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Posted by JR
on 2/3/2009, 1:00 pm
71.187.170.238
One of the common topics that tends to separate beginning koi keepers from advanced keepers, ponders from specialized koi pond keepers and pond owners from 'koi kichi's' is the idea that some varieties of koi are more worthy of our energies than others.
This misunderstanding has in turn, spawned words like “elitist”, “ koi Snobs”, “ Japanophile” and “ Just God’s way of telling you that you have too much money”! 
Most of us, in the beginning of the journey into this hobby are initially drawn to the many different colors , patterns and of course, the general size of these fish when compared to typical pond fish like goldfish. And each one seems more amazing that the other! This tends to all produce predictable and understandable transitional steps like Noah’s ark syndrome ( the desire to collect two of every kind!). Of particular draw for the newbie is the shiny and the sparkly. These fish are so bold in their presence that they can hypnotize the viewer who has never seen such a creature before. Another crowd pleaser is the brightly colored black, white and red combinations on scaleless skin- and in black and white, images of killer whales can even be conjured up. And finally the BIG fish in all yellow or all silver never fails to evoke excited comments from a fish time viewer.
These are all important ‘ambassadors’ in the introduction of Nishikigoi to the un-initiated, no doubt. But like most interests in life, there usually is a learning curve that increases both understanding and a refined eye for the subject. And like many learning experiences, we only know what we didn’t know until we have learned more.
So why are the shiny and sparkly ones not as they appear to the beginner? The simple answer can be found in time. Most hikari and ginrin varieties are transitional. Meaning that the majority will only be small for a year or so and the majority with tend, as they grow, to loose that ‘look’ of shiny and sparkliness in relatively short order. In addition, metallic fish will develop tarnished areas in the head and face with time. This is why, at least traditionally, there was a pricing ‘cast system’ when breeders had a more honest approach to such things. Males were much cheaper than females and certain novelty varieties were a fraction of the cost of the focused varieties. And much of the mis-teaching and marketing in order to stretch profit margins among the unsophisticated has buried true understanding of nishikigoi while actually promoting and improving the number of koi being sold. It is quite ironic that in the beginning, the Japanese amateur and the Japanese breeder/dealer were a synergistic duo for promoting both export sales from Japan as well as fundamental knowledge and now the lopsided shift of power to the commercial side has continued the expansion of sales ( loss for the Japanese as all others can under price) and the core knowledge of nishikigoi is becoming more and more murky. And do not confuse my words, please! Buzz words like ‘kiwa’ and ‘sashi’ are common place now when compared to their use fifteen years ago, yet understanding of levels of varieties is often producing cases of ‘ emperors without clothes’. Calls for champion B and C may be evidence of this?
Coming back on message, koi are not just random breeds. Koi are levels of added recessive and mutant genes added in a systematic way over time. And this is a two tiered effort- first the adding on and systematic introduction of a single mutation and on another track- a piling up of all mutation traits included the most refined ones of pattern and color intensity, in ONE breed.
So like a juggler who starts his act with tossing a single ball, then adds two and three and four and five— the talent and end product becomes more and more remarkable as rarer and rarer talent is demonstrated before the eyes of the audience. In the case of nishikigoi the ‘top acts’ are the gosanke. These are also the most expensive fish. But the price tag ‘tail’ does not wag the accomplished ‘dog’. The price reflects rarity. And although kohaku are often thought of as the ‘best’, in truth, they are not the rarest. Great sanke and great showa are the rarest and seek remarkable prices from the most sophisticated collector. Any breeder or sophisticated dealer will concur with that statement as they know just how rare a world class showa and sanke really are. Indeed the number of individuals needed to produce even sellable off spring is an exercise in frustration with yields being as low as they are. And to get a few that grow large, and carry the ‘look’ ,against all nature’s odds and dominate genetic desires, is truly the needle in a hay stack.
Now compare this to a nice yamabuki. Yamabuki is a crowd pleaser- after all, what’s not to like! Bright, powerful, glowing, clean, almost like a polished metal or gold. But lets diagram the fish—
wild type pattern
ONE solid mutation color
Line bred for uniformity of color and luster.
The yield for good breeders in Japan for this variety might be as high as 70-80%. A good cash crop fish.
What would you guess/estimate the yield is for sanke? And can you list the pattern type, mutation (s) and line breeding effort and result?
- JR
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