"~Roy~" wrote in message
...


I find it ironoiic that folks use a blue tub to view a fish in yet
some folks can do it in a plastic bag complete with printing on the
bag.

Again you're talking high priced show fish and I'm talking pet fish. I'm
talking apples and you're talking onions. You cannot see the underside of a
koi when in a blue show tub. No pet stores here have blue tubs for people
to view the koi in before purchase.

Koi bought at a true koi farm or breeder if just general run of
themill fish or show quality, are always netted and viewin a blue
tub....

There are no koi farms here. I'm talking about Pond Stores and chain pet
shops.

.no way are koi viewed in a glass tank from the sides, or
through a plastic bag with labels and printing.

Printing is on one side of the bag if there is any printing at all.

Why bag a fish only to
reject it......it should be readily inspected long before the decision
to bag it is ebven brought up.....

I disagree. I've spotted ulcers on the underside of kio that were not
visible in the tanks they were in.

No there is no quality koi no
matter what colors they may have on them that are available at the
varioius pet store chains. ts just that they do not exist......pretty
perhaps to soome folks ugly to those that know koi and acceptable to
most, but they are far form being a quality koi., I owuld use them to
cycle a filter perhaps, but they will nver amount to much more than a
big fat koi pickedup at a chain store.....no matter what it ocsts.

I disagree. Some of my nicest koi are from pet stores.

As Ingrid said, until you can differentiate in cheap or high end koi
your best odds are stick with cheap. besides those fish need homes
too.But then what does one do with those so called pretty young fish
that grows up to be faded out ugly deformed monsters with bullhead
catfish heads and bent spines............pitch them in somoneelses
pond or toss em in the comppost...Its best to let em in Petco or
Petsmart and not have to deal with those problems inthe first
place....

Again I'm talking pond pets and you keep talking about show quality fish.
Few people would be willing to pay $1000 or more for a backyard pet,
especially where predators lurk.

There just is not any such thing as a quality cheap koi or
any fish as far as that goes....and its more to the profile and fish
itself than its pretty colors or the water quality its kept in at the
store.....I looked and looked and looked and yhave yet to find a so
called flame red koi......

You looked and looked and looked? I found mine at PetsMart for $2.00 a few
years ago.

.see there we are, we think we know koi and
try to fool folks yet were all just as ignorant in what a red koi
really is its certainly not flame red......so my observations stand.
There is a difference in those $5 and 50 dollar fish if yu know what
your looking at in most cases. Those that b uy and continue to buy
form places that do not QT koi are destined to be bitten one day and
it will happen......

No one quarantines koi here since no one has the facilities or space. So
that would mean no one in this area should buy pet koi.

.the problems with not QT'oing koi are numerous
but then most view that as a waste of time..there is just too much
time and effort put into a proper pond to take chances with cheap fish
or any fish not properly QT'd.

When QT fish are not available people will buy what they see in the local
stores. Most don't know much about QT and the diseases of pond fish.

Now if yur just starting up a new pond
that may not be much of an issue if all koi are fromthe same
seller.......but its russian roulette placing koi that is not QT's for
at least 4-6 weeks prior to placing in an established populated
pond...


I could have saved a bunch of money when I stocked my pond, when I
was asked what qulaity of fish I was looking for.....big box store
vendor quality or decent possible show quality or top end.......it was
easy to see differences in them even to an inexperienced eye when
someone that knew what was what pointed them out, so the choice was a
no brainer for me.....and did not cost any more actually cost less
overall than if I bought em from the big box stores.

Odd they would be cheaper than the big box stores. No matter where I get
fish I quarantine them for 21 days at the least and treat them all for
parasites. No problems for years now.........
--
RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Zone 6. USA
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