Het bericht Merry Christmas and Happy New Year verscheen eerst op Yoshikigoi.

Sebastian Visse
visse@yoshikigoi.com

Het bericht new salesmanager for Germany verscheen eerst op Yoshikigoi.

Het bericht Merry Christmas and a happy New Year verscheen eerst op Yoshikigoi.

Like I already mentioned, a mud pond is extremely important to growth a successful breeding. That means that we must place the fry as soon as possible in the mud pond. If you don’t do this then the fry will not develop in the best possible way. This is because the fry will not have enough of essential space and natural food to develop. This will always have an impact on there later development and I don’t know if they will ever be able to recover from this. My personal opinion is leaning more to no.

A mud pond is not mud pond.

Strange to write it like this, but if we look at the difference in mud pond and quality it becomes clear that there is a lot we don’t know about mud ponds. We very often think that when we place fry in a mud pond that when the water quality is good they will develop perfect. That is only partially true. If we are talking about body shape and shine we can say yes. If we are talking about colour then that is an very different story. It is hard to believe that 4 mud ponds next to each other can have completely different water parameters. One is light green, one is dark green and the other one has a more brown colour. The size of the ponds are the same. The amount and the type of koifood is the same and also the number of fry in the pond are the same. Never the less if you look at the colour of the water there is not one pond the same. This also has an impact on the varieties and is something we found out in the hard way. Some ponds are better suitable for red and other are far less. If you know this than you can take an advantage from that fact. The mud ponds that are not so suitable for red can be used for: Shiro Utsuri, Platinum Ogon, Soragoi, Chagoi and for example for Asagi. These varieties are better off if they are grown in a pond that don’t develop too much red. It is logic that we like to grow for example Shiro Utsuri in a pond that does not enhance the red pigmentation.

What most people don’t think about is that also this type of Koi usually get a different type of koifood. All breeders that breed Shiro Utsuri don’t want them to develop any red if possible. Also they don’t want the skin to turn yellow, So they feed them with a food that is without any colour enhancer at all. We often feed them the same koifood in our ponds as the Kohaku and all other varieties that we also have in the pond. The food most people use contains a colour enhancer. Because we feed all our Koi the same food it effects all Koi. In many cases we first see this on the Shiro Utsuri and the Platinum Ogon because the white skin is getting a little bit yellow.

In ponds that develop too much red we grow:

Aka Muji, Aka Matsuba, Yamabuki, Hariwake, Beni Kumonryu, Hi Utsuri, Ki and Kin Ki Utsuri, Goshiki and Kujaku. With Hariwake and Beni Kumonryu it is important that they develop as stable as possible on the first year. The more stable the development is in the first year the more stable it will be for the future. With the Goshiki and Kujaku we keep them in these ponds because we want a strong and deep pigmentation that sets the base for the future. Often we see Kujaku and Goshiki get thinner on their red and also turn more into an orange colour. Also the upcoming grey very often pollute the weaker red colour. By keeping them in the right ponds we set a better base for their future. The mud ponds where we grow the Kohaku, Sanke and Showa for example are the mud ponds that are the best in forming pattern. By that I mean. The Kohaku don’t lose too much red, but also don’t keep too much red. So we want the ponds that deliver the pattern on these Koi.

We all know that Kohaku and Sanke need to have larger red pattern that should be on top of the Koi. With Showa that is not always the case. Many Showa don’t have a Kohaku type of pattern at all and if you would take the black off the Showa you would get in many cases a bad Kohaku. A good Showa has all three colours present in the best potential quality. Only when the Sumi is playing with the red and white, the Showa stands out. It is the Koi that can have more than one type of a pattern and still is able to win our hearts and also the mayor shows.

Here we see a very famous Showa without the Sumi.

Next week part 4

The selections and what to look for.

Het bericht Mudponds and Selections verscheen eerst op Yoshikigoi.

1: The importance of an early and warm spring. 

