to spot easily in the tank each time I'm observing the fish. and, the body shape has kept me fascinated. One of the best growers, currently 37cm. And this was spawned in the last week in June. That's not bad going! The June spawning was using our female, 'sharkey'. So, a different female to the one we had success with the previous two years. And, the shape on this tosai is more cigar like - long and thin - compared to previous years. And, there are a few examples like that from this spawning. It's easier to make out in the video.
click - youtube link
Inspection bowl 2 - 34cm and 34cm
the 4 step is one I've been watching closely, and I commented on it in my last blog post.
the other one has a different type of hi (red) compared to the 4 step above.
And some video:
click - youtube link
Inspection bowl 3: 37.5cm and 34cm
One of a few fish that we might start calling, 'the beast of bovingdon'. based on size... certainly been eating more than it's fair share of pellets, this one!
the next one, is one of my favourites. for a few reasons - I'm very happy with the way the red is developing on this one. It's achieved a good size, and hasn't developed a belly with all that eating its been doing. But the thing that always get me with this fish... is.....
the pattern. which you can see below. we're calling it the 'ray of sunshine' fish. there's the sun, on the shoulder, with the rays of sunshine spreading out along it's back and side. I know the hi plate at the tail end doesn't quite fit in, but I just ignore that bit :-)
click - youtube link
Inspection bowl 4: 35.5cm, and 31cm
The first fish is one of the smaller ones in the tank, and it measured in at a tidy 31.5cm. So, still a good grower, albeit not at the top end of what we've achieved. but bear in mind I also have another tank of fish from the same spawnings - of which this would probably be the largest. So, it's all relative.
this is one that we profiled when Mark Gardener joined us for one of the early selections on the june 16 spawning. it's growing well - currently 36cm. the red appears to be deep. much will depend on how the pattern develops on this fish - whether the hi breaks into separate hi plates on the back, or whether they join. body wise, it's long and thin - and will be an interesting one to watch.
and some video:
click - youtube link
Inspection bow 5: 36cm and 34cm
We had a brief look at these two in the last blog post... Out of the two, it's the 3 step I'm most interested in for the nissai stage. the other one has a chunky head, and strong shoulders - plus a pretty pattern. it's the kind of tosai that I will have to consider carefully tomorrow. not sure whether it will make the cut to be grown on to nissai... lets see how it stacks up agains the others. I'll only be keeping around 20 or so.. at the max! preferably, around 10,..
and some video:
click - youtube link
that's it for now. I'll be taking pictures and measurements of all the keepers at tomorrow selection, which I'll share in the following days.
The growing on tanks are bursting at the seams, and we've made the decision to cut short the growing on phase and perform our selections... tomorrow! We will go through the May, June and July 16 spawnings tomorrow - the best few will be put into our females tank to continue growing on this summer. The rest, will be on the move.
the august 16 spawning will stay put for now. but this may also get some selection attention later in the week.
A week ago, I pulled out 10 of the larger tosai from the may, june and july 16 spawnings, to measure growth and gauge their development. I netted a few of the better ones that I'd been keeping an eye out for, but not just the better ones... basically, what ever I was able to catch quickly.
The koi were very flighty , and I found putting two into each inspection bowl helped keep them calm long enough for me to take pics and get a measurement more easily.
Here's a log of the output from that day:
Inspection bowl 1: 37cm, and 37cm
Now, before you say anything... I know the tancho spot is too far forwards, and not symmetrical. Nevertheless... this is a distinctive koi that I've been able to spot easily in the tank each time I'm observing the fish. and, the body shape has kept me fascinated. One of the best growers, currently 37cm. And this was spawned in the last week in June. That's not bad going! The June spawning was using our female, 'sharkey'. So, a different female to the one we had success with the previous two years. And, the shape on this tosai is more cigar like - long and thin - compared to previous years. And, there are a few examples like that from this spawning. It's easier to make out in the video.
click - youtube link
Inspection bowl 2 - 34cm and 34cm
the 4 step is one I've been watching closely, and I commented on it in my last blog post.
the other one has a different type of hi (red) compared to the 4 step above.
And some video:
click - youtube link
Inspection bowl 3: 37.5cm and 34cm
One of a few fish that we might start calling, 'the beast of bovingdon'. based on size... certainly been eating more than it's fair share of pellets, this one!
the next one, is one of my favourites. for a few reasons - I'm very happy with the way the red is developing on this one. It's achieved a good size, and hasn't developed a belly with all that eating its been doing. But the thing that always get me with this fish... is.....
the pattern. which you can see below. we're calling it the 'ray of sunshine' fish. there's the sun, on the shoulder, with the rays of sunshine spreading out along it's back and side. I know the hi plate at the tail end doesn't quite fit in, but I just ignore that bit :-)
click - youtube link
Inspection bowl 4: 35.5cm, and 31cm
The first fish is one of the smaller ones in the tank, and it measured in at a tidy 31.5cm. So, still a good grower, albeit not at the top end of what we've achieved. but bear in mind I also have another tank of fish from the same spawnings - of which this would probably be the largest. So, it's all relative.
this is one that we profiled when Mark Gardener joined us for one of the early selections on the june 16 spawning. it's growing well - currently 36cm. the red appears to be deep. much will depend on how the pattern develops on this fish - whether the hi breaks into separate hi plates on the back, or whether they join. body wise, it's long and thin - and will be an interesting one to watch.
and some video:
click - youtube link
Inspection bow 5: 36cm and 34cm
We had a brief look at these two in the last blog post... Out of the two, it's the 3 step I'm most interested in for the nissai stage. the other one has a chunky head, and strong shoulders - plus a pretty pattern. it's the kind of tosai that I will have to consider carefully tomorrow. not sure whether it will make the cut to be grown on to nissai... lets see how it stacks up agains the others. I'll only be keeping around 20 or so.. at the max! preferably, around 10,..
and some video:
click - youtube link
that's it for now. I'll be taking pictures and measurements of all the keepers at tomorrow selection, which I'll share in the following days.
