Koi are extremely popular fish bred and taken care of by hobbyists the world over. Koi is a Japanese word which means "carp" and covers 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 which are bred for their appearance. Although the proper expression 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 came from Central Europe and also Asia where it was simply a food fish. It was the Chinese who started to propagate specific species of carp until they developed the gold fish over a thousand years ago. The Chinese first brought koi as food to Japan in 200 AD. Seeing the gorgeous color mutations, Japanese farmers in Niigata, a prefecture in Honshu, bred them for aesthetic applications and produced several color designs. The first kind to be popular is the kohaku, the red-and-white koi.

The Niigata koi was first exposed to the community in 1914 during the annual exposition in Tokyo. The beautiful, colorful fish charmed all of Japan and some kept koi because they looked great for their water gardens. It didn't take long before the entire world caught up on the hobby. Nowadays, Niigata remains to be the home of the best koi breeders though 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 differ based on the very koi-like feature of the fish.

Koi Characteristics

You can find koi with various colors and designs. 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 fully-grown koi can grow as much as 36 inches and weigh over 17 pounds. The koi are hardy and durable, and can live for many years based on their genetics and also living conditions. The oldest koi ever reported was "Hanako" that supposedly lived around 226 years.

The Koi are omnivores which means they eat almost almost everything including vegetables. It is very koi of the fish to look for food at the bottom of the pond. Although koi fish are basically shy and will run away when disturbed, they often know the person routinely feeding your koi fish. It is ordinary to see koi gathering close to their keeper during feeding times with several eating straight from the hand.

Varieties of Koi

There are several kinds of koi that are distinguished by the color, pattern and also scales. There are a few 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 kinds of the true Nishikigoi include the following:

- Kohaku - white koi with big red markings on top

- Taisho Sanshoku - resembles the Kohaku but has more small black marks

- Showa Sanshoku - black koi having red and white marks

- Tancho - virtually any koi with a lone red patch on top of its head

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

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

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

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

- Shusui - doesn't have scales other than a single row of big mirror scales running down the dorsal area, from head to tail

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