| good point Ray...there are lots of other great examples that can be given as well. The bottom line is that for selection purposes, a buyer has to pay their dues to learn how to select a good koi and not be influenced unreasonably by bloodline. I have seen lots of big money paid for jumbo tosai from a top breeder and then placed in a minature body of water with so so quality. All they got out of it was they could say they bought a jumbo tosai from a particular breeder. the koi never had a prayer to meet it's potential. A few decades back I paid a lot of money for a baby from mask of the diamonds, sakai-hiroshima and from the first shipment of her koi into the United states. (whoop de do!) She never made it past the first winter because i had no clue on how to keep a koi of that stature
properly.
question? now that i do know how to keep koi would I do it again. To be honest I'd rather take my knowledge and buy a koi from an unknown just to prove I've learned my stuff...after all the costly lessons along the way! |