Baby Koi

Like I posted before, I needed to buy a new koi because one of my 9 koi died last week.  And according to feng shui, or something like that, one should keep koi in multiples of 9 (9, 18, 27…).  So having a small pond means I’m good with 9.  So finally I decided on a Sakai Maruten Sandan Sanke.  Sakai is like the brand (like for cars: Honda, Toyota. etc.), which actually is the name of the breeder.  Maruten means it has a Hi, or red marking, on the head.  Sandan means 3-step, or it has 3 hi markings all over the body (it could actually be a 4-step, or Yondan, but I can’t tell becuase of the sumi, or black marking, covering the Hi.

It’s so small and cute, that it’s dwarfed by the other MUCH bigger koi, but at least he’s not bullied around.  I chose this one because I really like the markings.  I saw other koi, but some were just way too expensive for my budget, so I went for something that fit more my price range.  One of the sublime joys in koi-keeping is buying them small and seeing them grow up and bloom into beautiful adults.  The experts say that the level of your koi-keeping can be seen by how beautiful your fish grow up.  The same koi will grow differently, depending on the quality of the koi-keeping.  They say it’s all about the water.  My koi guru told me that we don’t really keep koi; we keep water.  So, I hope my baby grows up nice and round-bodied, with the colors deep and rich.

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