When we have an early and warm spring we can start early with the breeding process. The more time we have to grow the Tosai in the mud ponds, the bigger they will be when winter arrives. In Japan breeders do have the big advantage of an early and warm spring. Therefore the first fry that they place in the mud ponds have a much longer growing season than for example we do in the colder parts of Europe. Most breeders in Japan start early May. Very often we can start 2 to 4 weeks later before we have the proper water temperature. To give the fry the best possible chance to survive we need to have minimum water temperature of 16-18 degrees Celsius. The reason for that is not only the explosive grow of the necessary aquatic life ( food), but also that the fry do not grow fast enough in colder water. Luck is also when the summers are warm and that the water temperatures are 23 to 25 degrees Celsius for a long period of time. Also this lucky fact is something that the breeders in Japan have almost every summer. Water temperatures in Niigata Japan in the summer is for about whole the summer between 22 and 28 degrees Celsius. This can go on for 4 to 5 months. So this can sometimes become even too warm. They then need to cool them down and ad a lot of oxygen in the water. The average water temperatures we have in Poland for example is between 19 and 21 Degrees. When we do have warmer water temperatures it is almost always for just a few days or week. For that the European Summers are too much fluctuating. Because growing and digestion is linked together the results are different when the temperatures are high or low. As most people know Koi digest on 21 degrees Celsius about 1 .5 % body weight a day. On 24 Degrees Celsius this is 3 %. So that is double. On every kg Koi food you put in your Koi you get about 0.6 kg back on weight on the Koi. So if you feed 1.5% or 3% that is a big seasonal difference.  So because of that a long and warm summer is what all breeders hope for.

2: The number of Koi a farm can breed.  

If a breeder has a good spring it means that he can start breeding early. That means bigger Koi and in many cases also more Koi. More Koi because we can start earlier. Bigger because of the warmer weather and the longer time period they are in the pond to grow. More because we have more time to select. In order to fully understand this last line, I will try to explain how this works on the Yoshikigoi Koi farm. We have to select all the Koi and we only have a limited time to do so. On our farm when we start the selections we also need to breed regarding the fry we can select. That means that if we breed 2 million fry in one week and we do the same in week 2 we have a total of 4 million fry in just two weeks. The issue is we can only select 1.5 million in one week. That would mean that we still half a million fry to select. In two weeks that would be half a million from the week before and half a million from the week after. So in just two weeks you would have already one million fry that have not been selected. Do this for 6 more weeks and you see where this is going. The non-selected fry will not develop anymore in the best way possible and also the bad are still mixed with the good. To prevent this it is important that we breed the amount we can also select.  So if the breeding season starts 2 to 4 weeks later because of a less warm and early spring we will also breed less. The last breeding are mostly done in July and sometimes in early august. The ones we do in early august are almost always new breeding that we like to test on their potential and results.  We do keep from the new breeding’s only a small part of the fry and kill the rest before we even place them in the pond. This we do because of the uncertainty of the outcome on quality Koi and also because the less we place from the beginning in the mud pond, the faster they grow. So in a much shorter time we have bigger offspring and can do a faster selection. We should also not forget that in September the weather is really deteriorating and in early November all our Tosai are already selected and the best one’s are placed inside to grow. When we select the new breeding’s then for me it is only important if the quality is what I was suspecting. When yes, we know that we can use the new breeding in the next year. It is the average of good Koi that counts in a breeding. So with a small breeding Like we do with new breeding’s this average must be good as well.

Next week part 3

The importance of a mud pond and the fry.

Het bericht Mudponds and selections. verscheen eerst op Yoshikigoi.

Yoshikigoi won many awards all the Koishows in Europa. The highest number of Awards that Yoshikigoi won was at the German Young Koi Show in Berlin 2014.

In 2014 Yoshikigoi won the incredible number of 91 Awards at the Young German Koishow. This is the European equivalent of the so-called Wakagoi Show from Japan; a prominent Koi Show for fish to 67 centimetres in length. Further remarkable is the fact that this show was only judged by Japanese breeders, namely; Futoshi Mano (Dainishi Koi Farm), Manabo Ogata (Ogata Koi Farm) and Senichi Mano (Izumiya Koifarm). This is the first show where the judgement was entrusted exclusively to Japanese breeders. On this unique Show the Yoshikigoi won an incredible 91 awards.

