I purchased one of my fish from Ray Abel, a beautiful little goromo that
took second place, and all I wanted to do was keep him someplace for a few
days until I was ready to go home! The judges said he would have done
better, but it was mid-March, and the poor little guy was a bit skinny from
winter.

FWIW: take a bib to protect your shirt from the drool . . . the man has
some fanTAStic fish!

Lee

"Gregory Young" wrote in message
...
Hi Nedra:
No, not at all! I was just responding to jammer, agreeing with him on the
cost of some Koi, which can go for megabucks!!
Inside, in a controlled (or at least semicontrolled environment), I could
understand it if you had lots of $$ you wished to invest in your hobby,
but
outside, at least here in WNY, I could never understand it, unless it they
were kept in a heated, enclosed pond....
I still haven't caught my mink, (who fished out my koi and GF)despite all
my
best efforts with baited have-a-hearts, but the pros warned me mink were
too
clever to catch in that fashion. But even a professional trapper had no
luck, so I guess I will go with a low visibility electric fence (about 4
inches above ground level).
I was looking at the fi-shock, but they want a large amount of $$ for a
simple fence (retail $155 for 10 posts, wire, shocker and ground rod). As
I
need a total of about 146 feet to go around everything, it will cost lots
more than that.
I can do it for a fraction of that cost, but will have to look around for
small decorative plastic posts that can serve as insulated standoffs. The
wire I have, the shocker I can get for $30 maximum.
Mink vs. man.. should be interesting to see who wins. I think my wife is
betting on the mink, and she is usually right!
Happy ponding,
Greg

PS I really intend to bring back some of Abel's Koi (thanks for the
correction on the typo Rich) from the Koi USA show, so I have to keep them
safe somehow! I have 6 weeks while they are in isolation in my show tank
to
get everything setup.

PPS Rich.. a little steep? Wow, some get right up there, but all the AKCA
staff, judges, and almost all of the MAKC folks I have talked
to/corresponded with swear he is #1, so I will check him out Monday,
following the show..
Am bringing a small group from my Koi club here in WNY (8 counting me), so
it should be fun. We will be staying at the Suites across the way, as the
block rates for host hotel were not available when I called couple of
months
back. (instead of $69/night block rate they quoted $129 for 1st and last
nights, and $89 for other 2 nights!.. suites were only $72/night, so it
was
a no brainer!)

Any other NG readers making the show, that would like to meet up for a
face
to face?? RTB I know will be manning a booth.. Rich I will check in with
registration and try to track you down..



"Nedra" wrote in message
thlink.net...
Greg, I know your post was *not* directed to me. I can't
buy any Koi at all - no matter how reasonable due to my
pond not having a bottom drain or a skimmer. $$ are too
short for the foreseeable future to fix those two minuses.
Thanks for the info anyway.

Nedra
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pines/4836
http://community.webshots.com/user/nedra118

"Gregory Young" wrote in message
. ..
If you want some quality koi, for reasonable $$, you may want to check
out
Koi by Keiren, located in Pa near Philadelphia, or Harry Abel's place
in
Virginia. The latter is regarded as the place to go for the best
quality
imports on the East coast, but the former is pretty close..
Both are major Japanese importers, are active with AKCA, and MAKC,
host
wet
labs with Drs Johnson, Yoshi, etc., and both will have some of their
fish
on
display at the upcoming national Koi America show in Chantilly
Virginia
August 8 - 10th.
You can get quality Japanese Koi, (younger of course), but from good
blood
lines for $150 and up.
Why spend even $150??.. that's easy. All you have to do is to see the
fish
side by side. The colors and patterns of the Japanese Koi blow the
domestics
away. The reds are true reds, not orange reds. Again, unless you see
them
side by side you won't necessarily appreciate how much they differ.
We've certainly made progress in domestics, but there still are large
differences between domestics and the Japanese imports.
I guess if you want to buy adult show champs, etc, you could pay the
$$,
but
I agree.. I would not want to pay that kind of $$ for fish in an
outside
environment, with variables that are sometimes hard to control. I
would
rather buy them young and watch them grow...
Each to their own.. it depends on what you want. Some of the nicest
koi,
may
be the least attractive!
Happy ponding,
Greg
--


"jammer" wrote in message
...

$3500 for a freakin' fish that lives outside? UNH UH!

Did anyone here do anything that crazy when buying fish? I am
attached
to my 12 cent feeder!




On Sat, 26 Jul 2003 08:25:05 -0600, johnrutz
wrote:

cant remember if the url was posted or not so here it is

-- http://www.brettsfishfarm.com/default.html





John Rutz
Z5 New Mexico

never miss a good oportunity to shut up

see my pond at:

http://www.fuerjefe.com