Breeding Koi: Knowing Your Koi’s Past And Future

The Koi (or “Nishikigoi” in Japan) are becoming quite popular in the United States for breeding. But only a few know where and how they came to be. The first Koi were produced by breeding the Asian carp and the German carp. After years of careful selective breeding, different color mutations started showing up. The earliest patterns in color were recorded in 1805. Up to this day, thousands of color variations and combinations can be seen.

Popular colors include yellow, white, silver, black, blue, orange, green and red. There are endless possibilities of combination of patterns. Each Koi have their own name, based on their pattern and color. The favorite types may differ, depending on the location and country.

These fish are being raised for sale in various countries, such as Singapore, Japan, Israel, and in warmer states in the U.S.. The fish can be bought at many of those local pet stores. If there’s no stock available, the buyer can choose to order the fish. By ordering, the advantage of this is that the buyer will have more options, due to the fact that they do not have to pick from the stock that’s on hand. The disadvantage of this is that the buyer won’t be able to pick the specific Koi that they want to have.

Not like most of the other fish, they will continually grow until they’ll reach the maximum size of their breed (no matter where they’re being placed in). The infant ones are in lengths of 3 inches, while the biggest ones can reach around 3 feet or more! Their most common size is around 2 feet long. They have been known to live up to 30 years old under the right conditions, the oldest of which lived up to 233 years!

The Koi are classified as omnivorous fish, as they feed on meat and plants alike. And this results in the versatility of their diet. They will eat almost anything that you feed them, no matter if it’s good for them or not. The owner should be the ones to control what and how much they eat, because they are incapable of judging what’s right or wrong for their diet, and the amounts that they should be taking on a daily basis as well. The healthiest treats for them are the natural food, like earthworms and tadpoles, and food like bread, lettuce, fruit and veggies.

Owners should take necessary precautions when feeding them with beans, corns and grapes, as they contain outer casing, which can't be properly digested by the fish if eaten by them. Outer casings of these food should be removed before feeding them to your pets.

The Koi are non-aggressive types of fish, which means that they’re capable of mingling with other fish like the comet and goldfish. As they are fast eaters, the Koi will eat any fish that they will find smaller, and this could be a problem! They don’t have teeth, that’s why they can be fed through their owner’s hand (which can be a great past time for their owners too!). For fish lovers out there, Koi breeding is truly a great and fun hobby!