Another show was in Arcen 2012 where Yoshikigoi took 26 awards with just 36 Koi entered Koi, including Senior Tategoi, most

Unique Champion, Variety all sizes, Special variety Beni Kumonryu.

All these results are largely due to the Yoshikigoi Koifood.

Het bericht A lot of Awards!! verscheen eerst op Yoshikigoi.

Het bericht Development Doitsu Ochiba verscheen eerst op Yoshikigoi.

The first variety most people think about is the Kohaku.

To breed Kohaku is easy. You just need to place two Kohaku together and you have Kohaku offspring. To breed high quality Kohaku, now that is a different story.

I will try to explain what I mean by that. When we breed with two Kohaku, what we get is White Koi

( Shiro Muji ) Red Koi ( Aka Muji ) and Kohaku. Nothing else. So to breed Kohaku you just need two parent Kohaku. The important thing from a Kohaku breeding is that we need to get enough offspring with some sort of a pattern.

Step 1 In terms of quality, we need parent koi that have inherited pattern. Not a particular pattern that looks just like the parents, because this just won’t happen. Yes, we will find some Kohaku Tosai that will have similar patterns to the parents, but this is just coincidence. When we study the Tosai after all the selections have been done on a Kohaku breeding, we will see that we will have a lot with patterns that don’t look like the parents at all.

Step 2 is that we breed with parent Koi that inherited good skin-quality and colour. What is not widely known that the most important colour we need in a good Kohaku breeding is white, …..Not the red! Look at it this way, Take a red sticker and place it on a pure white sheet of paper, then take a second sheet of paper that is just a little bit more tinted to yellow or grey and place the same type red sticker on it. When you compare the two sheets of paper you will see that the red sticker on the pure white paper looks much deeper in pigment than the one on the other sheet. We know that the two red stickers are exactly the same, but they somehow look very different, and this is because of the base they are placed upon. White gives power to all other colours.

Step 3 is the shine of the skin.

Just imagine two sheets of paper, but with the exactly the same white colour. The only difference is that one is shiny and the other one is a bit more dull. Take two red stickers and place on each sheet one sticker. Again the same thing happens. The shiny-paper gives more depth and power to the colour. Another very important point is that Koi with good shine will stay looking young for much longer.

Step 4 is bodyshape. If we use parents of a lesser bodyshape, we will still breed some Koi with a better bodyshape than the parents. The problem is that we have already started with less quality in this respect. The few that we find from the breeding that have better bodyshape are the ones that have inherited it from the grandparents. We will always find a few of these in the breeding, but not in any great quantity. So the overall quality of the breeding is actually deteriorating not improving, and for future breeding we will already be starting with a lesser base from which to build. This is also the reason why the Japanese have in the past, introduced Magoi to get the size and bodyshape they wanted. The Magoi gave them the size and body for their future Koi, and they only kept the coloured ones that also had size and bodyshape. After a few generations of breeding the size and bodyshape was fixed within the new Kohaku bloodline, and after that, they began to once again build upon the Koi shine and colour. This sounds simple, but believe me it is not, the one thing is it takes is time.

Some Kohaku parent Koi.

Step 5 are the fins.

If we breed from Koi that have pointy fins or small fins, it is almost certain that a lot of the resulting offspring will show this characteristic as well. Small tails and fins should always be avoided, the fins and tail need to be large and round.

Next week we will discuss the importance of the ponds and the first selections.

Het bericht Breeding of Kohaku verscheen eerst op Yoshikigoi.

That Yoshikigoi is unique in its product, many of you know that by now!

But what do we do?

Jos Aben tries every season again to breed new, fresh, beautiful, unique Yoshikigoi. Sometimes it seems all very easy or a coincidence but nothing could be further from the truth! We work very hard to refine existing varieties and breed new varieties.

And the result are not lying!

Everyone has his own taste and preference, that is our motto … So judge for yourself …

Below are some examples of new Yoshikigoi!

