Japanese Koi Fish

Last time I ranted on about Hannes’ passion for Koi appreciation. As a rank amateur at all this what I have learned over the last two years or so has been that Koi appreciation is anything but an exact science…

And as with most things, the experience is subjective. There is nothing that can be exactly measured and the guidelines for Koi appreciation are only that, guidelines. The history of Koi appreciation stems from Japan of course, as most things Koi related do, and to a certain extent the parameters of what are less or more important are in a state of flux.

And as soon as you get humans involved in a subjective environment you get a measure of influence that is not entirely independent. Which is why at Koi shows you have more than one independent judge and no one knows who owns which fish and in really big shows judging teams are drawn randomly to judge fish in size groups.

But I am not talking about Koi shows – a snap shot of a Koi on a single day – but in more general terms. And as the person who is most likely to see most of the Koi in a given pond most of the time just happens to be the Koi pond owner it is, I would think, important that the Koi in your pond are Koi that you can enjoy.

And enjoyment of your Koi is at the heart of appreciation. It is no small thing to grow a Koi from a tiddler into an 80 cm+ monster – and even if the Koi doesn’t match up as a show winner – it nonetheless ought to command respect for itself and it’s owner. Any Koi requires skill, effort and dedication to keep alive and healthy and this is the hallmark of a successful Koi keeper - a pond full of large Jumbo Koi fish.