My Koi Journey Part 1

Chapter One My name is David Perry and I have been a member of the Mid Staffs Koi club since 2004. I was a trainee judge for the British Koi Keepers Society (BKKS) and I do the Benching of Koi for our show and the National BKKS show at Stafford yearly. So I am starting to learn a little bit about this fascinating hobby. I have been asked to put a piece together for the newsletter to try to pass on a little of what I know to our new members. Im sure our older more seasoned members will slaughter what I have to say, so Im sure you will all enjoy my rantings over the months - that's if I get past my first months piece. How to turn a two foot fish tank into a 7000 gallon pond? In 1987 my son was 4 years old and we decided to buy a two foot tank and put a couple of goldfish in it for him, as when I was a child I was fascinated with the 2 Goldfish we had called 'Tish' and 'Tosh'. We went to a little pet shop in Cannock and bought one goldfish and a strange grey thing called a koi carp. I had heard that koi carp would grow to the size of the tank it was in so thought no more and settled them into their new surroundings and put an undergravel filter on the tank and fed away. I bought a koi magazine and it said that regular water changes were neccessary of up to 10 per cent a week so I rigorously did this. I found out that my koi was a Soragoi and was probably an Israeli koi - but apparently they still used the Japanese names for their fish names. One year later-- the Soragoi was now turning from grey to a kind of blue/grey and was getting some reticulation - which I found out was like pine cone shapes and so it was a Matsuba now not a Soragoi. But ... it was too big for the tank, so I went and got a four foot tropical fish tank and put some artificial plants in and it looked great in there. I bought a Bristol Shubumkin and a red comet Goldfish from the Holybush garden centre and they swam about great together. I bought some more koi books and looked at how great these Nishkigoi were - some were over 2 feet long - I saw an advert for D.J. Koi of Bloxwich who were selling Koi carp and dry goods and thought that I would try to find the place. It hadnt openned long and was apparently on an industrial estate by the railway level crossing at Bloxwich. I went into this factory like building and asked a girl if I could take a look around as I felt a bit strange and didnt know what I was doing. Inside were the largest indoor ponds that I had ever seen and looked to the bottom of one and it felt as though it was 20 feet deep and there was a small koi at the bottom. It saw me and came to the surface and when I saw the colours and size of the fish - I fell in love with them for life. There was a sign on the wall "Come with me to Japan this October on my buying trip, I am visiting Niigata and other provinces to bring back the best Japanese Koi direct from the Breeders" I thought this was a bit over the top and who would want to go on a trip to the other side of the world to buy fish - how silly. part two of chapter one to follow

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