Project History
This is how the Ki Shusui Project began.
First, the pond was dug, about 150' long x 60' wide, and 12' deep in the deepest end for a total of about 500,000 gallons. See the new pond on the left side of the header.
My first oyagoi, purchased in Fall of 2008, wintered over in rubbermaid tanks with all the requisite filtration and aeration in my basement. I purchased other fish in the spring of '09. See two of the new prospective oyagoi on the right side of the header: Stella, my first shusui and an ayawakaba, both pale from the eight months in the basement tanks.
Life is about to get much, much better for these good fish.
Below: Original oyagoi as one-year olds (tosai)
After wintering over in the basement tubs, these young koi were introduced to the fresh new pond in May of 2009 and they spawned -- like right away. I entertained myself by watching hundreds or thousands of adorable baby fish and learned a lot along the way.
Below: Original oyagoi parents as adults. These fish were used in a semi-controlled flock spawn, meaning I believed all the genetic ingredients existed to produce ki shusui.
The project begins.
Below -- The oyagoi in the mud pond. If fish can be happy, they are happy!
Below: offspring of the resulting flock spawn. Some shusui, ayawakaba and miscellaneous "muttagoi."
Below: One of the original Ogon oyagoi with a juvenile ayawakaba.
Below: Later harvests, 2010-2012, of two and three year old offspring.
By 2012
In the end, that is to say, by the 2012 harvest, I had one genuine ki shusui, one very promising shiro ki shusui, meaning a white shusui with ki markings on cheeks and belly and some quite good baby shusui, hariwake, platinum ogons, and kinsui, which is a metallic ki shusui.
I produced many transitional fish that are not true varieties. Some are "mutts." Along with new baby shusuis, midoris, ogons and hariwakes, I have several very cute ayawakabas.
Below: two of my favorite ki shusui offspring from stage one of the ki shusui project.
These fish were hatched in 2010. Although I enjoyed seeing the many types of koi that came from this semi-controlled flock spawn, I was not achieving ki shusui in the numbers I hoped I would. Consequently, I rebooted the project completely.
I still have most of the koi pictured on this page. They continue to live a good life in the original project pond that contains 500,000 gallons of spring-fed water and a lot of sunshine. This is not a bad place to be if you're a fish!
