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