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What Makes Koi Very Koi?

Koi are very popular fish bred and taken care of by hobbyists around the world. Koi is a Japanese word that means "carp" and includes the dull gray wild carp found in rivers and also lakes for food, along with the brightly colored varieties. It is the vibrant koi fish that are bred for their beauty. Although the proper expression for these "living jewels" is nishikigoi, most people, especially those in the United States, refer to them simply as koi.

A Very Koi Story

The carp came from Central Europe and also Asia where it was merely a food fish. It was the Chinese who started to propagate selected species of carp until they developed the gold fish more than a thousand years ago. The Chinese first brought koi as food to Japan in 200 AD. Looking at the lovely color mutations, Japanese farmers in Niigata, a prefecture in Honshu, bred them for ornamental applications and produced several color designs. The first kind to be established is the kohaku, the red-and-white koi.

The Niigata koi was first seen by the community in 1914 in the course of the annual exposition in Tokyo. The charming, colorful fish captivated all of Japan and some kept koi because they looked great for their water gardens. It did not take long before the rest of the world caught up on the hobby. Nowadays, Niigata continues to be the home of the finest koi breeders although you can buy koi from almost all pet stores. Then again, you have to go to specialized dealers if you prefer the higher-quality fish. Prices of koi vary according to the very koi-like feature of the fish.

Koi Attributes

You can find koi with different colors and patterns. The typical colors are white, black, red, yellow, blue and cream. Female koi are usually plump while the males are a lot more sleek with torpedo shapes. A matured koi can grow as long as 36 inches and weigh over 17 pounds. The koi are hardy and tough, and can live for decades depending on their genetics and also living conditions. The oldest koi ever reported was "Hanako" that supposedly lived around 226 years.

The Koi are omnivores and eat almost anything including vegetables. It is very koi of the fish to look for food at the bottom of the pond. Although koi fish are really shy and will dash away when disturbed, they usually know the person frequently feeding your koi fish. It is ordinary to see koi gathering close to their keeper during feeding times with some eating directly from the hand.

Varieties of Koi

There are several kinds of koi that are recognized by the color, pattern and scales. There are some hybrids like the Ghost koi or the Butterfly koi that have also acquired popularity but are not regarded as true Nishikigoi. One of the prominent varieties of the true Nishikigoi are the following:

- Kohaku - white koi with big red marks on top

- Taisho Sanshoku - looks like the Kohaku but has additional small black marks

- Showa Sanshoku - black koi having red and white marks

- Tancho - virtually any koi with a lone red patch on the head

- Asagi - is colored light blue on top and red beneath

- Utsurimono - black with very koi marks of red, white or yellow

- Bekko - base color of red, white or yellow with small black marks

- Goshiki - black koi accented with red, white, brown and also blue markings

- Shusui - doesn't have scales except for a single row of large mirror scales running down the dorsal area, from head to tail

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Koi health is of paramount importance if you want to enjoy your fish for a long time. Koi fish are known to live for decades although the average life span is 20 to 30 years. Koi are hardy and durable; however, they can get sick.

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