Koi are extremely popular fish bred and cared for by hobbyists around the world. Koi is a Japanese word that means "carp" and covers the dull gray wild carp found in rivers and lakes for food, along with the brightly colored varieties. It is the colorful koi fish that are bred for their appearance. Although the proper term for these "living jewels" is nishikigoi, most people, especially those in the United States, call them simply as koi.

A Very Koi Story

The carp came from Central Europe and Asia where it was merely a food fish. It was the Chinese that began propagating selected species of carp until they developed the gold fish over a thousand years ago. The Chinese first introduced koi as food to Japan in 200 AD. Looking at the beautiful color mutations, Japanese farmers in Niigata, a prefecture in Honshu, bred them for aesthetic applications and produced a number of color designs. The first variety to be established is the kohaku, the red-and-white koi.

The Niigata koi was first exposed to the public in 1914 in the course of the annual exposition in Tokyo. The charming, colorful fish charmed all of Japan and many kept koi because they looked perfect for their water gardens. It did not take long before the entire world caught up on the hobby. Today, Niigata continues to be the home of the finest koi breeders though you can buy koi from almost all pet stores. However, you have to go to specialized dealers if you want the higher-quality fish. Prices of koi vary based on the very koi-like quality of the fish.

Koi Attributes

You can find koi with different colors and designs. The typical 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 matured koi can grow as much as 36 inches and weigh more than 17 pounds. The koi are hardy and tough, and can live for decades based on their genetics and also living conditions. The oldest koi ever documented was "Hanako" that supposedly lived up to 226 years.

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

Varieties of Koi

There are several varieties of koi that are recognized by the color, pattern and scales. There are a few hybrids like the Ghost koi or the Butterfly koi that have also gained popularity but are not regarded as true Nishikigoi. Among the prominent varieties of the true Nishikigoi include the following:

- Kohaku - white koi with large red marks on top

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

- Showa Sanshoku - black koi with red and white marks

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

- Asagi - is coloured light blue on top and red below

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

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

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

- Shusui - does not have scales except for a single row of big mirror scales running along the dorsal area, from head to tail

Tips Regarding How To Properly Take Care Of Koi
Many pond owners around the world choose koi for pond fish. It's because koi are colorful and have interesting personalities. In addition, Koi fish tend to live long, from 25 to 35 years. It has even been reported that the koi fish's ancestral predecessors lived as long as 200 hundred years.

Koi Breeding: Find Out More About It
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.

How To Carefully Feed Koi Fish
If you have a koi pond, you know that feeding koi can be fun. Koi are highly interactive fish; they are known to feed right out of their owner's hand. Many koi owners find pleasure in feeding koi because these fish actually learn to recognize the person who feeds them.

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