{"id":73036,"date":"2026-08-15T12:10:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T10:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koiquestion.com\/the-a-pex-from-appeltern-grand-champion-at-the-holland-koi-show-2026"},"modified":"2026-08-15T13:11:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T11:11:43","slug":"the-a-pex-from-appeltern-grand-champion-at-the-holland-koi-show-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koiquestion.com\/en\/the-a-pex-from-appeltern-grand-champion-at-the-holland-koi-show-2026","title":{"rendered":"The A-pex from Appeltern; Grand Champion at the Holland Koi Show 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The A-pex in Appeltern<\/h1>\n

American winner<\/h3>\n

In a field of competitors that can safely be considered among the strongest this season, Rob van Hulst managed to retain his title. Or so it seemed. His Sakai Fish Farm<\/abbr> Kohaku<\/abbr>, which was crowned supreme champion<\/abbr> in Oldenzaal last May, was crowned queen at the 34th edition of the \u201cBiggest Koi Show on Earth.\u201d But even though Rob van Hulst entered the fish from his own pond, he can no longer call himself the owner of this magnificent Kohaku<\/abbr>. The rumor that had been circulating through the community turned out to be true. This and many other Koi that have won prizes at previous Koi shows have been purchased by Herbert Fritch<\/strong>, a fabulously wealthy American hobbyist. <\/p>\n

Grand Champion<\/abbr> A – Holland Koi Show 2026<\/h2>\n

Owner: Rob van Hulst Dealer: Interkoi Ameide<\/h4>\n
\"Grand
Owner: Herbert Fritch | Handler: Rob van Hulst | Dealer: Interkoi Ameide; KoiWish BV | Breeder: Sakai Fish Farm<\/abbr><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maruten<\/abbr> Kohaku<\/abbr><\/h4>\n

Pure white Shiroji<\/abbr> with fukurin<\/abbr>, crisp red lines, and a figure that commands awe. This 90+ cm Kohaku<\/abbr>, along with two of its kind in the same tank, draws many visitors at the show to stop and marvel, eliciting plenty of \u201coohs\u201d and \u201caahs.\u201d This Koi is characterized by a strong Maruten<\/abbr> set on a head with so much character that you spontaneously start coming up with names for this big guy. It is certainly not an everyday or traditional appearance. The sashi<\/abbr> is fully developed on the Koi, and the pigmentation\u2014 driven <\/strong>by erythrophores<\/strong> and xanthopores <\/strong>\u2014is evenly distributed from head to tail. <\/p>\n

\"Grand
Grand Champion<\/abbr>, Holland Koi Show 2026, Appeltern, Herbert Fritch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Contrary to what some might have expected, it was not hobbyist Rob van Hulst\u2014once considered the favorite\u2014who has now been given the role of Handler. Siebe van Tilburg, known from KoiWish BV, was responsible for brokering this and many other deals between the American Herbert Fritch and the hobbyists in question. There were also, aside from Rob\u2019s\u2014er, Herbert\u2019s\u2014collection, several Kohaku<\/abbr> measuring 90+ <\/p>\n

Photo by: Tiebo Jacobs<\/abbr><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The A-pex in Appeltern American winner In a field of competitors that can safely be considered among the strongest this season, Rob van Hulst managed to retain his title. Or so it seemed. His Sakai Fish Farm<\/abbr> Kohaku<\/abbr>, which was crowned supreme champion<\/abbr> in Oldenzaal last May, was crowned queen at the 34th edition of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":73025,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6404],"tags":[7780,6463,7718,6462],"series":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-73036","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-image","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-grand-champion-en","8":"tag-holland-koi-show-en","9":"tag-kohaku-en","10":"tag-rob-van-hulst-en","11":"tag-sakai-fish-farm-en","12":"post_format-post-format-image"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/koiquestion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/koiquestion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/koiquestion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koiquestion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koiquestion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73036"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/koiquestion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73048,"href":"https:\/\/koiquestion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73036\/revisions\/73048"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koiquestion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/koiquestion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koiquestion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koiquestion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73036"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koiquestion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=73036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}