the Cult of Koi

‘Once upon a time, long, long ago, there lived in the murky slow moving waters of Eurasia a very ordinary fish indeed—httle did he know that one day, just hike an ugly duckling, he would become very beauuful, so beautiful in fact that he would be hailed as the king of all the fishes in the world .. / It would not be difficult to build a fairy story around the Nishikigoi colored carp of Japan, simply because if people see some of the magnificent colors and patterns found in these fish it would be very hard indeed to believe they all arose from the rather dowdy looking common carp‚ Cyprinus carpio, found throughout European and Near Eastern rivers and lakes. For many years the koi, as it is most commonly known in the West, went unnoticed by European and American pondowners but then, during the mid-1950s, things started to change and the trickle of imports began to become a steady flow; today millions of koi are sold throughout the world and the popularity of this remarkable fish continues to march on with ever increasing momentum. The steady flow of the 1960s became a torrent in the 1970s and now, at the end of the century the phenomenon of koi continues unabated. So what has this fish got to offer that makes it so special—and why was it so late in arriving on the aquascene in the West? Firstly, the koi is very long-lived so it can become a pet fish like no other; you can tame it; it will eat from your hands, and you might even be able to lift it clean out of the water to feed itwith care of courseif you have spent much time with it so it totally trusts you. It is just about as tough and hardy a fish as you could hope to meet and can cope with a wide range of temperatures and water conditons. It is also a very peace-loving fish not only to its own kind but to all other fish as well—-as long as they are not so small that it might eat them! It is capable of very high speed bursts of movement, but most of the time it is quite happy to swim along in a very gentle and meandering manner. It is thus very easy on the eye and restful to the mind. Small wonder the Chinese and Japanese value it so highly, for it beckons you to sit awhile and let vour thoughts drift to far-off places of tranquility and beauty. But most of all the koi is a beauuful fish of vivid striking colors—reds, golds, blues, yellows, silvers and even greens—and all can be had in any mixture and with numerous different types of scales, so this is a fish that holds so many possibilities for breeding, showing, and just for decorating a garden pond. The reasons why the koi was a long while arriving in the West are numerous. For one thing, it was only with the growing affluence that commenced in the 1950s that people could afford garden ponds; and then they tended to be of concrete construction which was expensive and beset with problems. Pond technology, filters, pumps, cleaning aids and control of disease were still very much in their infancy—and koi colors were nothing like as numerous as they are today. Even the koi themselves were not as hardy years ago and, like some wines, did not travel well. Owners were unsure about these exotic fish which were far more expensive than the common goldfish, which unul then was the automatic choice for a pond. The arrival of pond liners revolutionized pond ownership and steadily a whole industry has built up around the Nishikigoi carp. As with all species of animals that become popular, there follows in their wake a whole range of ideas on how they should be cared for; some owners will insist on this way, others on another; one dealer will say one thing while a rival will say something else. This is the way of things, but sometimes the poor old novice just does not know which zs the correct way to look after these fish. Let me therefore say straight away that no one method is better than all others; if it were there would be no problem as everyone would be using it! The fact that one breeder or dealer has found success