During the April 10, 2010 general meeting Andrew and Blanca Corlett volunteered to become the editors for the monthly Nishiki Koi Club newsletter. We (Andrew and Blanca) are delighted to help with this task and hope that we can follow the footsteps of those before us who have done such a wonderful job; the praise we heard about the past editors at the last meeting was just outstanding.
We joined the Nishiki Koi Club in November of last year (2009); just in time for the December Holiday Party. We currently have 6 koi and our desire for more is great. However, our pond is only approximately. 1500 gallons so we have to cap the number of koi to a small number. We think we are currently one over our limit. (Fortunately for many of us, Fish and Game doesn’t regulate this hobby! )
Our pond was built and completed in February of 2009 and we added our first koi on May 3 of that same year. We initially placed 4 tester red and white goldfish in the pond. One of the goldfish died immediately and the other three thrived all too well.
The number of gold fish expanded to eight (8) and the number would have been exceptionally larger if it were not for our first two koi eating the fry! We quickly removed the goldfish and gave them to some of the neighborhood kids withholding one that we’ve placed in a 10-gallon aquarium in Andrew’s home office. Not sure why he is keeping it. We have named all of our koi after observing their personalities and hope to introduce them in the monthly “Your Koi” column over time.
Our pond was built as part of a larger landscaping project on our property. The main contractor subcontracted the pond work to Eric Triplett of The Pond Di"ers. When we first met with Eric he greeted us with great enthusiasm and knowledge. We had many questions that we wanted to ask and to learn as much as possible about the needs of koi and pond construction. As he started to explain different aspects you could see in his eyes and hear in his voice the vast amount of information he had and wanted to tell us. Containing himself, we spent several hours discussing many different aspects and technologies.
At one point Andrew stopped Eric in mid-sentence and told Blanca “we either need to call 911-now or we have the right guy!” Andrew was very surprised about the excitement and enthusiasm that a person could have over “fish” that it came as a bit of a shock.
Now that we have our pond and koi we too understand about this enthusiasm and excitement. We reasoned that if there were people like Eric and us, then there must be other “wackos” too and that is how we started to look for koi clubs and found Nishiki Koi Club.
Before any of us jump to conclusions, we want to say that we have refined our idea of what a “wacko” is and conclude that koi are unique animals and have a purpose in beauty, enjoyment, and relaxation for all of us. We are fortunate enough to Blanca is a social worker for the County of Orange and is working on her education in the field of Optometry. Andrew is a software and
electrical engineer building products for the Telecommunications industry. He is working on applying his knowledge and skills to projects related to koi.
Sincerely,
Andrew & Blanca!
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