To buy Big koi or Small koi?

I often heard people saying that buying small koi of 10 to 15cm is not wise, because the pattern and colour of koi at this size can change easily as they grow. And they say you can’t tell much detail on a small koi.

Therefore, most hobbyists will pay few thousand rand to buy a bigger koi (20 to 40cm) which you can tell more detail of the koi.

But, one koi breeder in Japan told me that: “If you want to learn and become an expert on koi, raising small koi is the best way to achieve it.”

Think about this, what he said is very true. Because the fastest way to learn is to raise lots of small koi and learn how they change.

But at the end of the day, to keep big or small koi is a personal choice.

NB! The above is just, my personal comments. If I said anything you dislike, please forgive me.

I totally agree! Being new to the hobby, I firstly don't want to spend big bucks on large koi which might die. I have bought about 3 30cm koi but having much more fun with the little ones watching them grow and change. About a year back I bought a (sorry don't know the names) black & white, with one spot of red(hi) around the left eye with no indication of more red. That same fish is now showing signs of more red, looks like he might even end up with a red head??? Cool hey!

Regards
Jona

Hi SAS -

Do not appologise for your opinions - thats what counts.

Back in about 1992 I had Kato san and Dr Tsai at my home for dinner. They were out here for our national koi show. I asked them exactly the same question and this was their reply. Kato for anyone interested is one of the foremost koi collectors in the world. If I recall correctly he told us he spent about R4,000,000 per year on koi.

They said you have a very good chance of getting good koi if you buy at around 16cm because NOBODY can tell you how they will turn out. This size was the most difficult to select an cull.

Regards,
Chris

Chris Neaves wrote:

Hi SAS -

Do not appologise for your opinions - thats what counts.

Back in about 1992 I had Kato san and Dr Tsai at my home for dinner. They were out here for our national koi show. I asked them exactly the same question and this was their reply. Kato for anyone interested is one of the foremost koi collectors in the world. If I recall correctly he told us he spent about R4,000,000 per year on koi.

They said you have a very good chance of getting good koi if you buy at around 16cm because NOBODY can tell you how they will turn out. This size was the most difficult to select an cull.

Regards,
Chris

Chris would you then say that the standard 15-20cm koi that the dealers bring in March are the best better for getting a potential show winner sgc or are these already culled aggressively in Japan and there are not "tategoi" available? Your thoughts.

PS my pocket and interest in constant change skew me towards the babies

Hi there all ,

I like to busy small kois and see hoe they grow i learn a lot out of that.

I am busy with with fry that i got at the biginning of this years from James (Pongoi koi) and i have learn a lot and still learn everyday.
To see how they grow and develope is very intresting.

I will post some pictures of them.

And next time i will know more what to look out for.

Most people dont whant to look after fry cause it is a lot of work and time that you need to put in to them.

This is one thing that is nice about the hobby , not all of us are they same but we love our kois.


Regards