Koi Identification

[REK9]

Hello,

Recently acquired a new koi and have no idea what variety it might be. It was my lovely wife’s pick due to its unique appearance. Pics don’t do it justice and is better looking in person. Any help from more knowledgeable people is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[bagsmom]

I don't know anything at all about koi -- but that is a really neat looking fish!

 

[REK9]

I don't know anything at all about koi -- but that is a really neat looking fish!

Haha, thanks. Definitely different.

 

[addy1]

I have no clue either, but it sure is neat looking

 

[Lisak1]

Keep in mind that not all koi fit into a category that's considered show worthy. Some are just mutts. Good looking, but not valuable to anyone but their owner!

 

[Mmathis]

@REK9 Hello and welcome!

I don’t know anything about koi, either, but I always say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder — fish that I think are gorgeous usually end up being others’ toss-outs!

Maybe if you could get a better picture of it......? How big is it? I can’t even tell for sure that it’s a koi.

Oh, and please go over to our “introductions” topic and tell us a little about your pond! Are you new at keeping koi? I sort of got that impression. We love to see pond pics as well, so let us see what your pond looks like.

 

[CometKeith]

Hello,

Recently acquired a new koi and have no idea what variety it might be. It was my lovely wife’s pick due to its unique appearance. Pics don’t do it justice and is better looking in person. Any help from more knowledgeable people is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Hmmm... It looks a lot like a common carp. Did you get it in a store?

 

[REK9]

Yes we purchased it in a store. Sorry my pics aren’t the greatest but I do believe it is not a common carp.

 

[REK9]

After some research I think it might be a mirror carp. Pretty frustrating because we bought it from a reputable koi and pond store in our area. Let me know what you guys think, thanks.

 

[Lisak1]

Hmmm... It looks a lot like a common carp. Did you get it in a store?

I was going to suggest the same thing. The patterning looks similar to these that are in a nearby lake.

I wouldn't be too concerned about what the fish is categorized as if you like it. But if the store is selling these as something else I would address it with them.

 

[Lisak1]

I meant to mention - I took photos of these carp, knowing they were "just" common carp, because I thought they were so pretty! So I agree with your wife!

 

[Tara]

Hello, I saw this picture of a koi fish like yours when looking at fish online, I remember seeing them and thinking that they are lovely, so I agree with your wife. This one looks somewhat like yours, this is a gin rin armor koi.

 

[CometKeith]

Hello,

Recently acquired a new koi and have no idea what variety it might be. It was my lovely wife’s pick due to its unique appearance. Pics don’t do it justice and is better looking in person. Any help from more knowledgeable people is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Considering you bought it in a store it probably is a variety of Koi. Perhaps it is a Chagoi. They typically come in solid colors in shades of brown and sometimes have metallic scales. They are known as the friendliest Koi, grow pretty large, and will typically will eat out of your hand. A lot of Koi owners like to have one Chagoi in their pond so the other fish become more friendly.

 

[Gemma]

I can't really tell from those pics, sorry!

 

[Jack B. Nimble]

Just guessing but looks like our river carps although a slight variation to scales a little. Funny thinking of the sensitive koi conversation as we have 30 pound carps like that one filling our rivers near hydro dams. They are very golden and huge scales, run very close to shore perhaps I should put one in my pond.

 

[CometKeith]

Just guessing but looks like our river carps although a slight variation to scales a little. Funny thinking of the sensitive koi conversation as we have 30 pound carps like that one filling our rivers near hydro dams. They are very golden and huge scales, run very close to shore perhaps I should put one in my pond.

The problem with mixing wild fish with ornamental fish is that neither is resistant to each other diseases. One you could possibly kill the fish in your current pond if the wild fish had some sort of parasite and another even bigger issue is if the wild fish became diseased in your pond and you decided to put it back from where it came from you could kill a whole river or lake of fish because they would not be immune to whatever caused the disease. This has actually happened in real life that someone throwing in ornamental fish into a lake cause the death of almost all the wild fish. Now on the other hand if you want to eat that river carp I would have no problem with that! The say the dreaded asian carp that everyone was so worried about has become a delicacy among certain people and it has kept the asian carp population down!

 

[addy1]

I agree with @Tara the scales on your fish look like the ones in her picture, not like the ones in the wild carp picture.

 

[Jack B. Nimble]

The problem with mixing wild fish with ornamental fish is that neither is resistant to each other diseases. One you could possibly kill the fish in your current pond if the wild fish had some sort of parasite and another even bigger issue is if the wild fish became diseased in your pond and you decided to put it back from where it came from you could kill a whole river or lake of fish because they would not be immune to whatever caused the disease. This has actually happened in real life that someone throwing in ornamental fish into a lake cause the death of almost all the wild fish. Now on the other hand if you want to eat that river carp I would have no problem with that! The say the dreaded asian carp that everyone was so worried about has become a delicacy among certain people and it has kept the asian carp population down!

True and I was just kidding about putting in my pond. However if no one ever had experimented there would be no koi today as they were all wild as well. Not looking forward to the asian carp reaching us although enevitable in a few years. The zebra muscle has reached our lake which is one of the largest bodies of fresh water in the world. Shame what we do during our short time here.

 

[j.w]

@REK9

 

[CometKeith]

True and I was just kidding about putting in my pond. However if no one ever had experimented there would be no koi today as they were all wild as well. Not looking forward to the asian carp reaching us although enevitable in a few years. The zebra muscle has reached our lake which is one of the largest bodies of fresh water in the world. Shame what we do during our short time here.

Great... glad you were kidding! Sometimes I write stuff for general info also for whoever reads the threads. Ever notice there are like 20 non members on GPF for every member on line? Since the zebra muscles have hit Lake Michigan here by Chicago, Coho Salmon fishing has taking off. The lake is much cleaner than it used to and now the Coho's are thriving. Unintended consequences always seem to happen when some new invasive species shows up both good and bad