You know I had a 28" Momo Showa that was a tweener, right?
The vent, to me, is still indeterminate. But, like my koi, the absolute best time to use the vent was when the koi had more of a belly. It definitely was the time the vent looked the most girly.
When they are like this, another indication is the softness between the vent fins. It should be soft and squishy for female as that is where they carry eggs. If it's harder then it may be a male.
It looks pretty firm on yours so you may still have a voluptuous male on your hands. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. The body of a female with no eggs can be great and male or female, Momotaro koi love to grow.
Thanks M. I knew something is astray when Rain and I voted the same way.
Male or not, this one is a keeper. I don't think he is done growing at 26 1/2". He finally decided to eat like a female and do some major growing this year. The beni and skin actully are looking worse now than when first coming out of the winter. I expect beni and skin to recover in the cooler months. Similar observation can be said about the first Momotaro sanke in this thread. Many have commented about her quality. Her skin glow is tremendous but just wait for a few months. She has beni quality to match that skin of hers.
Guess who started me on this Momotaro journey.
Your goshiki. I would keep for another 4 or 5 years and let the beni thicken. It well cover the freckles.
Thanks for your postings. I like the first sanke.
Some of my warped sense of humor.
I believe your goshiki's beni is done with covering sumi based on age etc. So freckles are probably there to stay. Someone posted a goshiki with black in the beni but as the koi aged, a lot of the black was covered up with new beni. But that was a young koi.
This one finally made 70cm (27.5")
The breeder is Oya.
Last edited by abuchi123; 01-14-2017 at 11:00 AM.
It is 95% genetics and 5% husbandry, if it is even that much. You see some breeders struggle to clear 75cm while others like Momotaro have a pageant of 100cm+. I certainly would not doubt the husbandry skill of any of the Japanese breeders but the relative rarety shows how difficult it is to achieve beauty and size at the same time. On the flip side, not every fish from a BIG breeder will be big. The chance of getting a dud is high.
My simple way of telling if my fish has done growing is looking at the head size. If the head hasn't gotten bigger for a while, the full potential has been reached. I don't get fixated on the length number too much either. A 80cm kohaku usually look much bigger than a 80cm sanke.