I just learned about the different Gin Rin scales so I'm stalking pictures of them lol!
Thanks Hope. That one is quite a bit larger than the rest. I've notice that color development in young showa seems to progress as they grow and seems to have more correlation to size than to age. For example, a 30 day old 1.5" koi (which would be a larger size for that age) may show a distinct sumi pattern and yellow color also. But its 1" and smaller siblings may still look very bland. So I am hoping the smaller 5"-8" will develop color much better as they approach the size of this larger showa.
In the last three showa spawns from 2016-2018, I used the same female. The percentage of dark fry has been disappointingly low for attempts to get showa. The 2018 spawn was only 9% dark. 2017 was 8% dark. 2016 was a little better at 20%, but that poor spawn was a very small sampling of less than 200 fry. Compare this to the 24% dark that I got from a different female in 2015 and the 33% dark that I got from yet another female in 2019. Due to the poor percentage, maybe I should not use the 2016-2018 female in spawns any more. Also, while her body and size and sumi and shiro are all very good, her small amount of hi is sparse and disorganized.
How's the babies?
Matt, I came to the same conclusion, certain pairs produce better results. Ironically, my Dainichi Kohaku Marin male paired with my crossed Omosako Shiro/Dainichi Sakura Showa female produced better Kohaku and Showa fry with just a 100 of them compared to my current full Kohaku spawn.
Just posted an update in the 2019 spawn thread. Thanks Hope. You are not doing a spawn this year are you? Are you planning for one next spring?
That is surprising indeed. Of course one can get different results from different spawns even when using the same parents. For example, all the babies from my 2017 showa spawn had deformed heads, but that did not happen in the 2016 and 2018 spawns with the same parent koi.
I guess some of their previous young would be plenty old enough to spawn by now. Did any of them turn out well enough to use as oyagoi at some point?
With reduced hobby activity in the cooler months, I decided I may post updates of some of the older spawnings. I know I like it when folks post longer term results of their spawns.
For the most part, this 2018 showa spawn was disappointing. This was primarily due to an unusually small percentage of dark fry, about 8%, which are needed in order to get the showa or utsuri varieties I was aiming for. This male is the only showa I have kept to this point, though I will probably re-home him later on.
This female ginrin benigoi (I guess that's what it would be called) is a nice souvenir however. It is one of the 5 in post #139.