| Death of small koi
Hi Mitch.
About the deaths of the small koi ... I wish I knew. I truly have no idea and also very little experience with importing koi, so I dont know if what I say is true in general. However I had that happen and I brought in 40 odd fish. My fellow friend in my town also had the same experience, and my agent also advised same. It seems odd, but the larger fish seem to cope better with the long trip. I know from moving fry of about one week old, they die of fright or for the slightest reason. Some of my big koi have jumped out of breeding ponds and survived the night in the mud, and recovered, perhaps they are just a bit stronger when they are bigger. However, I can confirm for certain that the big fish travelled well. Neither myself or my friend lost even one fish. My biggest was a 74cm female, with eggs incidentally! She was delayed for 70 hours as the plane had mechanical problems on the last leg. Then still an hours drive in 36 deg summer heat in the back of a van before reaching home. No problems at all ... you can import big ones at low risk so dont fear that option!
Happy fishing.
Paul |