Made a offer on the new place today.

[fishin4cars]

CE, I originally wanted a rock look, then the contractor talked me into the gravel look which I liked IF it had turned out. As you can tell it didn't. I wanted the cement stained all the way through, not just surfaced stained. Again, the contractor talked me out of it. Well when we came to the closing and he wanted to get his final pay, I told him, The mess will be fixed before your paid and that's all the work your getting we are done. He threatened to take me to court so he got to meet my lawyer. LOL, Only took two days for him to agreed to re-surface the patio for free. He wanted to put outdoor tile. I agreed, well long story short, I started working for a company that sells rock and the owner had exactly enough for the project and gave me a deal on the rock. $800 less than the tile. It saves the contractor money he's having to pay out and I got what I really wanted in the first place. He laid rock from 7:30 this morning until 5pm. I hand washed over 3000# while he laid them. Talking about kind of awkward but at the end of the day. We both agree, it really is coming together and It's not costing him nearly as bad as he thought it would.

The Koi your talking about is Hi Sumi, or at least that's the name I gave it. It's actually a Showa, Elvis is it's sibling. We got both of them from a hobbyist breeder. Of the two I like Elvis better. My favorite in the Pond is the big black Kumonryu with the white belly. Shamu. She's by far my sweetheart in the pond.

 

[CountryEscape]

Yep, I have a Shamu, too. He/she also has a white belly and is solid black otherwise. You were the one that told me I got a Kumonryu when I first joined here and said I got a good deal! I think I paid something like $8 for him! He is now about 14" long, was maybe 7 or 8" when I got him last year. Never seen him spawn, so thinking from his body style it's a male. Very calm, loves to eat, doesn't shove others away from food, though, just takes his time to eat. LOL
Yep, I would definitely be interested in a fish like your Hi Sumi! Love that deep coloring, only would be better if butterfly finned.

 

[fishin4cars]

Shamu is like that as well, She sits back when the rest come rushing in. She will sit there tail down face out of water and wait for me to feed her directly. She doesn't rush in to eat but when she eats, she likes to eat alot!

 

[addy1]

The rock work is beautiful, glad it worked out in the end for you and the contractor.

 

[CountryEscape]

Here's my Shamu, Larkin. The two above him are also fish I got from the same breeder. They are really nice, too!

You can barely see the red shadow on top of his head. It used to be brighter for a while, but I don't remember it when I first bought him, so it comes and goes.

 

[fishin4cars]

Do you have any older pics of that fish? Does it change during the seasons? Pretty, I like the snow white belly with the black top. Does the fins and the tail tip out in white? hard to tell.

 

[fishin4cars]

BTW, made a little more progress today until the rain came in. Got to put some of the rock on the wall of the pond to see how it's going to look. I think I like it! Now it will be the first of next week before we can continue.

 

[CountryEscape]

Larkin, that looks fantastic! You are creating quite the showplace. I hope you have tons of visitors to come see your work when you're done. Even now, there is so much to see, so much accomplished already.
I don't think my Shamu has white tips on his tail or fins, darn it. That would really show up well, or better yet, have white fins! Here's a pic of him in a bucket when I first bought him.
This one shows his head closer up, with the white and red markings, when I first bought him. Next pic is also when first purchased. I can't believe how small the other fish were!

This pic was also taken last summer, in July, about a month after he arrived.

So, looks like his black has moved downward some, and make a more distinct line between black and white. The white that was on the sides of his head seems to be gone as well.

 

[fishin4cars]

OK, now does it have smooth skin or scales. I can see the red near the head better in that pic. Guess it's a Beni Kumonryu. I think it looks better now then when younger.
BTW, white tip fins and white nose is a Harijo, They are scaled and don't change pattern as much. Cool looking fish when you see a really big one all dressed out in it's tuxedo.

 

[CountryEscape]

He is smooth skin, no scales that I can see. Funny, but when I bought him, I wanted him because he was black. I didn't know much yet about scales and scaleless, changing colors, etc. The one fish I'm really disappointed in is the little tri-colored fish next to Shamu in the second pic above. It is now all white, with one or two small black spots under the skin.
That was my favorite fish that day, too! I really wanted Sanke or Showa (still can't say I know the difference in these two ...) and ended up with white. Oh well!

 

[fishin4cars]

That's always a bummer, I have several that did that and although we still enjoy them they didn't turn out to be near the fish we had hoped for.
Showa- all three colors on the head, may have black patch or spot on pectoral fins, colors go from belly up
Sanke-two or less colors on the head, black on pecs may have stripes but not patches, colors are usually generalized to the back only.
Your Shamu is a Beni Kumonryu.

 

[CountryEscape]

OK, thanks for the descriptions! I'll add/change them on my list of color description page.
Now, if I can just figure out what is chewing on my lily pads! What do you think of this? A lady that I bought a couple of tropical lilies from said it's from the turtles (the tears) and the edges are being chewed on by a China Mark Moth. Probably no way to get rid of them. I'm not sold on the turtles (painted ones, I have at least one that is 6" and one that is 3", seen two 6" before but usually just see the 2, and they move from pond to pond together LOL) being the culprits, as I see them all the time push down the edge of the lilly (the bigger guy) to get the food, or the little one climb on top, and they don't seem to do any damage. Here's the strange part: All my lilies I have from Menards or Addy are damaged. The one lake lily that I brought home (was kayaking, found floating tuber, planted it last summer) does not have a mark on the leaves. It's right next to a lily that is all marked up! Well, now that I took a pic and look at it closely (the first pic) there is some damage on the leaves (they look different, are on the right side of the pic) of the lake lily, but not near as much. Also, the lake lily has never bloomed! I'll give it another year to send up a bloom, otherwise going to pull it out.

Here's what the rest of the lily pads look like in my ponds. Yuck yuck yuck!

Here are my turtles in the goldfish pond. I will kick them out if I learn that they are 100% sure the ones doing the damage, but unless they do more damage than this, the lilies are still blooming, so they will get to stay for now. I'm more worried about a hole in my bog again in the spring from them burrowing down for winter.

 

[HARO]

Country;
Have you had any hail in your area?
John

 

[CountryEscape]

John, nope. That would be a good reason for it, too! And, I looked at both Wal-Mart and Menards for Thuricide, which is supposed to be pond safe for fish and plants and kill the moths, but could not find it. Will have to search the web for it.

 

[fishin4cars]

CE, I don't see China moth worm damage, PM Andy, (Adavius) He can probably help more than anyone. I'm afraid that most of that damage may be the turtles. Makes sense that the natives aren't as damaged as the tropicals. Turtles will snack on lilies, those type aren't as bad as snappers. They may be doing the damage before the leaves open to the surface just trying to hold theirselves up at the surface, Tropicals are usually very tender at thet stage and get tougher as the leaves mature. Some hardy natives leaves are really tough even before getting to the surface. When I first looked at the leaves I thought hail too, but it's probably turtle nail scratches. NOT bites. . The only other possibility I can think of off hand is a bird that may be walking on the pads. I don't know what kind it would be though.