June 2013 www.firstcoastkoiclub.com Volume 13, No. 05 Dedicated to promoting the appreciation and joy of Koi, Goldfish & Water Gardens through education, mutual support and public exhibits in Jacksonville, Florida and the neighboring areas. Next meeting Saturday 6/15 at 5PM at the home of Jim and Libby Mattingly 4072 Dover Rd Jacksonville, FL 32207 904-733-6831 Check the website for directions and don t forget to RSVP to the host. 1
From the Editor Don Whaley In the last edition I included a write up of the Middle Georgia Koi Show. Many of you may remember one of the judges for our last show was Bart Atkinson and he is always the show chairman for this show and does an excellent job. Just as an FYI there are a couple of other shows you may want to consider attending this year. The North Carolina Koi and watergarden society is doing their fifth show this year and while it is quite a drive, you can make it in one day. It s held always on the third weekend of September making this years show September 20 22. http://carolinaclassickoishow.com/ It s held in New Hill, NC on a 30 acre farm owned by Bobby Wang. The farm and the surrounding area are simply breathtaking and Bobby will be most happy to take you on a tour on his golf cart. He usually does not vend at this show to not compete with the other koi vendors but you can request a special viewing of some of his Japanese imports. The second show worth mentioning is in Simpsonville, SC., which is just outside of Greenville. Gene Koch and Jim Sureth co chair this show each year and do an excellent job of making everyone feel welcome. This show is the first weekend of October and consequently it is held indoors at the Simpsonville Senior Center. Greenville is also a beautiful place to visit and enjoy the fall colors that will have just started to appear. http://www.sckwgs.org/ And last but not least is the 11 th annual First Coast Koi Club show which is held the second weekend of October at the Masonic Lodge in Mandarin. This year the dates are October 11 13. It s a very short trip for most of us and well worth attending. Because this is one of my more favorite shows, I ll be reporting more on it in later editions of this newsletter. 2
From the President Libby Mattingly Those who made the field trip this past Sunday to Seven Trees Nursery sure came away with some beautiful plants. I have never seen so many unusual species! So sorry we had not been able to make it in the past. I don t think I want to miss another trip! The meeting for June has been changed to our home. The meeting is Saturday June 15th at 5 PM. Don t know yet what main dish I will prepare but if you call in a few days, I should have a plan by then. David Hardcastle has volunteered to give a talk for our program. Hope everyone can make it. The time is upon us to start working on the October show. Please consider an area that you may be interested in to help. We do have the location confirmed for the Lodge again this year and look forward to no weather events! Hope everyone fish that you have for the grow out is doing well. I know ours is eating like a little piglet. Personally, I can t wait for our show to see how he compares to everyone s. Hope to see everyone on the 15th. Libby 3
From the Secretary Doug Stuber First Coast Koi Club Meeting Minutes May 11, 2013 - Home of Dave and Joan Majcher - 6:00 PM 26 Members in Attendance 1) Libby introduced our newest member, Karen Konovan, and her two guests, Bruce and Mary Ellen Kristol. 2) Doug reported on our rain date visit Seven Trees Nursery as a Club Field trip, now set for Sunday, June 2nd at 2:00 PM. 3) Per Treasurer s report, we now have $2,732 balance in the bank account 4) Mark Masters reported he is arranging a guest speaker, a veterinarian, to make a presentation at the meeting to be held at his home in September. 5) Glen and Amy Fontan agreed to host the June meeting at their home 6) Numbers were drawn and the 11 participants in the kohaku grow-out made their fish selections. The order of selection was: 1 - Mark Masters 2 - Mary Cook 3 - Suzette Alexander 4 - Libby Mattingly 5 - Alina Bowen 6 - Doug Stuber 7 - Dave Majcher 8 - Scott Campbell 9 - Dave Majcher 10 - Glen Fontan 11- David Chung --- Doug Stuber Secretary 4
