Naturally large
When I started to research breeding koi, I kept coming across the term "Toby". Bit of a strange one, with it being a person's name - but I gather in Japan this is what they call the fastest growing fry. In fact, it was pointed out to me that you don't want these "Toby" fish knocking around because they get big by eating the other fry and never end up looking good. So, the idea is to pick them out at an early stage to save the smaller fish which have more potential.
At first selection on the kohaku's, I found, 5 to 10 (out of c.20k) fry which were around twice the size of the others. A few of these had a pattern, and I hung onto them. Problem was - they eat the other fry. So, I couldnt keep these patterned Toby fish with my keepers because they'd whittle them down.
So I kept the Toby fish in a large cage net with a few hundred of their brothers and sisters for company. They've been moderately fed, compared to the main keepers which have been heavily fed.
The Toby fish still grew.
With the heavy feeding in my main keepers tank, those fish are now around the same size as the Toby fish so I moved the patterned Toby fish into my keepers tank now that I'm more confident they will behave themselves. They measured in at 16cm last weekend.
What's pleasing about this is that I can compare the lengths of the other fish in the keepers tank against these two - just visually while they are swimming around. And it looks like I'll have plenty to choose from at my club's annual Garden show in 2 weeks time.
At first selection on the kohaku's, I found, 5 to 10 (out of c.20k) fry which were around twice the size of the others. A few of these had a pattern, and I hung onto them. Problem was - they eat the other fry. So, I couldnt keep these patterned Toby fish with my keepers because they'd whittle them down.
So I kept the Toby fish in a large cage net with a few hundred of their brothers and sisters for company. They've been moderately fed, compared to the main keepers which have been heavily fed.
The Toby fish still grew.
With the heavy feeding in my main keepers tank, those fish are now around the same size as the Toby fish so I moved the patterned Toby fish into my keepers tank now that I'm more confident they will behave themselves. They measured in at 16cm last weekend.
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| the patterns don't grab me, but the body shape does. And the white skin on both of these fish is also good. But, there is a pattern present and my aim with these fish is to see how big I can grow them and to find out how they develop during that process |
What's pleasing about this is that I can compare the lengths of the other fish in the keepers tank against these two - just visually while they are swimming around. And it looks like I'll have plenty to choose from at my club's annual Garden show in 2 weeks time.
