Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Congrats. I'm envious of how cheap yours are. Anyway I think you will be very happy with them. Make sure you have a lot of solids filtration. Also if they jump out just throw them back in because they have a wonderful ability to live out of water for a decent time and come back to life in water. Again good luck

These are some koi I bought yesterday. I have nine in my system from about 15cm to 50cm.

If you are not wanting to keep fish for eating then I reckon koi are great. The price scares some people off but if you have time to shop around, (gumtree, quokka etc) you can get some bargains.

Apologies for the pic, it was almost dark when I took it.

Just to Let you Know Officially you can have Koi in..

You can have Koi in .. New south Wales..
.. Western Australia..

No other states at this stage..

Juergen

Hi Juergen,

Do you know the reason for not allowing koi in some states in Australia?
I mean why OK in some, not OK in others.

Sejin

Got myself 20 koi yesterday. They looked quite big in the pics on gumtree but when I got there they where only between 30 and 50mm! Guess they are going to take a while before they solve my summer lack of nutrients..

Got any Pic's of the Fish...

I know that if you have the time and the money/filtration you can feed heavy and get something between 6-12 inches growth over the summer/autumn..

If you happen to have any Chogoi in the batch if the genetics are there you can get 12-18" in the growing season..

Make sure you fast over winter is all I will say..

Juergen

How's selling Koi in your areas? I don't mean champion quality koi, but just buying them and growing them out and then selling them? I mean I can get them for $1 each around here. But I was wondering if there is a market for them just being bigger for ponds etc. So for example you get one up to 2-3 lbs and sell for $40? I looked around craigslist just to see if anyone offers them, and none really do (besides people whom are moving).

Any thoughts on just selling them as a large Koi?

Hi Mm
Around here (Norway) You can source/import decent/fair quality koi 1year old directly from Japan or thru KOI-dealers at allmost the same price at NOK 150,- to 400,- , a piece
to days currency exchange is USD/NOK = 0.17517 NOK/USD = 5.70881
In 6 -12 months you can resell the same fish at NOK 600,- to 4000,- , a piece, all deepending on growth pattern and collor developement you have achived on the KOI
Every so often you might be "lucky" and have a champion prospect usualy those are keepers for further developement shows etc to possible raise the price further or keep in the private
"koi collection" (you usualy have to be a part of the koipond comunety to be a "player".
I have seen prices up to NOK 15.000,- on 3 years old (original imported at NOK 150,- to 400,-).
Norwegian breed you get free privat And from pet shops they start at NOK 15,- up to maybe around NOK 3.500,- (werry rearly) for a nice looking big 3-4 year old.

cheers

Mark,

There's a pet store in Fresno that will probably buy them from you. Whitie's Pets

Todd

Currently have 4000 liters of filtration supporting about 100grams of koi

Am now planning to do some carp fishing to try and get some bigger fish into the system. Not so big on just fishing for fun but Ap has given me incentive!

The reason I ask is because I'm not so hot on growing out bluegill as I've talked to people regarding them and from what I've gathered they have lots of little bones. I'm not really a huge fish eater not because I don't like it but because I was raised on beef and poultry. Also I thought it would be interesting if the fish can be sold to pay for their feed and maybe a bit of profit (not something to live off). Thanks for the plug for the fish store I may really look into it, my tank is gonna be located in pretty much full sun, I'll build a lid but from what I've read fish don't develop great color without sun exposure. I'm almost sold on koi if I can get at least $40 for each. Plus since they are herbivores it makes it a bit easier to feed them from the garden. I just can't get the bottle feeding video from YouTube out of my head.

But thanks for the plug I think I'm sold on koi, we'll see about gold fish. I may add gold fish just to make sure my plants get enough nutrition.

I may call and ask the shop and see what they say.

Hey Mark..

I have a contact friend that I talk to every now and again that get's in a 100 fish or so and grows them on and sells them in his Area..

HE makes a nice tidy little profit.. Not huge.. But enough that he can afford to keep 1-2 of the batch to grow on for his own pond..
Most of his fish are 2-3 pass culls.. Not generally good enough to grow on..


- culling Koi.. Very Brief/maybe wrong description..

When people are breeding certain types of Koi they Look for common traits in the fry..
- some people Keep all the Black/dark fish.. and get rid of the rest..
- some keep all the white fish..
What ever the final outcome the basis of the type of koi comes to the background of the fish..
Some of the Koi are from a Black fish..
some of the Koi are from a white fish..

So the first cull is to remove all fish that don't suit the profile..deformed fish are also removed at this time..

- second cull happen a few month down the track all miss-coloured

The selection process goes on till you end up with what you would class a top fish..
Some people have huge expectations..


$1.00 fish range in the 30-50mm range.. and even then you will only get about $0.50 on the dollar..

Plus the trouble of having the breeding pairs. Filtration system.. Stable Water parameter..
It's a lot of work...

Juergen

I have two koi in the outside system that started from little pet store fish I think maybe a year and a half ago. They quickly got too big to keep in the aquarium and are outside now. With the weather warming up they were both zooming around yesterday, and the bigger one is probably a foot long now. It's very easy and satisfying to have them in there because they are so easy to see, compared to the darker bluegill or trout. I could be convinced to use them as the only fish in my AP system in the future, probably.

Be warned, koi can very quickly become an obsession.

They can become very tame and I reckon they have more personality (stop laughing) than a tank full of trout. Plus, they can grow quite big which is cool too.

What if I just wanted to get them bigger then sale? I don't mean 1,000$ a fish, but what if it was at most $100 for a 1 foot long Koi that was pleasing to look at but wasn't a contender for a champ. I just thought it would be a fun fish to have and when they got big to sell them off and restart.

I'm not looking to get rich, I'm just wondering if they could pay for themselves if I grow them out.