KOI -- HUGE fish!

[Mmathis]

I don't plan to have Koi, just goldies, but am amazed at how big those guys get! A few weekends ago we took a little trip to Las Vegas (Cirque du Soleil shows). Stayed at the FLAMINGO, and we were on the 16th or so floor. Our room overlooked their "garden" area (they have, of course, flamingos, several different kinds of ducks, swans, water turtles, and fish: Koi, something dark that is related to Koi, but they didn't call it that, and some white catfish). From our window, you could see and make out details on each individual Koi!!! After breakfast, I went down to look around and reflect (except had to avoid the smokers!!!), visit with nature and observe their pond/waterfall system. So how big does a Koi get? There were a few that were way longer than my arm (24" from fingertip to armpit), so plus/minus, 3' long? I've seen Koi before, just never any THAT big.

 

[sissy]

If you look at some of the garden sights in Japan they show there koi off and they say some are over 4 feet long and 1 of the gardens said they had one that was 6 feet long and say theres live to be over a 100 years old .I guess they are real koi .When I went to Puerto Rico the hotel had huge koi in the hotel pond also and gosh you would put your finger close to the water and they would try to jump and take hold of your whole hand .I remember at first they scared me as i did not know about koi at the time ,the hotel staff told me about them and even let me feed them fresh fruit .Funny but i remember them saying that they only fed them fruit and veggies and now years later what do I have koi .My biggest are almost 2 feet .I found that my female one got bigger than the male one .Not sure if that is normal .

 

[j.w]

Tm we stayed at the Flamingo in Las Vegas several yrs ago and I loved their tropical garden areas! Think at that time they might have even had some penguins or was that at another place there............the mind plays tricks sometimes,lol!

 

[sissy]

hmmm senior moment for farmer O'dell lol

 

[fishin4cars]

It's actually a rarity to see koi over the 36" mark. Most jumbo's are in the 30" - 36" class. By the time they reach this size most show koi have already reached their full potential and can actually be on the decline. This is one reason you rarley see any that large in most shows, plus they get so hard to ship. there are reports of some koi reaching the 40" plus mark. I've been keeping koi and been to many gardens, so far to date I've seen only two over the 30" mark and both of those two were show koi that were champions in their own time.