article: Practical Koi Fish

Practical Koi Fish

Koi fish in the water garden are a beautiful site, the colors of the fish, the various sizes are great to look at and these fish are very functional as well as easy to care for. If you are going to collect Koi in your water garden, you will need to keep in mind how much room these fish need to grow and how the Koi fish likes to live. The early Koi, about twenty five hundred years ago, come from lines of fish, which are called Nishikigoi, and the Magoi. The Magoi is a black fish but color mutations over the year give you the modern day Koi which is also known as the carp.

The Koi raising and Koi gardening hobby is one that is not clearly seen through the world until the early 1900’s. As the railroads began connecting different parts of the countries together, the spread of Koi began advancing as well. The fish known as the Nishikigoi which is a more fancy type of Koi fish is seen in Japan with some collections seen spread out around the world.

The Koi fish is a very sleek looking fish, with an outer layer that seems to envelope the body leaving nothing uncovered. The short fins an the sides of the body, along with the thin sleek tail that helps the Koi moves gives the Koi a complete look that is not interrupted. The front end of the Koi is broader than the end potions of the fish, also called the dorsal portion of the fish. Imagine the comparison of that of a broad chested man and a thin waist. With such a steamlined body the Koi can move through the water without creating much disturbance in the water at all.

The scales on the Koi are similar to an armor that will protect the fish, even though they are a very lightweight protection, the scales cover the entire fish. You will find that there are two types of scales that are seen covering the Koi fish, one type of where the Koi is covered all over with the scales, and the other is where the scales are bigger more prominent. The scales on the first type of Koi are smaller and sometime can break off or peel off, but the scales on the second type of Koi are actually a part of the skin and will not break off or fall off.