Rich,
When I bought my showa, the lines were very clean. As she has gotten older, the lines are blurring some. My understanding is that as a fish's patterns change, they can become a different type of koi - because the lines are blurred now and there is an overlapping of the coloration, has my showa changed into a different fish type (goshiki?) or is she still a showa?
Just trying to learn - thanks for the input.
Carolyn
I LOVE the yellow one lurking in the background of your pic. I've been looking for one for quite some time. I had 2 a few years back, and had a pond mishap that did both of them in. I didn't realize how hard it would be to find replacements. I have ordered more than my fair share, only to end up with tangerine and black instead of yellowish and black.
I have had a few of my showa end up with different color patterns as they got larger and older. Especially those with Doitsu scales.
Mary,
Both my showa and ki utsuri's patterns seem to be spreading out and I had read somewhere where as the fish grow and the pattern changes, the fish can go from one type to being another type.
It's too bad about the mishap with your pond. It's heartbreaking when we lose our fish.
Carolyn
I pick out my fish one by one, like picking out a puppy...so no bulk shopping here! So yes it is heartbreaking when you lose one. Mine are always friendly and act like Pavlov's dogs when they see me walk across the deck.
I have one small butterfly ki utsuri, that I'm hoping will live a long healthy life. Right now it's only around 8 inches, but has a good yellow to it.
I went through a "yellow" phase....then a gin rin phase...then a doitsu phase....I think I'm running out of phases! Your shusui butterfly is beautiful. (Oh ya, and went through a "blue" phase too)
Mary,
Most of our fish are hand picked too. My Shishui is almost out of the water in this picture. We tried to choose the one with the most blue when we were shishui shopping (say that real fast 3 times!). After reading Rich's lesson on Shishui, apparently my Shishui is a pearl scale. I sure would love to add a yellow shishi some time.
Carolyn
I use to have a yellow shusui butterfly ( sad note - part of the fish loss in the above story) There is one however, listed on ebay currently. Don't know if you ebay or not, but I saw it listed, and although smaller, it's still attractive.
I saw that yellow Shusui on ebay..how beautiful! I got a new fish yesterday that kind of looks like a mutt-shusui.
Wonder where rich is?
