Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have read a lot of the early development of the Koi in Japan, and the Goldfish in both Japan and China and how both were developed from domesticated food fish, and then how the culls of color/form etc were grown on out for food fish, and more recently the same system applied to Koi crops in Hawaii with the culls being grown out as food fish.

I am wondering if there are any growers here essentially doing the same. Not all of every hatch is show quality Koi, so culling heavier to concentrate on the real show quality fish could pay didvidends to small growers without extensive pond grow out systems.

I'd like to know if any of the growers here have developed this niche?

Mental barrier there...would have a hard time eating koi...probably as much so as eating dog. And I am not shy about strange foods...I will try anything...and find I enjoy most things I try.

Funny how the mind works.

Koi is effectively pretty gold fish, or carp.

Australian carp shovel mud all day long so taste like crap.

Apparently carp are a delicacy in Europe as they live in mountain and rock streams.

Dont know how long the growout of koi would be though. May take too long to get to dish size.

I'm a little confused here also. Are you thinking of growing the koi out and cull them for your dinner dinner table or as fish meal you feed back to your fish? Most commercial fish food is fish meal based.
It is true that koi are just fancy colorful carp, and I have eated carp before that I caught in mainland river and at Chinese restraunts (garlic black bean sauce with green onion mmmmmm).
I am currently growing koi in my tank as I couldn't find any comercial tilapia locally. They guy I got them from said they were all around a year to year and half and ranged in the 12-16" and 2-3 pound range. Definately fat fish that you could get 2 nice fillet out of....if you were real hungry.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the koi once I find local tilapia, I'll deal with that if and when I find a reliable fish source. Decision might be made for me as my koi have came down with something that I just posted online here hoping for a diagnosis and treatment help

Peace,
Cory

Thats ball park the size/growth of Koi Carp, simply a selected color strain of Cyprinus carpio.

The big money in Koi is for show strains, so if you culled heavy you'd have a group from drab olive green to some splashy colors ala some tilapia strains.

Oriental markets dont care what color Carp are, if they can get them fresh or live that suits them fine, then you are dealing with a live food market. That is why i thought of the Koi to the Oriental markets. They dont have any reservations on eating Lassy or the piscine version.

Virtually every large town around me has multiple oriental food markets. Seems like it would be elsewhere too. Seems like a niche many here could fill.

Its an idea, I probably willnot be returning to Israel this year and looking at projects to keep me occupied.

Koi to some asian cultures have religious implications. So not all "oriental" markets would eat them.

In Australia, many Vietnamese and Chinese have taken liking to Yellow Belly, Barra, Silverperch...etc.

Would be hard pressed to find any Chinese restaurant that would serve up koi.

Maybe its different in the US, oriental markets here just call carp carp. Vietnemese markets stock about everything that they can find.

And a great number of Chinese buffets just have fish on the hot tables, no identification other then with salmon.

I dont know of any religious implications with Koi in the Oriental Cultures I know anything of. In Japan many very old family pets almost have family status but they are still fish. Many families have individual fish that parallel grandparents in life times.

In Melbourne, you would sooner see a Vietnamese chow into a snapper or yellowbelly than a carp!

Not sure about Sydney...they are strange people.

In some parts of China, Koi/Carp are eaten...I had 1 at the base of Emei Mountain near Chengdu.

In many parts, it is considered/thought to be linked to Guan Yin.

Carp are considered to be a gift from Quan Yin, for food, and beauty.

I would hazard that in ALL parts of China carp are eaten, there are five separate species grown there for food.

I'll take your word about 5 types there Yaacov.

When I said I was setting up an aquaponics system in my parents backyard, they screwed their face up and said I was going to get carp.

Common Carp, Amur River Carp, Big Head Carp, Silver Carp, plus Goldfish. There are two others also, these are the most common ones. These are all separate species except the goldfish which is a stabilized hybrid with Common Carp. Additionally Koi are a selected color variety of Common Carp, same DNA, genes etc.