I think they are good enough, but the re$ource$ to pay for all the extra pond space, seperate filtration, quality food, can't be ignored. Having lots of room doesn't mean the same thing as having lots of high risk venture capital. Growing out beyond Nissai is a gamble just like going to Vegas. You don't do either unless you're using money you can afford to loose.
I see the biggest challenges for domestic breeders like this, in no particular order and likely incomplete.
1) They MUST sell a lot of petsmart crapagoi just to pay for basic operations, just like the Japanese do.
2) They must continue refining their culling skills one year at a time to mirror what the Japanese have been passing from one generation to another for 100+ years.
3) It takes at least 2-3 years to find out if you culled well enough to make it worth the bother.
4) If they do produce some outstanding Koi they'll be lucky to get the feed bill back in return for several years of effort because "Bickal-San, Keifer-San, Rowley-San" just doesn't have the same ring to it. (The "chaching!" ring that is)
5) They'll have to win multiple GC's, Best in Size, etc..., against Japanese imports, year over year, in order to gain enough respect to fetch even 50% of the Japanese price for a comparable fish.
6) The North American Domestic market is the only one they'll have in their lifetimes. If the commitment isn't multigenerational it won't sustain itself and progress as it has in Japan.
Or I could be completely wrong
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