Where do all the Koi go?

[Carloskoi]

every year the breeders produce many, many thousands of fish.

of course they are not all the highest quality. most people don't want to show their fish anyway. even though showing drives the hobby and breeders to produce more better quality.

then there are all the fish from the previous years. they have grown now for another year or two or ten. that is a lot of huge fish over time.

a related question-
let's just imagine one group of giant tosai from Momotaro say. good quality parents. they may not have the pattern to be GC but they still have the genetics to be very large fish. they may not go into a pond that can help them grow to their full potential but neverthe less they will still be large fish. where are all these fish? multiply this by hundreds breeders.

with all the fish sold i would expect many more large fish at the shows.

i don't think the hobby is growing as fast as the fish. i can only guess that most fish die early.

are there any estimates of how many Koi ponds there are in the US or UK or Japan?

one of my local dealers says he sells 50,000 fish a year!


Carl

[Russell Peters]

I think that a lot of people do accidentally kill their Koi one way or another. I know people who give Koi away to newbies, and I hate to say it, but I beleive there are a fair number of people who euthanize Koi.

[KoiCop]

Quote: Originally Posted by Carloskoi don't think the hobby is growing as fast as the fish. i can only guess that most fish die early. Carl

Yup, they're dead. In very large numbers.

They die in aquariums, in 80 gallon koi ponds, in water features, in "natural" AS ponds and AWGS rock-bottomed, slope sided, plant-infested puddles.

With luck, the koi aren't killed straight off by their owners and get to grow until accumulated waste and pathogens overwhelm them. Within a year or two the wheels have fallen off and the koi are dead. All across the world. Every year.

So they buy more koi. Repeat endlessly. Don

[Steve Nguyen]

when I first start out, more than half of my stock ended up dead within first 6 to 8 months but I didn't give up the hobby. it was a tough learning process on my own. I made a lot of beginners mistakes. I did read a lot of stuffs on how to care for koi but real life application is a bit different especially how to caring for sick koi and getting the water condition right and maintain it. I am still learning on how to keep my koi alive but now I got some help from friends and KB. my fish are healthy and growing fine now.

Steve

[LizardBreath]

I' ve had one fish die from getting wounded by going up the drain and back down again. It took him a while, he was a shebunkin.
I lost 12 koi to heron.... I keep a net over my pond now and dug it deeper. Not taking anymore chances.
I have so many fish that I give many away and keep building new ponds for the rest of them.
People move and leave behind.
There are thousands and thousands of unwanted dogs and cats too.
sigh...now I have depressed myself.
LizardB

[db reddragonfly]

Some of my first batch of koi many years ago died in a pond mishap. Then I replaced a few. They never made it out of QT. They came in from the pet store with something. I was determained to have one of those big fish. So I learned and practice koi health. Some people find it easier/cheaper to just replace.Which is true with pet store fish. When a person invests in high end or pay a few hundered plus $$ ,then they will probably own a scope and know how to effectivly treat a fish.There is a lot of competition in my area for selling koi. Fish farms,higher end koi shops, retail stores,and nurseries.I have often wondered myself,how do they sell all those fish.