Het bericht What’s New!! verscheen eerst op Yoshikigoi.

Much has been written about NPU value or Net Protein Utilisation. There are many different facts spouted about Net Protein Utilisation, particularly that one fish meal is better than the other. Another myth is that protein from warm blooded animals is sometimes used in Koifood. Under EU commission regulations it was illegal until 2014 for it to be processed into most foods. Everyone has heard the negative stories about using offal in animal food. The use of Offal in animal foods in most countries is not allowed and will be rejected as an imported product. To be honest, you would have to search long and hard to find a country where it is possible to import this kind of protein in any kind of fish food, in fact I haven’t found one country where you can. For example, when we were applying for the licence to ship to Yoshikigoi food to the USA, it took over a year before we were granted permission to import the Yoshikigoi Koifood. This was all for the sake of this regulation and the checks that preceded the permits.

So you can see that the requirements are very strict indeed.

The net protein utilisation of each food is not based on any other ingredients often quoted in the food industry, and food manufacturers are also under strict supervision when it comes to applying the rules. It is important for us to understand that no offal is used in Koi food, so it is actually misleading to mention it, and doing so gives a false impression of the food. Offal has a lower protein content , is often not handled with care and can become less fresh. Of course it is important to know which are the body’s natural proteins and which are not, but additional animal proteins derived from offal are not found in koi food.

An exception to the rule is the growing use of blood meal as a protein replacement for fishmeal. The use of blood meal may become eligible for an exception to the EU commission requirements for fish food, but not for animal food. However Food produced this way cannot be exported to most countries outside the EU. For example the first question from the food and consumer product safety inspectorate of America is very clear on this, the import of food with protein derived from warm-blooded animals is not allowed. Certain disease strains can be carried forward so a block on this practice was emplaced.

A good koi food has a net protein utilisation of 65 to 70%, so it would be good if this was clearly stated on the label of the food packaging.

Protein from fish meal is absorbed more easily than it is from soya protein. So in other words, in koi food with high Soya protein content, utilisation is lower than from a koi food with a high fish meal content.

The difference in the quality of fish meal varies depending on the areas and the depth at which the fish are caught. Fishmeal produced by fish from deeper water and from more remote locations away from human habitation is always more expensive. This is because the fish are “pollution free” and also because it is much more expensive to catch these fish. Just think about the distances that the ships have to travel to catch them. Carnivorous fish in particular, that live in deep water, experience less environmental fluctuations because of their living conditions and have the highest protein value with a low fat content. However, this makes this fish meal the most expensive in the world and has a direct and corresponding influence on the price of the food.

Another point which affects the quality is whether the fish meal comes from the whole fish, or fish without offal.
The lowest protein quality fishmeal is made entirely from fish offal. Also, different types of fish can deliver a different protein content. For example, fishmeal made from Herring has a higher protein content than fishmeal taken from Anchovy caught off South America.
For those who are interested this is how the production process from fish to fishmeal works.

Fish Meal Production.

Most fish meal is extracted from fish that are specifically caught for fish meal production. First of all the fish products are cooked ( 90C ). Next, the liquid and solid form are separated by pressing. The solids consist mainly of the meat and the bones of the fish and the squeezed and separated liquid consists of oils and water. This contains mainly dissolved salts and protein-like compounds. To extract the oils from this liquid, it is then centrifuged. The remainder (in technical terms) is often referred to as stickwater, is sometimes thickened and then merged with the solids from the first process. In high-quality fishmeal, this concentrated stickwater will not be mixed with the solids, but will be sold as a separate product or discharged as waste product.

In dry powder form, this stickwater contains almost as much protein content as the solids. The big difference is that the protein from the solid form consists almost entirely of amino acids, while the stickwater has a maximum of 60% amino acids. Also, stickwater contains so-called chemical N compounds solutions. Some of these are NH3 (ammonia) and trimethylamine (also a colourless, flammable gas that has a strong fish smell) and biogenic amines. I will explain biogenic amines later.

