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JR posted some information regarding the intentionally dwarfed koi some time back & I read an article about them in an old magazine from the late '80s. There is a specific word used to indicate dwarfed koi, but I cannot recall it at the moment.
When they were a fad, they were less expensive than other similarly aged koi, but sometimes a bit more expensive than similarly sized non-dwarfed koi. I have the impression that they were comparatively cheap as koi go. It also seemed to me from photos that the ones dwarfed were not ones that had much hope of ever being a great fish. Bright color seems to have been the focus. Many were intended to be kept in aquaria, so color on the flanks was important.
These fish were often the runts from the tosai harvested in October. They were then kept in confined space for a period of up to 3 years with only enough food to survive. The idea was that after having been so deprived for so long, the fish simply could not grow, but their aquarium-keeper owners were encouraged to feed sparingly and only a couple of times per week. After all, you did not want to take the chance that the fish might still have an inate destiny to grow. Of course, some of the fish sold as dwarves were simply small fish that grew rapidly when taken home ... at least by aquarium standards.
The thing to remember about the dwarfed koi is that they were not bred to produce dwarf koi, as has been done to produce "toy" dogs. They were starved creatures denied the ability to be what they were genetically intended to become. It was only the continual, daily denial of the koi's requirements that created a dwarf. ... Rather like child abuse.
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