Steve on his Mature Champion at the Northern Midwest ZNA Koi Show 2011:

“I started feeding TOMiGAi Wheat Germ when it first came out two years ago and it’s just put on a tremendous amount of mass and girth; and [a] very imposing conformation on the fish.

I’ve always been a proponent of Wheat Germ.  The TOMiGAI Wheat Germ has a higher percentage of protein and it’s really helped the fish bulk up; not only by mass but also muscle mass and not fat.  So it’s really added to the improvement [and] conformation of the Koi.

Typically we look at Koi and their conformation [with] having a nice proportion.  What I saw happen with TOMiGAi, using TOMiGAi over the last two years, was [that] it got more mass to it.  Big volume shoulders; tail tube stayed in large proportions; and [TOMiGAi] took the Koi from a good conformation to an even better imposing conformation.

[The Kohaku] was a present [from] Toshinori Yoshihara, the younger of the Yagenji brothers, in 2004 at eleven inches.  By the time I got it home to my pond in June of 2005 it was thirteen inches, and today it measures just over twenty-seven inches..I don’t even attempt to grow fish fast or push the growth rates on them.  I want to grow them slower over time and I found in utilizing that technique I won’t have a young jumbo fish, but I will have [the following]: I get to enjoy the fish more over time, and the fish seem to maintain their quality longer.

That was another thing about TOMiGAi Food.  Typically with high protein foods you see some suffering in the area of skin quality.  Yellowing, roughtness-it loses the translucency, but I haven’t seen that with TOMiGAi even with it’s higher protein.  So i’ve been really impressed with that. ”

Steve’s Advice to Budding Hobbyists:

“Pick good quality fish.  Put it in a good pond, excellend filtration, maintain excellent water quality, and use a higher quality food.  You get what you pay for.  There’s a number of high quality, good foods out there; I elected to try TOMiGAi two years ago, and the TOMiGAi line of foods provide you with different foods that are necessary for the different stages in the Koi’s development not only over years, but also within [the] season.  So you get your seasonal mix, and you changes through the growth [and] life of the Koi.”