[Sangreaal]

This is a 17" California bred kohaku sold on eBay, and there are more where she came from:


You call this "crapagoi?"

eBay is not a "niche" market. It is a world market of over 80 million people from all over the world. Can you find crapagoi? Oh yeah, in droves. Can you find top quality? Of course you can, but you have to shop just like you would at your local market.

Regarding the KHV issue, you're right Tonio. No one is safe anywhere. However, that doesn't mean that precautions shouldn't be taken. If you had a state of the art breeding facility with thousands (if not millions) of top quality Japanese koi, would you want to risk infecting the whole operation with even one KHV carrying import? A carrier is a fish that may have survived an outbreak but still carries the live virus, even though it will never get sick from it. (Read http://www.koihealth.org/) The disease originated in Japan, just like the bird flu originated in China. Carriers can infect the whole world without ever getting sick themselves. If I had as much to lose as our top American breeders, I'd close my facility to incoming fish indefinately until a vaccine that really works is developed and distributed.

This thread is not about KHV, eBay, or dealer practices, it is about American breeders and what they have to offer to the show circuit that can compete with Japanese bred and grown koi. Let's remember that, please?

Marie