Do any of your guys koi turn an ugly white color???? Or a kohaku turn from red to orange... you get the idea.
Regards,
Rick
has this ever happened????
No, but then I have few koi in comparison to most ponders (8). I have had the sumi get kind of chocolaty in color on a taisho sanke. I have just three really good koi and the rest are pet store. However, one pet store purchase is turning out to be a darned good Hi Utsuri. It is still young and I am waiting to see what the final color pattern will be. Right now it is heavy on the sumi. The sumi is velvety jet, jet black. The red is a deep red with no hint of orange. I am quite surprised with this one. For $4.49 (or something like that) I really, really got my money's worth!
Watch, it will turn out to be an Aka Bekko!
WOW, what pet store is this that charges pennies to the dollar for Koi fish?? I sent away for the b-fly Koi , and they did not make it twice :( They woulkd have sent me more but after 2 times, NEVER AGAIN! I got them overnight express, but it showed so many bubbles in the water, THRY RAN OUT OF OXYGEN :( they were soooo pretty, I was sick aftering seeing that!! I called Fosters n smith and told them, about them being dead and the second batch all dead but one i think, and that one was swimming on it's side, the lady there told me well, you just have to putthem in water for awhile, and they wil come back to LIFE!!! Need I say more? If these babes had EVER come back to life, I WOULD BE A FAMOUS PERSON,, BRINGING DEAD FISH BACK TO LIFE!
I bought 3 Koi from Wal-Mart 3 years ago for $4.58 each. Two of them are a beautiful white and the 3rd one was white but developed polka dots of red, yellow & black, talk about an ugly fish, he was UGLY. I had an ammonia spike and it died. They were supposed to be butterfly koi but are just plain Koi. I think they are really pretty. When I bought them they had a light yellow tint that I thought might darken but it lightened to white instead.
PeggyP
I remember real well which pet store it was because I was so suprised to see a koi so close to a true type in a pet store. It was PetCo. It was on sale and I know I paid less than ten bucks. It was about 5 inches when I brought it home. The growth has been slower than what I am used to seeing with young koi. It is probably no more than 8 or 9 now. This is the second season for it in my pond. Some koi just explode in size the first season. But, it's looks just keep improving with time. I'm pretty sure it is a Hi Utsuri. But then what do I really know. I've got 8 koi and some good books. That does NOT make me an expert!
Wow! I am really sorry and somewhat shocked to hear of the problems with Foster & Smith. I have never ordered any livestock from them. Plenty of aquarium and pond stuff but no fish or plants. Now you can be sure I won't. My "good" koi were Isralie imports. My kids got me gift certificates for Christmas from a local stone and pond store. I told them what kind of koi I wanted and they order them. If you don't like what is shipped you don't have to buy it. Also they keep them quarantined for 30 days before you can take them home. Really good people to deal with. Takes a lot of the risk out of it.
Did you get any sastifaction from Foster Smith or were you just out the dough?
dylancgc....sounds like you got quite a deal on that one! I got one from Walmart that was a white gin rin for $4.99.....about 5 inches.....It ended up a white and bright yellow gin rin, and is now large and one of my favorites....Great koi aren't always expensive!
:)
Snapple, what great kids to get you gift certificates!
Rick-It's funny you asked that question. I have had several koi change colors. Last summer we got the most beautiful butterfly koi that had the longest, most flowing fins I've seen. It was white with very well defined orange spots but changed to white with gray spots. I noticed today my blue koi has turned white with black spots and a koi we bought several summers ago morphed into a horrible color & markings. I thought it had leprosy or something. Checked it out & it was healthy, it was the colors it changed that made it look that way. It was so ugly we culled it this spring & it was pretty good size. I suppose it is normal for fish to change colors though from reading the above posts, which makes it harder for us to cull the babies. We're getting ready to have a population explosion since the koi remained active all winter & have been spawning like crazy the last month & a half.
Loretta
This message was edited May 10, 2007 2:21 PM
Yes they change colors. i ordered my kois from Florida and they were mostly bark colors when they were little but now I have all array of colors. They are beautiful!!! Happy ponding!!!! Bellie