Carp generally grow to a considerable size, even in parts of the world where the growing season is comparatively short. Koi are no different and given the right conditions, small fish can grow to 50cm or 20 inches in three or four years. The result is a fish that is not only beautiful to look at by virtue of its color and shape, but also majestic in size. This rate of growth means you must carefully consider the design of the pond system that is to support them.
Understandably, both newcomers to the hobby and experienced koi keepers are keen to improve the quality, as well as the quantity, of koi in their collections. However, overstocking can lead to health problems in a collection of these cherished fish. To minimize these potential health risks it may be necessary to invest in a more sophisticated pond system or, better still, establish a quarantine set up before embarking upon stock improvement.
It is vital to maintain a high quality environment that can cope both with increasing loads of new fish and the growth of existing ones. A newly harvested koi is given an initial visual examination before being transported to the holding ponds for an assessment of its health and potential. A major fascination of koi is the variety of pattern and color combinations. There are scaled and non scaled varieties, as well as metallic skinned ones. Certain features are common to all good koi, regardless of variety.
The overall body shape, including the head, can vary widely, but a well shaped head on a properly proportioned body will be characteristics of a quality koi. The skin should shine with a deep gloss rather than have a flat finish. Of course, this is a different quality to that of the metallic varieties, which have a metallic sheen. Over the years, 13 classes of koi have been established. Each one contains a number of varieties to cover these widely differing koi and to help with appreciation of their qualities. The basic 13 classes are outlined on a lot of koi books.
Each one includes several named variants and these are described where possible. Metallic skinned fish have classes of their own, as do those with another skin feature, the presence of shiny or reflective scales on both metallic and non metallic koi. These scales show either as gold (Kin) or silver (Gin) and a good quality GinRin as it is known can be quite outstanding. On the other hand, scaleless (Doitsu) koi do not have their own classes, but fall into the same group as their scaled equivalents.
For more information on Koi, Koi Fish, Koi Pond, and everything related to Koi, please visit http://www.MyOwnKoiPond.com/ which is an educational website devoted to helping people understand Koi, Koi Pond, Koi Fish, and how to take care of their Koi, from the Fish to the Pond. You will also be able to learn how to build a Koi Pond.
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