# Swordtails with pics: showa vs sanke



## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

I saw an AquaBid auction selling these swordtails...can anybody explain the difference? Thanks for your help.

Here is the pic of these awesome swords.


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## stevenjohn21 (May 23, 2012)

difference between what ? The 2 pictures ? If so then no LOL


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

stevenjohn21 said:


> difference between what ? The 2 pictures ? If so then no LOL


showa vs sanke


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

I googled it and came up with this link the second post tells you the difference. Which I know its for big koi but I'm sure its the same for swordtails or close. Sorry if I'm not suppose to post this link.

http://koionline.forumotion.com/t915-difference-between-sanke-and-showa


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

Thanks...that's exactly what I needed to know.


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## Fishly (Jan 8, 2010)

Swordtails have different patterns for black, and they don't all correlate with the koi color patterns. For swords you have:

Moon/Mickey mouse (round spot on caudal peduncle with or without two smaller spots):









Twinbar (tail has a black line on the top and bottom edges):









Wag (fins are uniformly black):









Tuxedo (solid black patch spreading foward from the lower caudal peduncle):









Spotted (round spots throughout the body; few, if any, dots):









Peppered (small dots throughout the body, may have some larger spots): 









Speckled (mix of spots and dots, may have some blotches): 









Calico (technically, any black pattern on red/orange and white; showas and sankes are subtypes of calico):









Painted (moon or tuxedo mixed with a spotting pattern, either breaking up the black and extending it forward or reducing it to streaks in the tail):

















The best showas/sankes, like the koi they are named after, have black blotches spread throughout their bodies, not rounded spots or giant blocks of black. The black should have crisp borders, not feathered out on the edges. Sankes don't have as much black as showas. It's good for both to have black streaks in the fins, but not solid black fins.

Sanke koi:









Showa koi:









Koi-like showa swordtails:


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## tumbleweedz (Mar 1, 2012)

Awesome I want some of those.


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## Meganne (Sep 3, 2012)

showa - a black fish with red and white pattern

sanke - a white based fish with red and black pattern 

With showa the black coloring generally wraps across the fish wrapping below the dorsal line
With sanke the black coloring generally above the dorsal line and skattered like stepping stones along the fish's back

but these are discriptive terms used to explain the patterns of KOI.
seems the seller of what you have found is using them to discribe any sword tail with red, white and black to it.
Fishly shows a wonderful example!


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## damselfish (Oct 15, 2011)

Those are gorgeous! Most koi swords I see for sale don't have such bright white patterns... I always want some, but they're pretty dull at my LFS.


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

Thanks for the replies....this has been really helpful.

The post with the pics is really helpful.


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