My Koi Addiction....

[audioenvy]

Audio. I know a Showa is a black body with red and white colors on it, and a Sanke is a white bodied fish with red and black. Is that right? To me they look very similar sometimes. How do you tell the difference? I would have guessed that both your new fish were Sankes.

I'm no expert on the rules and I think that body color explanation is an oversimplification--though I am unclear. However, after having seen photos/videos of hundreds of them I seem to guess right most of the time.

 

[audioenvy]

Ok here's a Sanke versus Showa quiz for you Koi addicts!. You try to guess Showa versus Sanke for each of the following 16 fish. We will call the photos 1, 2, and 3 and in each photo the fish are identified with a letter. So, for example, 1B, 2E, 3D would be how we would identify the fish. Give it a try!

NOTE: I definitely do not know the official definition of Sanke versus Showa but I got 15 of 16 correct. After looking at the one I got wrong I felt dumb because it's probably the most obvious of the whole set. BTW, these are all 15-17" long and cost from $200 to $400 each. They are all currently in Japan.

 

[Gemma]

They all look the same to me but hey I'm gonna guess last pic
A,D, E Sanke B, C Showa

 

[audioenvy]

They all look the same to me but hey I'm gonna guess last pic
A,D, E Sanke B, C Showa

Do you have guesses for the first two photos?

 

[Gemma]

Do you have guesses for the first two photos?

The first pic I'm thinking A, B, C and F Showa and D Sanke leaving E undecided could be either

Second pic I would guess all Showa but maybe B is a Sanke

 

[Gemma]

all this Showa vs Sanke left me with one question: if a Sanke that looses its color end up looking white with some black spots, does a Showa end up mostly black if it loses its colors?

 

[audioenvy]

The first pic I'm thinking A, B, C and F Showa and D Sanke leaving E undecided could be either

Second pic I would guess all Showa but maybe B is a Sanke

Good guesses! I'll give the answers a little later.

 

[audioenvy]

all this Showa vs Sanke left me with one question: if a Sanke that looses its color end up looking white with some black spots, does a Showa end up mostly black if it loses its colors?

I don't think so. The Sumi (black) doesn't always emerge even on a Showa.

 

[Gemma]

This is the only Sanke I bought, it was over a 100 dollar but it didn't cost me anything with the buy one get one free
you can see how much color it has lost in only 1 year, I'm thinking it will shed all of it's red (Hi- Beni) and end up looking even uglier so I'm getting rid of her this Spring, unless there is a chance that the color comes back which I highly doubt!

this is now, sorry the picture got so bad with cropping

 

[audioenvy]

Wow the definitely is a big change. Without better photos it's hard for me to comment. However, I will say that most Sanke are not completely red like that.

 

[Lisak1]

My guess is Fish, Fish, Fish and another Fish plus two more Fish! Do I win?

 

[CometKeith]

My guesses are 1 A,C and F are Showas. 2 A,C,D and E are Showas, 3 C,D, and E are Showas. The rest are Sankes. Basically I'm trying to see if the underlying color is black or not if it is I'm going with Showa.

 

[audioenvy]

Photo 1: A, C, and F are Showa. B, D, and E are Sanke.
Photo 2: A, B, C, D, and E are Showa. None are Sanke.
Photo 3: A, C, and D are Showa. B and E are Sanke.

 

[Gemma]

Wow the definitely is a big change. Without better photos it's hard for me to comment. However, I will say that most Sanke are not completely red like that.

I don't have good picture of her! I could take one, and try uploading it through wfi

 

[Gemma]

Photo 1: A, C, and F are Showa. B, D, and E are Sanke.
Photo 2: A, B, C, D, and E are Showa. None are Sanke.
Photo 3: A, C, and D are Showa. B and E are Sanke.

Yay! I did better than I thought!
Thanks, that was fun!