In the trade, fish meal where the stickwater has been added is sold as full fish meal. This fish meal is made up of about 20% of stickwater .

Fish meal where this stickwater is not added is considered by the trade to be the higher quality fishmeal. This fish meal has a higher Protein resistance. Protein resistance means the group of resistant proteins found in food that will be digested by the intestine, not in the stomach. What does this actually mean in simple terms? In order to find out, they place a nylon bag full of the feed material they want to test in a cow stomach. The percentage of what is remaining after incubation in the stomach we call protein resistant.

These remaining proteins are not broken down by the Stomach Microbes but later on in the small intestine and these are the proteins that are made directly available to the animal itself.
Here’s something to think about, to make soya protein more resistant they use formaldehyde.
The percentage of resistant protein then increases from about 35% to over 80%.

NET protein utilisation and biogenic amines.

Not only does the food have a higher protein resistance, but also richer protein based on essential amino acids. In addition, the content of biogenic amines is also lower. I previously said I would come back to Biogenic amines. Biogenic amines are commonly found in all food products.
These are often formed and stored by the processing itself. Food like fish which is high in protein, can form large amounts of biogenic amines. Normally these biogenic amines are no problem. The body normally makes its own and can easily break them down, but introducing large quantities can have a negative effect on the body and may even cause some health problems. I won’t go into too much detail, but it is important to know that less is better.

Quality and Processing.

Another important consideration is how well, how warm, and how long the fish was kept during, and before processing. This affects not only higher biogenic amines value but also all types of protein degrading substances. These protein degrading products are for the most part water soluble, and so can be separated out in the stickwater during the first processing of the fish. Naturally, this will affect the protein breakdown of the end product (full fish meal) when they add the stickwater to it. As a result the end product becomes of a lesser quality. Also, fish that are less fresh form free fatty acids.

The quality of the fish meal can be adversely affected by an intensive, or too high a heat treatment during processing of the fish meal. This is a very important process which is often deliberately kept from the public. Drying fish meal at temperatures below 65-75 degrees Celsius is referred to as a low temperature treatment. This is what is meant by higher quality fish meal being produced at low temperatures. Because of this low temperature drying the NPU value is often above the 70-75%. The drying process for lower quality fish meal is higher and thereby contains a lower NPU value.

If the fish was less fresh before processing, then at a higher temperature, faster drying of the fishmeal becomes more important. That means when the drying of this fishmeal takes place at lower temperatures the NPU value is reduced even further. This is because we already started with less fresh fish and because of this there are already certain processes in motion that negatively affect the NPU value of the finished product. To stop this negative process, it is better to dry the fishmeal faster.

Only the highest quality fresh fish meal with a low temperature drying process has been chosen for Yoshikigoi koi food, ensuring the highest possible NPU value.

To be certain that every new batch contains the same quality fishmeal, new test data is required on every new batch, because as I highlighted before, if the ingredient fish is stored in slightly different conditions, it will negatively affect the final quality.

If the temperature of the fish meal drying process is too high it can lead to protein damage. This decreases the content of digestible Lysine. Lysine cannot be created by the body itself and must be included via the diet. As a result, it belongs to the essential amino acids, and it is important that it is present at the highest possible level.

But how do we calculate the NPU value?

First of for all it is important to know when testing, few or no fish are used. All tests are conducted for and on livestock such as pigs, cows and chickens. There are several methods used to validate the quality and nutrition intake of food.

The most animal-friendly way to do this is the In-vitro method.

But what is In-vitro protein digestion? In Vitro is a term for biological techniques that are applied outside the body of the organism. In other words, tests that take place in a lab and not in the body. In-vitro protein utilisation is a method that was developed in the laboratory to obtain the data from the protein utilisation of the stomach and intestines. In the past (and sometimes still now) this testing is done using animals. However, there are now techniques developed to mimic this in a lab. This process is called In-vitro. This technique can determine the protein utilisation of the feed and also where certain proteins in the feed are absorbed. For example, in the stomach and the various parts of the intestinal tract. As we have already described the production process (temperature) is important, and also whether or not they have added stickwater, because we know added stickwater and/or higher drying temperature will mean the feed will have a lower nutritional value.

