What is an average price for a 4 - 5 inch koi fish? A non-prize winner but still nice looking.
Average Koi Prices
- Thread starter BB-Koi-Keeper
- Start date
oh, a question with many answers. BB. Price will vary widely depending on where you get it and its overall quality.
You can buy an average 4-5 inch koi at Petsmart for about $6.99-9.99. There's a pond shop in my neck of the woods that will sell a better quality fish at the same size for about $15.99. Then there's a pond shop a few miles away that sells the same size fish for $30-$40 bucks becaus it comes from a KHV-free certified breeder and the quality is a little better. And then it just goes up from there!
You need to decide on what it is you want for the quality of your pond. If you are not going to be breeding or showing fish, and just want something fun to feed and look at, and you're a newbie, perhaps the petsmart fish will be perfectly good for you starting out. For one, they give you a 14 day guarantee on your fish, and if it dies they will take it back. You may not get the fanciest colors and they will be largely mutts, but there's nothing wrong with that. It's a perfectly reasonable way to start off.
If you can keep a few of these alive, then start talking to local breeders who can give you a greater quality and many are pretty reasonable. In the early fall, many breeders do harvests where they offer tosai (4-5" yearlings) for about $10 bucks a pop. I just bought a few from a well-known breeder here in NC about 6 weeks ago. He normally sells his fish for over $1000 bucks, all the parents are from Japan and his fish are of a great quality.
So, there's no one answer to your question. There's lots of ways you can go depending on deep your wallet is.
You can buy an average 4-5 inch koi at Petsmart for about $6.99-9.99. There's a pond shop in my neck of the woods that will sell a better quality fish at the same size for about $15.99. Then there's a pond shop a few miles away that sells the same size fish for $30-$40 bucks becaus it comes from a KHV-free certified breeder and the quality is a little better. And then it just goes up from there!
You need to decide on what it is you want for the quality of your pond. If you are not going to be breeding or showing fish, and just want something fun to feed and look at, and you're a newbie, perhaps the petsmart fish will be perfectly good for you starting out. For one, they give you a 14 day guarantee on your fish, and if it dies they will take it back. You may not get the fanciest colors and they will be largely mutts, but there's nothing wrong with that. It's a perfectly reasonable way to start off.
If you can keep a few of these alive, then start talking to local breeders who can give you a greater quality and many are pretty reasonable. In the early fall, many breeders do harvests where they offer tosai (4-5" yearlings) for about $10 bucks a pop. I just bought a few from a well-known breeder here in NC about 6 weeks ago. He normally sells his fish for over $1000 bucks, all the parents are from Japan and his fish are of a great quality.
So, there's no one answer to your question. There's lots of ways you can go depending on deep your wallet is.
Can they spread the virus to each other? Can they get it even after a fish with it has been removed from the pond?
KHV? Well, yes, of course! It's a virus and will spread from one fish to another. No cure as of yet, so all your fish could die. There are several companies racing to come out with a cure at the moment...lots of stuff in trials that are showing promise, but nothing on the market yet.
I have paid from $5 to $100 for small fish. They are all treated the same when I get them home. I quarantine my fish for a period of 4 weeks. The first couple of days in the Q-tank I just leave them alone till their stress level goes down. I then treat the water with ProformC followed by Praziquantel. Also never put just one fish in the Q-tank, give him a buddy or a canary fish to keep him company, this keeps the stress level down.
As for KHV it is triggered by temperature and it only replicates in a fairly narrow
temperature range. Approximately 70F to 83F. It is critical to quarantine any new koi in the middle of this range about 76-78F for up to 21 to 30 days. If all goes well after three to four weeks you should introduce a koi from your pond to insure the new fish are not carriers of KHV.
KHV carriers have been exposed to the disease and are survivors that
have recovered but continue to harbor the virus and could infect other koi. That is another good reason to put a canary koi in the Q-tank with a new fish.
No KHV quarantine or testing procedure offers 100% assurance that a koi previously infected with KHV will be detected. Through quarantine and serological testing they can greatly reduce the odds of infecting other koi.
As for KHV it is triggered by temperature and it only replicates in a fairly narrow
temperature range. Approximately 70F to 83F. It is critical to quarantine any new koi in the middle of this range about 76-78F for up to 21 to 30 days. If all goes well after three to four weeks you should introduce a koi from your pond to insure the new fish are not carriers of KHV.
KHV carriers have been exposed to the disease and are survivors that
have recovered but continue to harbor the virus and could infect other koi. That is another good reason to put a canary koi in the Q-tank with a new fish.
No KHV quarantine or testing procedure offers 100% assurance that a koi previously infected with KHV will be detected. Through quarantine and serological testing they can greatly reduce the odds of infecting other koi.