Yes, the Japanese keep all of the really good stock themselves for breeding purposes, they are even reluctant to sell potential breeders to other Japanese breeders.
Koi breeding in Europe is almost the same as in the US ; 99% of breeders just churn out as many as possible to sell in garden centers or lfs etc. Can't blame them really, as koi are quite inexpensive to produce yet command a much higher price as normally coloured carp or goldfish simply because of the name.
However, in the last 10 years or so a few have focused more on breeding some very good quality European Koi. It's hard for them since, as we mentioned, the good breeding fish are in Japan, but some like the Dutch "Yoshikigoi farm" have been achieving brilliant results and can sell their fish at prices similar to imported Japanese fish.
You'll find that aside from a few purists most koi keepers will tell you it's not about having high quality fish
LiamIrons
; sorry for hijacking your thread! It's just so rare that we get to have a good discussion about these great fish here..