We have to remember that it is not (yet) known or researched, as to what extent these lab and animal studies compare in practice in different animals, let alone fish species. Also, to complicate matters further, fish only have a very small stomach or a stomach with almost no digestive functions, like our Koi (CARP).

Koi would logically benefit more from a high NPU value that is more easily taken up through the intestine. Here at Yoshikigoi, we are already giving this process our full attention and working hard on research towards a better understanding of this process and how to benefit from it.

How does the body actually absorb and use the proteins, and what is the advantage of a high NPU value?

Proteins split in amino acids. There are enzymes that split the proteins. The enzymes that split the proteins are called Proteases and they form amino acids that travel through the bloodstream to all body cells. This process creates the body’s own proteins. High-quality protein automatically has a higher NPU value. In simple terms, with higher protein utilisation the extraction of all the essential amino acids is higher and this gives a higher yield in nutritional value.

It is often claimed that all the essential amino acids are represented in a particular koi food. In fish meal and/or koi food, the right amino acids to match the body’s own proteins will always be present, only the number and the quality can vary. Hence the advantage of using a high quality protein food with a high NPU value.

Floating Koifood

Making floating pellets is not so easy and so is frequently dismissed as something that is bad for the Koi and not natural for them. They are naturally bottom feeders and only occasionally slurp some natural food from the surface. However, we like to look and observe our the Koi at their best, and so to enable us to do this, floating foods are more suitable than sinking pellets.

It is no mistake that 90% of all the koi food used by breeders in Japan is floating and not sinking. Only when the breeders prepare their Koi for the shows do they use sinking pellets to improve the muscle build of the Koi. We often compare many things with Japan, but all of the splendid koi that we see coming out of the mud ponds of Japan were raised with floating food and not sinking pellets.

Of course some people continue to believe differently, and I would be very interested to hear from them.

Moreover, it is proven that when carp are kept in a clearly increased water flow environment, the feed conversion rate is much higher for the same amount of food. Naturally this results in more weight and more growth from the same amount of food. For those who want to create more flow in their pond, it is important that this increased flow is not put through the filter, but only happens in the pond. It is better to keep the flow of the filter on the recommended rate and the extra flow only in the pond. For that we only need to install extra pumps in the pond and not in the filter.
This will improve the body shape, and give more growth to the Koi without using more food. The reason for this is because the food conversion is much higher and is utilised by the fish in muscle and skeletal growth which equates to quicker growth as opposed to a fish becoming fat and storing excess calories in the belly region.

The process to make the pellet floating is not that simple and there are generally more specialist techniques involved. Let’s talk about this in the next article on koi food and its production.

It is sometimes said that the choice of ingredients with a naturally higher sugar content is less important than I would like, so I would like to pick up on this in the next article and discuss the pros and cons of higher sugar levels in the ingredients of the koi food. Hopefully I will make it clear why a lower sugar content in the ingredients is important.

Production of Koi food.

If you understand what I have written above, you will understand that a lot can go wrong in producing and ensuring a consistent, high quality product. The production process is something that is controlled by the very strictest regulations. This means that the greatest effort is put into safety measures that prevent fungus or other harmful elements that would have a negative impact on the quality of the food. Among other things, contaminated fish meal can be a major problem when not subject to a controlled hygienic process. Also, more people now make their own food, but those doing so need to be aware of the dangers of homemade food and it should be frozen immediately after being made up. To thaw the food, don’t use the microwave. This will reduce the NPU value.

So often Koi enthusiasts profess they do their best for Koi but do you really know what you are putting in to your koi? When you feed your Koi I think you should be entitled to know exactly what is in your food, why it is in there and how it benefits your koi. Next time you are considering a repackaged food from your local Koi dealer maybe you will consider the facts explored in this article.

Jos Aben
Yoshikigoi

Het bericht NET Protein Utilisation Koifood Whole Article verscheen eerst op Yoshikigoi.