This weekend we spent a little time sorting the koi. We looked at the thirty five koi and decided who would be staying with us and who would go to the koi club’s fall auction. Some of our favorite koi will be leaving us. The keepers were selected primarily on their pattern and coloring. Most of our koi have a nice body shape and I think it’s due to the depth of our pond. Frequent feedings by the pond digger have been helpful as well. The keepers are all in the upper pond and look quite nice together. A lot more red tones, instead of the orange-ish tones. As the goshikis grow, it will be nice to see a little more gray in the pond.

The koi on their way out have been relocated to the lower pond. Most are leaving because their pattern looks a little too messy for us, the color has faded significantly or we just aren’t interested in that type of koi.

Of course reducing the number of koi also allows us to purchase some new koi. One koi that we might be adding to our group for next year is a shiro utsuri who is currently living in the mud pond in Scandia. She would complement Sumiko in our pond…. This is probably not how most people buy koi, but we like to look at the whole effect the koi bring to our ponds. We are also not sure if we will be buying a large group of tosai in the future, maybe just a few jumbo tosai.