| well learning with DIFFERENT grades of carp, colored carp, colored koi and nishikigoi ( as defined by Japanese varieties) is VERY educational. But keeping and gazing at low grade koi over and over will teach you very very little. The reason is, you have no reference point for learning. That is exactly why a koi show is so educational, especially if you have entered your best and now can gauge that opinion against other 'best fish'.
Koi do not have mixed grades of skin. They have elements of skin in mixed combinations.
When you see a good koi for the first time ( not a picture, but the fish) you instantly know that something is 'different' about the fish.
I agree that it is nice and kind to pretend and encourage beginners. But there is a point where it becomes both cruel and condescending to stress the imaginary positive traits just for the kumbaya moment or appear to be a kindly guy or gal. ( not saying you are doing that Larry, but I have seen this method from time to time on the various boards)
Although it is true that almost all koi have some redeeming aspect, even it is just robust health, it is wrong to discuss a future for many fish, as it simple is not true. Fish of certain varieties with inferior skin and color traits will , without fail- fail . Not all koi improve- in fact 80% - 90% do not. And based on variety ( ginrin, all metallics, most asagi, most goshiki) many are destine to have a very rapid decline as they pass sexual maturity and reach age 5-6. This is both the heart break of the ‘cut flower’ and the challenge of picking the right koi and rasing it well. But in the end it is down to genetic realities.
High end show fish are what support the price for koi. If a high end fish can fetch $25,000 based on supply and demand , then ‘lesser’ koi can be priced off of that isolated sale. As you move down in show grades, the price falls.
But we have come to a place where the emperor truly has no clothes! A junk fish is of no real value. Certainly the 'resale' on even moderate past sell date show fish is shocking and a rude awakening! ( I currently have a friend who paid $70,000 for a high end fish and is being offered $5000 for it now!).
In the wholesale domestic and import market in the pet/tropical fish trade, shiro muji, weak patterned kohaku, ginrins, asgai and metallics cost $3- $6 each. This is what the pet trade pays for them. One in ten is actually OK and referred to as 'specials'. Never show grade, mind you, but adequate representation of some variety. Bekko, purachina, asagi, ginrin and hariwaki being the most common. But these fish will not last as the skin grade is wrong, and the colors are not stable.
The point I’m making here is these grades of fish should not be priced from the top down with $25,000 being the top. But rather priced from the bottom up with recognizable varieties seeking a premium above their poor brothers and sisters. The consumer is confused about this and predatory business types are taking full advantage of all the emperors with no clothes on.
If I wanted a pond grade purachina I would go to the wholesalers and buy 6 'specials' at $6 each and give away the worst after one growing season. The remaining one or two then would have cost $36 for one or $18 each if two remained. Since the pet trade retail will mark the same specials to 12.99 to 34.99 I'm still ahead and I have gotten to cull a set of six. If you are culling six over time, what you d learn is not how this grade improves but how koi fail. I suppose that is worth something. - JR |