The male is the better of the two.
The female has a lot of issues overall; weak conformation, weak beni, poor sumi quality and general sumi instability.
The male is better but underfed. This could also be giving it a tighter appearance as nothing is being stretched as it is on the female.
If you compare the two, the male comes out much better in conformation, beni quality, sumi consolidation and development.
I like the male sanke, especially if he can bulk up a little over time.
Thank you for the comments! What is the best way to bulk up? Im learning so much.
It could be 4 meals, 6 meals, etc. Consistent food throughout the day without it impact water quality of just passing right through the koi undigested. I would say just as important as the food is the water. Change a high percentage of the water every week to reduce the build up of DOC's and other items collecting in the water column that may inhibit the growth.
Thank you! I'll change it up and make it closer to what you guys said!
That would be a longer feeding cycle which would be easier but I am going to invest in an auto feeder. Do you guys recommend water changes weekly or drip system?
Nope, I did mean heavy feeding from Aug to Nov. Fish will eat all year round in SoCal weather. I only do light feeding before Aug because 1) Our weather is relatively cool before July. 2) Females will grow eggs if fed too much too early in the year. Once eggbound, there won't be much growth that year. For the previous years, I saw most growth in Oct and Nov.
I like #1 more.
I'm not really trying to grow out either of these too much. Since a few mentioned that #2 looked underfed, I wanted to learn how to make sure that doesn't happen with my current and future koi.
Thank you everybody for the comments so far!
Feeding sufficiently in a mixed gender pond is always more challenging than a pond with only a male or female content. Because females can generate eggs, as exhibited above, feeding must be done so that egg development is discouraged.
A male only pond can be fed more heavily without such constraints. Males often are flightier eaters and in a mixed pond often don't challenge the females quite as much thus they tend to get less food. It's contrary to what is desired at certain times of the year.
I got a feeder and hoping to feed 6 times a day for total of 3% fish weight. I got a chance to speak to Tom from seaside at the gardena koi show. Ill be visiting his warehouse soon! Thanks mitchiesan!