Kent D.
New member
Take a look at this new black snowflake from ORA....pretty exciting stuff.
http://www.orafarm.com/blog/
http://www.orafarm.com/blog/
Personally, I think that is an ugly fish. My opinionIf you took that fish to a koi competition to be judged on its pattern, it would get a "D". To say nothing of the stubby body and flat nose...
I know nothing of Koi, but I agree that its an ugly fish and disproportional...
How is it disproportional?
IMO very nice looking fish!
This question is for bonsai nut-
How do you compare koi markings to oscellaris clownish markings?
Hi Rippin; It is disproportional because the body is short compared to what you would find in the wild. It looks stubby. The back is slightly humped. Additionally, it has a bulldog face with a flat "nose" and its jaw protrudes past its face. In a wild holotype the nose is nicely rounded and follows a smooth arch and the jaw is tucked below. You could show me this fish from 10 feet away for 1 second and I would say "captive raised" even if it had normal markings.
As far as koi pattern goes, you judge on both the design of the pattern and on the quality of the pattern. The pattern should be well defined and symmetrical or balanced. The edges should be distinct and smooth. They should not be blurred, jagged, or incomplete. The pattern should be as clean as possible and should not contain inclusions. Separately (for koi) you don't want the line of the pattern to run into the eyes - you want the eyes to be separate (since the eyes represent so much of the character of the fish). A perfect pattern would almost look like it was painted on the fish.
People judge clowns this way (naturally) without knowing it. It's why some jigsaw or picasso clowns with elaborate, clean markings sell for such a premium.
Is there a way to change these imperfections?
By breeding back to either wild stock or stock which show more natural traits, you can get back closer to where the fish originally was... It was selective breeding and crossbreeding that got the fish there, it will be the same to get it back... Personally I don't see that happening until people stop buying these "designer" fish... It is getting to the point where aquacultured fish look less and less like their wild caught counterparts...
I don't know if I agree with you about people needing to stop buying designer fish. Like you said most designer fish are mainly cb, is that not a really good thing? Would it not be better if people were aware of the differences between cb and wc fish, but still kept to purchasing aquacultured fish/designer fish?
Ps. Thankyou for answering my question.