ZNA 4th Koi Raring Competition- Sakai Kohaku

Overall 2nd Prize Winner(47cm) Nissai

On the 28th May 2006, ZNA Koi Club Malaysia has organized the 4th koi raring competition and each koi was priced at RM550.00. I have purchased 3 pieces for this competition in order to support the ZNA koi club after being encouraged by some committees and also mainly due to my personal enthusiasm and challenge. There were tank A and tank B to select from and each tank consists of 50 pieces of Sakai Kohaku. The three steps kohaku shown above was from tank A and I got the number A21. I was the 21st person to pick from tank A. As for the other two pieces of kohaku I purchased, I could not remember which tank I picked from.

After growing these three pieces for a few months, the first piece died due to my own mistake after putting too much salt in the pond. Then weeks later, another piece got crooked due to unknown reasons and I almost gave that koi away. But on the other hand, I was hoping that the koi will recover someday but to no avail and soon after that it died. So my only hope left with this three steps(sandan) male kohaku. I transferred this kohaku to my bigger pond of about 30 tons and started heavy feeding the fishes to build the body. Since it is a male fish, it can be much harder to increase the girth but somehow this kohaku is a good eater and I can slowly see significant growth in this fish. Regular and consistent water change is vital in order to maintain its eating habit as well as removal/reduction of ammonia,nitrite,and nitrate that comes from heavy feeding. After maintaining such feeding condition and stable water parameters, the colour begins improve and I can see shashi is tightening up as well as sharper and more prominent kiwa. White based has also improved together with its girth.

A few days before the competition, I started starving the fish to further improve the white and slight drop in body girth was observed but for a male fish, I personally think that it is still acceptable. I was quite confident that this fish would win a prize in the competition that was held on 23rd September 2007 and another experience koi hobbyist friend of mine said the same thing too. I was complacent and just hope for the best. True enough, it was voted the 2nd best fish by four local koi dealers as Judges out of approximately 20 pieces of fishes that came back for the competition . A total of 50 pieces were sold but only 40%(20 pieces) came back for the competition. This just goes to show the success rate to keep the koi alive and in good shape can be a difficult and challenging task.It is also an uphill task to improve the girth, colour, and quality besides keeping the fish alive.

As a 2nd prize winner I was awarded RM2000.00 and 50,000 yen voucher from Sakai Koi Farm, Japan. The first prize winner is a kohaku measuring 57cm owns by Mr. Soon Hui Cheong and he has got the number A26. Based on the result, it seems like koi from tank A is more promising than koi in tank B. In short, regardless of which number you pick during the selection of the koi raring competition, luck as well as koi keeping skill play an important role in winning. I hope more koi lovers would participate in the next koi raring competition and make it more fun if more participants are involved.

Happy Koi Keeping!!!

Malaysia Wakagoi Grand Champion 2006

This my Grand Champion Maruyama Kohaku. The first person I would like to thank is Luke Shori from Sentul Park Koi Centre for introducing such a beautiful and high quality koi at an affordable price.

And he took great care of this splendid koi since I purchased it in August(2005). He put tremendous effort in keeping this koi in good condition.This fish has never went home(owner's home) as Luke insist to rare the fish for me and worried that I might spoil the koi. If I were to bring it home, probably I would win the UGLIEST KOI contest.

As mentioned by Luke, the GC Sandan Maruyama Kohaku and another inazuma kohaku are the first two kois I bought from Sentul Park Koi.With no intention to purchase any koi at the time of the visit (August 2005),I stumbled upon these two kois in one of the ponds.I requested Luke to net it up immediately.

I was comparing these two kois I selected with the rest of the kois in the same pond that were purchased by other koi hobbyist. I was wondering why nobody picked these two kois. I talked to myself, are these two kois that bad until nobody is willing to take the risk in buying them or was it me that has a bad taste in selecting koi?

Upon careful inspection on these two kois, I find the quality and the body structure are superb and I have never seen such high quality koi sold for that price at any other koi shops elsewhere in Malaysia. I couldn't resist myself from purchasing them even though I have to break my "piggy bank" to pay for these two kois. I did hear some comments on this GC Sandan on why nobody purchased it. The comments are as follow:
1.) It has no odome. It is important for a kohaku to have an odome.Odome means white pattern
towards the end of the tail joint.
2.) The Menkaburi red pattern on the face covers the eye(but not covering the eye)
3.) It has a tiny shimi on the shoulder.
4.) The pattern is not balanced due to the third one sided hi step.

In my opinion, no fish is perfect. One has to look at the good feature of the fish before looking at the weakpoints. Why I think this fish is good? Here are the following reasons:
1.) It has a very good structure and has potential to grow big.
2.) Good Maruzome kiwa that makes the koi looks very appealing.
3.) Clean and clear cut sashi that is hardly found in female koi at this age.
4.) Bright pinkish-red hi plate that is sought after by most experienced koi hobbyist.
5.) No deformities and injury free.
6.) Good Lustre and imposing balance pattern(in my point of view).

With these good points, don't you think it can easily OVER SHADOWED those weak points that some hobbyist have mentioned? In fact those good points I mentioned are more important criterias in judging a kohaku than those weakpoints mentioned. This is something most hobbyist MUST LEARN if they want to improve and continue to flourish in this hobby.

Before the Wakagoi Show most experienced koi hobbyists could tell the GC Sandan is a good fish and I was told it is also a grand champion contender.

Well, I guess I have written enough about the GC Maruyama Sandan Kohaku
and this kohaku has proven that Winning a Grand Champion title does not necessarily requires a lot of money if one learn to right way to pick a future fish. Thank you for reading and what I wrote solely based on my experience and opinions.

Happy Koi Keeping!!!

For more stories and photos:
http://www.sentulpark-koi.com/spkcadmin/catalog/exchange/c258.html

My Koi Keeping History

Many may wonder how did I get started with koi keeping at such a young age. At the age of 14(1993), my family moved to a new house with enough space to build a landscaped koi pond and garden. My dad found a contractor to design and build a 5 tons waterfall koi pond and garden. Without much experience in koi keeping, we had to solely rely on the contractor to build us a koi pond that has an adequate filter system and crystal clear water for viewing pleasure. After the completion of the koi pond, we added some local kois as well as tropical fishes like patin, belida, lampan, gold fishes, and etc.

Later, we were given some imported Japanese koi by a serious koi hobbyist from Johor and we got fascinated with the colour and pattern. Somehow that still does not spark our interest in serious koi keeping.This hobby continued for a few years until early year 2000, when I purchased some local kois from a local market(Pasar Road) and added them into the pond. Unknowingly, the new kois spread diseases into my pond and it caused a major outbreak. Most of my kois were wiped out and only a few survived. Due to this outbreak, it sparked my interest to learn more about koi treatments and appreciations.

Since most of my kois died, my dad and I visited Cheras Aquarium to look for some new kois and we got so captivated with the size, girth, colour,pattern, and even the way koi fish swims. We purchased a few medium grade imported Japanese kois and from then on, we were very keen in learning nishikigoi better.