Quote:
Originally Posted by
JasPR 
I was once told by a breeder that the very best value ( not price, but value) was actually in the four year old koi. It is the age of least risk and because the fish is large, the breeder has no room for a great number of them in summer. So if the breeder has priced the fish at some outrageous level ( like say, Igarashi Kazuto does) and the inventory is getting out of hand, you can bargin on the four year old as you have both a motivated seller and a motivated buyer. You do need to be able to assess 'shelf life' or ' expiration date' of the fish in question though.
This may be off point but I think it needs to be said here- the retail buyer, especially the western retail buyer is told, or feels, it is tacky to bargin for a fish. The dealer bringing the consumer also discourages this as 'bad form and very dishonorable for the honorable Japanese'. The consumer needs to know that the dealer is NOT the advocate of the consumer. The dealer is a sales rep for the breeder. There is nothing wrong with making a resonable offer for a fish since a fish has no real value other than what a consumer is willing to pay for it. - JR