my pond is almost done. liner will be here next week, and pond should have water in it 2 weeks from now. also pond is 5k. i dont realy know that much about koi. i do know i only want 3-4 fish,but large fish so i chose not to go with goldfish. most koi kinda look the same to my untrained eyes. so what should i do just go to petsmart and buy "koi" for 5 bucks, or the nice garden store for assorted japanese koi at $70 a piece.
best koi for the buck?
- Thread starter erider
- Start date
if your cheap and dont care go with your local fish store or petsmart koi's but if you want really nice quality ones def go with the more expensive ones..you'll be a lot happier in the long run. and as you get more into koi's you will realized and know which looks good and not. and to me the quality ones looks 100 times better than the ordinay ones you see at your pet shops. and as they get bigger they are worth a lot more. but the regular ones wont be worth a lot when they get big. and at times the cheap ones dont get nice and fat as the expensive ones rather then just long and slim.
Have seen some nice domestic raised Jap. Lines recently. Probally what the nursery is stocking.
Check your local pond/Koi clubs. A lot of times people will have some for sale, or know of some FS/FT.
Check your local pond/Koi clubs. A lot of times people will have some for sale, or know of some FS/FT.
It's a tricky business koi. You will often see titles like Grade A or Grade B, both tend to be poor.
Japanese Koi cost the most, especially if they come from one of the top breeders. American Koi are becoming more and more popular over here due the size compared to the price.
If you go for the $5 pet shop route you'll struggle to find anything of real quality, try to go for a fish which is all one color with a good body shape.
My route would be to go for the more expensive fish, but as the above posts state join local koi clubs, talk to koi dealers and compare on the web.
Here is a quick look at the most popular:
http://www.mitchkoi.com/acatalog/Koi_Varieties.html
Here is one of the American breeders that are now over here:
http://www.purdinkoi.com/
Hope that helps
Japanese Koi cost the most, especially if they come from one of the top breeders. American Koi are becoming more and more popular over here due the size compared to the price.
If you go for the $5 pet shop route you'll struggle to find anything of real quality, try to go for a fish which is all one color with a good body shape.
My route would be to go for the more expensive fish, but as the above posts state join local koi clubs, talk to koi dealers and compare on the web.
Here is a quick look at the most popular:
http://www.mitchkoi.com/acatalog/Koi_Varieties.html
Here is one of the American breeders that are now over here:
http://www.purdinkoi.com/
Hope that helps