Grow out Competition Editors note. I m leaving the grow out competition in again in case someone did not get to review last months newsletter. Newsletter Article - Some Wild Fun At the Club Grow Out Selection During our Saturday, May 11th meeting at Dave and Joan Majcher s home, the eleven participating club members made their selections for our 2013 Grow-Out contest. Each participant paid $100 for the opportunity to draw lots and select a 6 long kohaku provided by Legacy Koi of Crystal River. It was a fun and frantic time as each koi keeper studied the fish kept in individual bags, drawing up their ranking of the single fish they d most like to take home. Much like an NFL draft, everyone was encouraged to have back up choices if their favorite was off the table as their number came up. All of the fish were from the same spawn of the famous Rose bloodline maintained by Sakai of Hiroshima, Japan, one of the largest and most famous breeders in that nation. Attached, below, are individual photos of each fish, along with their new owner s name. We will bring these fish back together again this Fall at our annual Show were the professional judges will look over our charges and see who has done the best to carefully develop their fish into it s full potential. Hopefully, we will continue to do so each year for many shows to come and learn from the development, over time, of each fish and each pattern. Just for fun, we ve listed the order in which the fish were selected (again, the order was determined by drawing numbers ) It will be interesting to see how this order plays out in the actual ranking of the fish at the first showing this Fall. My hunch is the order of selection will not be much of a factor. In fact, two of our most experienced koi keepers, Don Whaley and Dave Majcher, both noted there was not a mediocre fish in the bunch as we took individual photos of each tosai. Everyone of these fish has the bloodline and the true potential to be a Champion. Good luck and good growing with your kohaku! Order of selection: 5
Mark and Michelle Masters Grow out Competition Mary and Bob Cook 6
Suzette and Willie Alexander Grow out Competition Libby and Jim Mattingly 7
Alina and Howard Bowen Grow out Competition Doug and Darla Stuber 8
Dave Majcher Grow out Competition Scott Campbell 9
Joan Majcher Grow out Competition Glen Fontan 10
David Chung Grow out Competition 11
Coming Events Oct 11,12,13 FirstCoast Koi Club 11 th Annual show. 12
The Editorial Page Don Whaley I ve been an active customer and supporter of Aquatic Eco for several years now. However since Pintair took over the company I ve been less than pleased with their operations. Two of my recent purchases turned into customer service nightmares and I m still working on the last one. One of my purchases was for Koi Food that was delivered to the wrong address by Fed Ex that took 3 weeks to get straightened out. Because for the past 8 years I ve been able to get Koi food delivered the next day from Aquatic Eco I had to find another source of readily available food for my fish. I sought out one of our koi show vendors that I remembered handled Blackwater Creek food and fish. I always buy a big bag of food from them at out show so I went diving through my saved business cards and found it. Their name is All About Koi and they are located in Green Cove Springs, definitely within driving distance. Dale called Lois who said she kept the food in stock and that if we could wait until the next day she would bring the food to her work place in Orange Park and we could pick it up there, shorting our drive. We agreed and Lois brought a 40lb bag of our requested food. The bottom line was we didn t have to pay shipping and saved us $20 over the cost of buying from Pentair Aquatic Eco. The other issue is still pending and is an administrative headache (I call those Charlie Foxtrots) but I m optimistic it will be resolved by the end of the month. I ve since received, as I m sure most of you have a post card apologizing for the rough patch they have been going through and offering a 10% discount on my next order. I ll probably still order from them but no longer anything I can get locally. 13
Club Field Trip to 7 Trees Doug Stuber Field Trip to Seven Trees Nursery This month we made our annual trek to see the 'Dutchman' and his wife at Seven Trees Nursery in Black Hammock. These folks grow all sorts of cacti, succulents, exotic ferns, and some aquatic plants (primarily juncus). Unusual plants are their specialty, and all at extremely reasonable prices. Everyone had a great time. Here s some remembrance from the trip. A break in the shade A car load of bargains Bruce Karen and Mary Ellen Darla, Ina and Doug Ina and the Dutchman Jim and the Dutchman 14
Club Field Trip to 7 Trees Doug Stuber Dave and Joan Loadin up John and Sadie Jim and Libby Bill and Marsha Mary Ellen Pussy Toes Succulent We woke someone up 15