The Ki Shusui Project Reboot 
  May 2012
Click icon to contact:: max@kishusui.com

Starting over: New pond. New oyagoi. New generation of ki shusui and midori babies with tremendous promise!
While the first ki shusui project taught me a lot about my objective to create ki shusui, it was not wholly satisfactory. With each successive uncontrolled spawn, the mixed offspring added their genetics to the stew and I got farther away from my goal.

In 2012, I rebooted my project. The formula for ki shusui was fairly straight forward:

Shusui x ogon = midori
Midori x midori = midori

But occasionally, crossing midori x midori produces ki shusui as a by-product.

I decided that I needed to create my own line of midori and in this way I would have more control over the genetics toward my ultimate goal.

I started fresh by buying three female shusui, two male ogons and one male midori, all from good breeders. Their photos are along the left-hand panel. 

While the future oyagoi were in quarantine, they spawned before their mudpond was quite warm enough for the eggs to thrive. But, I had no choice.. I transferred the eggs to the mudpond and 350 of them survived. 

I was very lucky not to have to cull from hundreds of thousands of offspring because when you're breeding to a new type, it's hard to know what you're culling to. So, nature did the big cull.

I was lucky to get midori as expected, many with a vivid blue dorsal scales (zipper) which is quite uncommon. Normally, midori zippers are bronze or brown.

But, even more lucky and spectacularly so, I got some very good ki shusui and other fish that look promising for future spawns.  

To get ki shusui in the F1 generation, the first spawn, is rare. I've jumped one or more likely two generations and saved many years waiting for baby fish to grow to breeding age. I may be able to cross ki shusui x ki shusui in 2015 and perhaps get a high percentage of ki shusui offspring. That's the plan! 
 
On the left-hand side of the page, see photos of the new oyagoi purchased for this reboot; the three shusui females, two ogon and one midori male.

The green "ropes" are spawning media.


Five months after the spawn, October 2012, we got to see the baby fish up close. They were big and gorgeous. :)
I kept 250 youngsters to grow on.
 
So, far -- so good!
The Lower Pond
This pond in the lower part of the field was a challenge from the beginning. While previous digs held water, this one didn't have a natural water source and even when it was filled, it leaked -- fast!

We couldn't locate the actual leak but from the speed in which the pond emptied, it seemed that water was finding its way into a shale vein. Pictured below, our third attempt to make this pond hold water. We brought in 700 yards of blue clay, and the leak was sealed. After that, we raised the bank with stones and pulled the clay over them. 

See photos of the pond reconstruction below, and some of the baby fish from one to two months old. The algae bloom is good for the little ones providing food and shelter from bugs, frogs, and other predators.

When the pond settled, the dimensions were approx. 130 feet long, by 40 feet wide by 5 -6 feet at the deepest spot. It holds roughly 180,000 gallons. It is fed from a 300' deep well that runs 24/7/365 and brings in 14,000 gallons a day. This is a flow through system and the overflow goes into a marsh. 

Because it was a virgin pond, there has never been any competition by other fish and with all its challenges, the lower pond has been a great nursery for the rebooted ki shusui project's 2012 fry. :)
Pictured in the slide show below:

The new oyagoi spawning, the spawning media with eggs, the new pond just below the little red barn.   

 
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This panel:
the new oyagoi were transferred to the basement tank. After they spawned, the eggs were moved to the new pond. See pictures of baby fish at up to two months old.