Momotaro - Koiphen Breeder Seminar II

[Carl]

Momotaro - Koiphen Breeder Seminar

Momotaro Koi Farm is run by Michio Maeda, together with his son Daisuje Maeda. Their goal is to be the top breeder in Japan and they only produce high quality koi. Their breeding stock is very large with most of the breeders over 90cm. Momotaro is known for breeding large koi and has attained 55 cm of growth in a tosai, 73 cm of growth in a nisai, and 84 cm of growth in a sansai.

In November of 1996, a Momotaro bred 96cm Kohaku named “Bentely” owned by Mr. Takigawa, of Shimane Prefecture, Japan won the Grand Champion award at 42nd ZNA annual show.



Maeda initially was a koi dealer, not a breeder, and only started the farm in about 1993 after they built their 1500 ton pond house. The pond holds 330,000 imperial gallons of water. (An imperial gallon is about 20 per cent greater than a US gallon). The pond was intended for jumbo koi and oyagoi. Initially, the filters beneath the decking were filled with Japanese matting. Now, they are filled with bacteria house medium which Maeda selected as the medium to use in the bakki showers that he created, and which is now used as the only filtration on most of his ponds. Bacteria House media was created for treating effluent water.

In 1997, Momotaro completed two 500 ton ponds also for the breeders and jumbos. Momotaro built the Exhibition House in November of 1999 containing 17 ponds between 10 and 100 tons of water. The Exhibition House is primarily for exhibiting and selling koi between the ages of 2 and 6.

As of 2003, Koi bred or raised by Momotaro had won 7 of the last 9 All Japan Grand Championships. The 2002 All Japan Sanke, a 101 cm jumbo was raised by Momotaro. Mr. Maeda’is very particular about creating a balanced diet for his koi and providing proper filtration, which is why he designed the bakki shower. Mr. Maeda does not like to sell his koi to those who do not have the proper conditions to allow the koi to develop to its full potential.

The “New House: was built in 2003. That was their first new pond system that used only Bakki Showers for filtration. It contains six 10 ton ponds and two 100 tons ponds.



The New Tosai House was completed in 2004. These hold the tosai that were harvested from the mud ponds. There are seventee 100 ton ponds in this house. The Male Pond House was build in the same year and contains five 80 ton ponds. These male ponds house the male parent koi and male show koi. The ponds in the New Tosai House and the Male Pond House are filtered using only the Bakki filters.

The breeding facilities at Momotaro Koi Farms includes the old Tosai House containing nearly 60,000 meters in man made mud ponds and several heated concrete ponds consisting of 22 20 ton concrete ponds and four 10 ton concrete ponds. Maeda has natural mud ponds, but finds that natural ponds leave the koi more susceptible to predators and theft. The concrete ponds are used for fry selected to be held for the following year. Once in these concrete ponds, they are evaluated for sale.




http://www.tewakoi.com/

http://www.koi.lu/momotaro-pond.pdf

[Carl]

Members Momotaro Koi

[Carl]

Please review the above narrative regarding Momotaro for accuracy. I will correct any errors as they are noted.

Please provide us with any additional information, pics or anecodotes that you may have about Momotaro. If you have pictures of the facilities, please post them even if they are similar to the ones in the narrative. The pics in the narrative are links, and if the original pics disappear, so will the pics. Any pics with which you provide us will remain with the thread.

Please contribute anything you can.

[Carl]

The Two Prominent Momotaro Blood Lines

Momotaro Koi Farms have two prominent Sanke bloodlines, the Ryu bloodline and the Mako bloodline. The Ryu bloodline was started by a Momotaro Female parent koi that grew to 98 cms. The Mako bloodline is Momotaro Koi Farm’s most famous and most productive bloodline. The Mako bloodline was started by a magoi bloodline Sanke that grew to 92cms. This bloodline produced many oyagoi that are breeders at Momotaro Koi Farm.


http://www.momotaro-koi.org/english/news/max.html

[Ronin-Koi]

As a reference on Momotaro and Mr. Maeda, the best and most enjoyable source that I have seen is the DVD produced by Koi-Bito/Brian Sousa which was a free item with the purchase of a subscription to the magazine a couple years or so ago. One of my favorite Koi DVDs, including a lot of footage of the Momotaro farm activities, breeding, ponds, filters, filter media, visitors, and the AWESOME quality of some of their best fish.

- Wayne, definitely wants to get a nice Momotaro kohaku (when he and his pond are ready).

[Carl]

The Mako Bloodline


Maeda has said that the children of Mako always had strong sumi regardless of how it appeared as tosai. ( I believe Mako is no longer with us) When he culled these fingerlings, he paid most attention to the hi pattern and the conformation because the sumi always came through well.

In the second year, the sumi would rise on the tosai that had none, the sumi on the ones with too much sumi would retract, and the ones with scattered sumi would have their sumi combine. Also, in the second year the beni would thicken and their bodies would become large. These are the traits of the Mako sanke line.

