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We are going to select 50.000 4 week old Sanke at the Marudo koi Farm. In this video you will learn how young baby koi are selected and in which way the Japanese Koi breeders decide to select or not select certain Koi.

The Sanke successfully growed to around 3 to 4 cm in size in the last 4 weeks. This is the moment where the first senbetsu can be performed. Senbetsu is the name used in Japan for the selection process of Koi.

Why actually is a breeder selecting his Koi?

The answer is really simple. The breeder doesn’t have enough space to let all Koi develop under the best circumstances. For that reason he needs to select his Koi. Only the ones that have potential in his of her eyes will be selected. Less Koi in the mud pond means better development, better growth and less risk for diseases. And why would the breeder spend time and feed koi that he never will be able to sell to clients? So it makes sense a breeder is only selecting his best Koi.

For these really small Koi, body posture is not the most important factor to select the Koi on. While for larger Koi the body counts for at least 50% during the selection process. For now, since the baby Koi are only 3 to 4 cm in size, body is just a rough indicator. Even the breeder doesn’t exactly know how this will develop in the next upcoming weeks or months.

Selecting baby koi is not something that is extremely difficult

Everyone is able to learn the aspects where you have to select the Koi on. The difficult is that each variety of Koi has their own selection process. Kohaku for example, white Koi with a red pattern are selected differently than Showa which are black koi with a white and red pattern on it.

There is only one good way to learn and understand how to select baby koi properly, and that is sharing time together with the breeders. Not just for a single day, but for periods of time, selecting different varieties, asking questions to the breeders, and trying it by yourself.

Sanke selection

For Sanke selection, Koi with a white skin and a red and black pattern. Every potential small baby koi that does have some kind of pattern is selected. In the first round it doesn’t really matter at all, as long as a pattern is visible and the Koi is complete and healthy. With complete I mean having two eyes, a pectoral fins, a tail, and so on.

Kohaku selection

Also for Kohaku selection, pattern is the most important thing to take into account. It is all about the technical aspects of the pattern. Some basic technical aspects are for example that the red pattern does not cover the entire head, and at at the time the head should not be entirely white. The nose should be white, and there should be white visible around the head. Preferable the red pattern lays between the eyes. The last part of the body, just before the tail, should be white as well. Fins should not be covered in red colour, including the tail and dorsal fin.

That doesn’t mean if one of the baby koi does not match these criteria that they won’t be selected. For the first rounds it is ok if not everything is not 100% matching the technical aspects

Hopefully you enjoyed and liked the video. Please comment or like and consider to subscribe to our Youtube channel. See you in the next episode!

Thank you for viewing!



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