I skipped breeding of Sanke last year altogether, but continued this season, and am very happy with my crop. I have a few different styles of Sanke in my parent Koi stable. This season I chose to use a male from Sakai Yamamatsu’s farm, and a female born here at my farm in 2001,... both parent sides are able to grow over 30 inches. A sister of the female parent also born in 2001 is already near 34 inches. The male is traditional ‘old school’ Matsunosuke, and the female carries traits of Matsunosuke in the body lines, and Sadazo in the shape of the face. The offspring are a wonderful blend of the styles,... large bodies, and large wrapping hi plates that work well on a 30+ inch Koi. The face grows wide,... and this characteristic combined with a thick milky white produces a look I like.

Snapshots of some Sankes from today’s harvest and a video clip are below, as well as a couple of 'before and after' type pics of older sibling Sankes.

Sanke tosai born 5/25/08

(streaming video)
http://www.fototime.com/F1C83EE67C06C01/conv.wmv

(video for Mac)
http://www.fototime.com/F1C83EE67C06C01/orig.mp4









Here are some progression photos of older siblings of these tosai Sankes, as well as a close look at how the skin develops. Notice also that very little of the underlying sumi actually develops,... a few smaller patches emerge to show the depth and quality at tosai age,... then a small amount emerges at adulthood.










-- Edited by Lotus Land Koi Farm at 01:21, 2008-09-22

-- Edited by Lotus Land Koi Farm at 01:47, 2008-09-22