[Carl]

Breeding at Momotaro Koi Farm

All of the spawning at Momotaro Koi Farm is natural. Maeda mates anywhere from 1 to 3 males per female at a time. They will use 1 male when they want to be sure to preserve the characteristics of a particular male in order to ensure that the offspring are from that particular male. When Maeda wants to experiment with new types he may use 2 or 3 males. In most cases where there is no special purpose in the pairing, he uses 2 males per female. They introduce new koi into their breeding every year.

Maeda won’t use parent koi that have begun to lose their color or shape because he believes these traits (early decline) will be passed onto the offspring.

[Carl]

Growing Jumbo Koi

Meada is known for growing jumbo koi. He believes that in order to grow jumbo koi, all of the necessary elements must be optimal. It is important to use the best food and the best quality water. It is also important to have good parent stock. Maeda believes that in order to grow jumbo koi, it is important to maintain the koi in perfect conditions from when they are fry. If not, it is very difficult to try to make up for the lost time.

Maeda is so committed to good husbandry, that he makes his own line of koi food and developed his own filtration system. Maeda believes that a primary difference between his food and other good foods on the market is in the way it’s preserved. Maeda packs his food in aluminum bags that are vacuum-packed with nitrogen gas. It stays fresh and safe until the seal is broken. Maeda has done a great deal of research and experimentation in developing his food. The food he sells is the same food he feeds his koi.

[Carl]

Bakki Shower Filtration


Maeda experimented with many filtration media including various ceramic media. He used four, 10 ton ponds to test different media using the same koi load in each. Maeda concluded that bacteria house was the best of those he tested. His tests showed that bacteria house media retained between 10% and 20% of the sludge the other media retained. The media stays very clean and breaks down the waste very efficiently. Now all of his ponds have been converted from Japanese mat to Bacteria House media.

Maeda developed the bakki shower system as a result of his dissatisfaction with the chamber based systems. He felt that since the bacteria in the chambers consumed oxygen, this resulted in the return to the pond of water with a low level of oxygen. Maeda concluded that placing a shower system on the end of the circuit would provide much needed oxygenation to the pond. He now relies on the bakki showers, using bacteria house media, almost exclusively for filtration and aeration.

[Carl]

Maeda's Unique Approach to Mud Ponds

Maeda has a very different approach to mud ponds. Although he has natural mud ponds, most are made of concrete and use bakki showers for filtration. The best of the man made ones use ground water as their water source.

Ordinarily, there is a substantial risk of losing koi to predators when they are placed in mud ponds. Maeda favors the artificial mud ponds as they are safe from predators and theft. All of the mud ponds are located on the Momotaro Koi Farm premises. Customers are able to visit their koi whenever they choose to.

It is difficult to believe that Maeda can grow the jumbo koi for which he is famous in man made mud ponds, but the facts speak for themselves. Maeda has a reputation for doing so.

[dick benbow]

Momotaro, a former top restaurteur, started his efforts with brood stock from the sakai's.....Isawa and Hiroshima. In developing his own bloodline he crossed
sanke beni in with his kohaku to get his own particular hue or color. His most important contribution in my opinion was his ability to grow his own and other breeders koi into gogantic competitors in the all japan show and to position them to be conditioned to win. The man knew water and what it took! Much has been chattered about his Bakki shower, both pro and con but there may be something to it.....

[ahhuhz]

Two more of my Momotaro babies. They are about 16 months old now. These pics are from July 1st.

[sundan]

I'm sure you have seen these guys before?
1500 ton greenhouse
Hiroshima airport garden not to far from Momotaro farm
2004 kohaku Grand Champ
I think this is Momotaro monster sanke...

[koiman1950]

The fish is very large, but the angle of the photo is what distorts the actual size of the fish!

[CHICHI]

The fish is very large, but the angle of the photo is what distorts the actual size of the fish!

Does anyone know what the Fish actually measured ? It does appear extraordinarily Huge

[mikona]

That "Monster" Sanke is now in the UK. In fact it won the BKKS GC twice, the dealer was Mike Sneden.

[mikona]

I also wanted to note the 3 step kohaku pictured was breed by Ogata, which was sold to Khanh in Florida by Kevin.

Also talking to Kevin, there are many breeders like Toshio Sakai and Hiroji Sakai who look for oyagoi from Momotaro as well as vice versa.

[Russell Peters]

I also wanted to note the 3 step kohaku pictured was breed by Ogata, which was sold to Khanh in Florida by Kevin.

Also talking to Kevin, there are many breeders like Toshio Sakai and Hiroji Sakai who look for oyagoi from Momotaro as well as vice versa.

You must be joking. Toshio Sakai does not get oyagoi from Momotaro, in fact, he GAVE Momotaro some of his first Oyagoi. Hiroji Sakai did the same thing. Kevin has it backwards.

[Mollie]

Here is my Momotaro, it is male and around 3.

[CHICHI]

Very Nice Molly

I Love MOMO His Koi - Bakki`s - everything really