late summer kohaku's - selection
We seine netted the late summer kohaku's and selected through them yesterday.
You may notice the body shapes are different to the early summer spawning. There are more koi with prettier patterns, and far less koi with red in the fins than the early summer ones. Interesting results at the 3 inch stage and I will start to have a better idea on their future potential at the next stage.
Size wise - average length of 3 inches, with the largest ones at 4 inches and the smallest ones at 2.5 inches, and maybe just under.
For a spawning that reached 1 inch faster than anything else I've bred - and they were quick to 2 inches. Thereafter , the extra cm's have come harder than with the early summer kohakus. Could be weather conditions - shorter days, and lower temperatures. Particularly at the time of harvest - and I wonder whether they simply took some time to adapt to moving from the fry pond to the recirculation pond - because growth over the last couple of weeks has noticeably increased and fingers crossed it carries on like that.
I have my new air source heat pump in place, and I am using that to keep the growing on tanks at around 24 degrees C. We're still feeding manually and I really must sort some auto feeders because I think we could get an extra feed in that way.
In the next couple of weeks I need to finish off insulating the pipes and filters, and the inevitable pond covers will have to go into place.
I kept 282, and 322 were moved into my "for ebay" tank.
With light fading at the end of the day - I just had time to take group shots of all 282 for the record. here's a selection of the pics:
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| Clocked this one at the previous selection, and I might have mentioned it in the blog. I havent got a clue whether this is going to be the best thing since sliced break or a big mistake. It's my "leopard" kohaku. It divides opinion even in the Byer household, so goodness knows what everyone else will make of it. Aside from pattern - I'm a little concerned body shape wise about the transition from the centre of the fish to the tail section - it seems to cut in a bit rather (ie, a little concave line) than have a nice flowing (convex) arc from nose to tail. And the head looks a little short. Overall size at the moment is pretty good compared to it's peers. Lets see how the body develops and it won't be difficult to pick this one out next time around |
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| I've kept the benigoi with the black mark. Just need a few more of those to come through on it's back. I'm giving it one, possibly two more selections. |
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| Will the hi thicken, will the body in the rear half sure up a bit to give me nice flowing arcs from nose to tail? With a memorble pattern, I should be able to pick this one out at the next selection to check on progress |
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| This is how I typically take the photos; a group of koi go into the bowl. Black plastic sheet behind, and I take the picture from the front usually with a flash. |
You may notice the body shapes are different to the early summer spawning. There are more koi with prettier patterns, and far less koi with red in the fins than the early summer ones. Interesting results at the 3 inch stage and I will start to have a better idea on their future potential at the next stage.
