PAST CHAMPIONS

With our Show season in in full swing it's really interesting to go back and look at koi handled by Dream Koi that have won Grand Supreme and Reserve Grand Supreme titles over the years gone by:It's also interesting to see what other titles some of these sstunning koi have won:-

Still alive and well and way over 90cm!

                

                      

                             

                                 

                                     

                                                     

                                 

                                           

                                         

                                                                     

CHAGOIS

I've always had a soft spot for Chagois.I think it's a combination of their strength and simplicity.There is always a place for a chagoi in a pond. They get extremely tame/friendly and greedy ,so will often encourage the other koi in the pond to feed more profusely.

I've found that Ogata Koi Farm producers some extremely good Chagois.

I purchased these 2 Nisai at the Ogata November Auction in 2012 with Paul Coetzee- who shares my passion for this variety.Both koi are in my Champion's pond.

This fish is now only 3,5 years old and over 85cm- classic strong body and great, even scalation/ colour.

This Chagoi is more chocolate and is over 80cm and has developed a lot of character in her face with distinctive chubby cheeks-Paul's favorite! Won't be as big as the other-imo- but is still stunning! I am sure Paul will be showing at least one of them at the KZN Show in July and I will then get updates on pictures and sizes.


2 other stunning Ogata Chagois:-

A beautiful Chagoi grown by Ernst from Nisai to win some coverted awards.

Mark bought this Chagoi from Dream Koi who grew it on frm nisai to an 80cm Sansai. Mark has put another 7cm onto the koi and I'm sure we will see this fish do something special at the Western Cape Show later this year.

FILTER UPGRADE TO INDOOR CHAMPIONS POND

With the high cost of electricity and also to minimize the mantainence, but to increase the effectivness of the filters, I decided to make some changes to my filter system:-

I removed all the koi and blocked the bottom drains- I left the water running in the pond with the weirs directly connected to the protein skimmer and bakki shower. I then did the foundations for the filtration system.

The finished filter- 2 bottom drains to 1 Profidrum- thank you Mark from Koi Water Products!- and the 3rd bottom drain and 2 weirs to the other drum. From the drums the water goes through 3 filter chambers of Japanese matting- up/down system. The 4th chamber is the pump chamber where 2 x 55 00 liters an hour submersables push the water up and through 2 large stainless steel bakki showers flled with Momotaro Bakki House Media and then back to the pond. In addition I have a Speck pump pushing water through a sand filter and UV light and returning through my inside bakki shower with Ogata Crystal Bio.

One of the 3 Japanese mat filters

Pump chamber

Twin outside bakki showers

100 ton Champions pond- plenty of oxygen!

OFS GRAND CHAMPION 

After Hannes's success with the OFS GC I looked up the Sanke to see how much she had changed from when I purchased her as nisai from Sakai to now:-

The most interesting change has been the sumi quantity and the beni quality- made a huge difference to the koi!

KOI CARP

Congratulations to Ernst Van Dyk for having his pond featured in the very popular British koi magazine Koi Carp.

As most of you know, Ernst is an extremely passionate koi keeper with the ability to grow a number of koi big- and still maintain the quality- in a relativly small pond. The cover of the magazine shows a very beautiful Sakai Sanke which we purchased as nisai in November 2012 and subsiquently sold to Ernst.

It's great to see that Ernst is doing such a good job on the koi and I'm looking forward to see her progress.

Koi Carp cover

As nisai in November 2012

2014 OFS SHOW

The Show Chairman Bennie Herbst next to the
Show banner- congratulations to Bennie and
his team for putting on a great Show in a new venue.

The judges

 Well done again to Hannes for winning Grand Champion. This year with a stunning Dream Koi Sakai Sanke- the quality of this koi is extremely high and has a fantastic future.

He also won Supreme size 7 with a striking Momotaro Kohaku.

In addition he also won Jumbo A with another Sakai Sanke

And Jumbo B with an 80cm Ogata Ogon.
 

 A video of 3 Ogata Ogons bought by Dream Koi as nisai and grown on in our new pond. Hannes's ogon - the bigger of these 3 -grew from 55cm to 80cm in just under 2 years.

Reserve Grand Champion was a strong Sakai Kohaku supplied by Dream Koi to Bennie Herbst- well done Bennie- he also won Supreme 6 with a lovley Ogata Shusui

Junior Champion went to Pieter Odendaal who bought a Sakai Sanke as a 26cm tosai from Dream Koi and grew it on- always a special accomplishment!

26cm Tosai

Junior Grand Champion