What Makes Koi Very Elegant?
Koi are very popular fish bred and cared for by hobbyists the world over. Koi is a Japanese word which means "carp" and covers the dull gray wild carp caught in rivers and lakes for food, along with the brightly colored varieties. It is the colorful koi fish which are bred for their beauty. Although the proper term for these "living jewels" is nishikigoi, many people, particularly those in the United States, call them simply as koi.
A Very Koi Story
The carp originated from Central Europe and Asia where it was merely a food fish. It was the Chinese that began propagating specific species of carp until they developed the gold fish more than a thousand years ago. The Chinese first introduced koi as food to Japan in 200 AD. Seeing the wonderful color mutations, Japanese farmers in Niigata, a prefecture in Honshu, bred them for aesthetic purposes and produced a number of color designs. The first variety to be popular is the kohaku, the red-and-white koi.
The Niigata koi was first seen by the public in 1914 during the annual exposition in Tokyo. The beautiful, colorful fish charmed the whole of Japan and many kept koi because they looked perfect for their water gardens. It didn't take long before the rest of the world caught up on the hobby. Today, Niigata remains to be the home of the best koi breeders though you can buy koi from most pet stores. However, you have to go to specialized dealers if you want the higher-quality fish. Prices of koi differ according to the very koi-like quality of the fish.
Koi Characteristics
You can find koi with various colors and designs. The usual colors are white, black, red, yellow, blue and cream. Female koi are generally plump while the males are a lot more streamlined with torpedo shapes. A fully-grown koi can grow as long as 36 inches and weigh more than 17 pounds. The koi are hardy and durable, and can live for many years based on their genetics and living conditions. The oldest koi ever documented was "Hanako" that supposedly lived up to 226 years.
The Koi are omnivores which means they eat almost anything including vegetables. It is very koi of the fish to forage at the bottom of the pond for food. Although koi fish are basically shy and will run away when disturbed, they often recognize the person regularly feeding your koi fish. It is ordinary to see koi gathering around their keeper during feeding times with several eating directly from the hand.
Varieties of Koi
There are several varieties of koi that are distinguished by the color, pattern and also scales. There are a few hybrids like the Ghost koi and Butterfly koi that have also gained popularity but are not regarded as true Nishikigoi. Among the prominent kinds of the true Nishikigoi are the following:
- Kohaku - white koi with large red markings on top
- Taisho Sanshoku - resembles the Kohaku but has more small black markings
- Showa Sanshoku - black koi with red and white marks
- Tancho - any koi with a lone red patch on top of its head
- Asagi - is colored light blue on top and red below
- Utsurimono - black with very koi markings of red, white or yellow
- Bekko - base colour of red, white or even yellow with small black markings
- Goshiki - black koi accented with red, white, brown and blue markings
- Shusui - does not have scales other than a single row of large mirror scales running along the dorsal area, from head to tail
Things You Should Know About Koi Breeding
Koi breeding is not easy if what you aim for is to produce high-quality fish for competition purposes. Before you can obtain a prize-winning koi fish, you will have to cull and discard several thousand fry. The koi breeding process is long and difficult but it is all worth it.
Things You Should Find Out About When Making Your Koi Pond Water Garden
If you want to keep koi, you will need to build them their habitat. It will be cruel to keep your koi fish in an aquarium because they can grow large and need ample space and depth to swim around. You need to build a koi pond water garden.
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