In Hawaii, Koi ponds are often designed into a home’s garden. In Mauna Kea Resort, there is a home currently on the market where the house was designed around a large center garden. The focus of the garden is a beautiful Koi pond. It’s an older house, and the Koi are stout.
Koi fish have been selectively bred using the common brown Asian carp and the German carp species. It is believed selective breeding for color mutations began in China thousands of years ago. It is generally believed Koi were bred for specific colors circa 1800 in Japan.
Koi display a rainbow of colors: white, yellow, orange, red, blue hues, greens and coal black. In Japan a white fish with orange red patches that display as stepping stones are popular. In the United States, favorite types are fish have scales that appear as hammered gold or silver. Long fin or butterfly Koi are popular, as are the Gin Rin Koi with scales that sparkle.
Koi range in size from three to twenty-four inches. Japanese “Jumbos” can exceed three feet. Starter fish may be purchased for a few dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Happy Koi typically live thirty years. The record in Japan is two hundred and twenty-three years.
Tags: Koi