There are great Koi and there are cheap Koi
But there really is no such thing as a great, cheap Koi!
This might well be an old cliche but even today its 100% accurate, and is absolutely the precursor headline reminder for this section. There’s another depressing reality that we feel the need to remind you of at this juncture too. Your search for that illusive future GC that’s slipped through the breeders selection processes, or been missed – just doesn’t exist!
However there is good news too…because what does still exist are great value Koi at all price points. In fact nowadays and beyond the selection, quality and value for money, have never been better! The good news continues, £ for £ Koi today are in fact cheaper than they were twenty years ago. Despite the new generation Asian customer inspired madness that prevails at the very top of our hobby, increasing production, improved breeding techniques and competition, has kept things reasonably realistic for the vast majority of we lesser normal Koi Keepers. When we consider wider commercial pressures and inflation, this is actually a tribute to the astute selection and buying skills, of our Koi professionals.
Unusually perhaps, its nevertheless the case that when it comes to the price of Koi in the UK, you pretty much do get what you pay for. Koi budgets are, of course, entirely a personal matter, but its very easy to get drawn up the price ladder of Koi as your level of knowledge and appreciation skills develop. The reality is that the chances are that the Koi that blew you away when you first got into this hobby, won’t have the same impact a couple of years later. This is a natural and inevitable process, that as time, your skill, and knowledge levels progress, so will the price of Koi you will be buying.
In this context however we want to introduce a cautionary note. Its important to remember that Koi are livestock and like all livestock, they can become dead stock! Whatever the circumstance and however hard you work, dead Koi are a fact of Koi Keeping life, and sometimes unavoidable. The real objective of sensible realistic Koi keepers, is to avoid and delay the inevitable! However skilled and effective you become at this, the operative word is inevitable. With this in mind we’d genuinely and totally without agenda unreservedly recommend, that you never ever ever buy a Koi outside your personal budget limit. While it’s highly likely that this budget will increase over time, you should nevertheless have and stick to a definitive £ limit. Doing so will exponentially increase your overall enjoyment of this bonkers, but totally fabulous hobby!
By contrast not doing so can result in many sleepless nights as the realisation that the total price you’ve paid for your Koi collection, is twice the price you paid for the family car. Of course the problem is it kind of creeps up on you….
£100 here, £300 there , oh and those two amazing tosai you bought at the show last year, remember two for £500! While they may well all be doing fantastically and someone might even have offered you more for one of them than you paid for them all, but you didn’t sell it, although now its got split fin and secondary beni in the tail, its not quite so awesome, yada yada yada…
Any of this sound vaguely familiar? If it doesn’t yet, trust us it will at some point, we know because we’ve been there done that, and got the very expensive T shirt! While this process is inevitable to some degree, by controlling the degree as apposed to it controlling you, the aim is to reduce the liability and minimise the risk and stress, and at the same time maximising the pleasure and enjoyment.
There’s little in this hobby that tops buying Koi, all we are attempting is to put that process into some kind of context, and help you avoid making some of the mistakes we and thousands of other Koi enthusiasts have made. In extreme cases buying Koi can become an obsession, and it really is so easy to quickly get out of anyone’s depth. Caution over!
Size Matters
There an addendum to our opening headline and thats that there’s also no such thing as a cheap big Koi. To be clear were talking 70cm+. The reason is of course simple logistics. Even today 70cm Koi tend to be at least 3+ years old, although there are of course exceptions, and the cost of keeping and growing any Koi at a breeders premises, for three years and more is significant. Shipping 70cm Koi requires 1 Koi to 1 Box. The total logistic costs of shipping a single box of Koi from Japan to the UK , especially now is very expensive, up to £500, and that’s excluding the price of the Koi!
Sex Matters More
When it comes to the retail price of Koi, female Koi are exponentially more valuable and prized than male Koi. In Japan major Koi shows, male and female Koi even compete in separate classes, and while specific proven male Oyagoi can and do command crazy prices, for the rest of the male Koi population its very much a case of 2nd class citizenship!
However, that also presents opportunity. If you’re not completely obsessed with having only female Koi some amazing male Koi are available at a fraction of the price of their female peers. While there are of course other considerations in having lots of males in your collection, ie expect more pond spawning, the risk might just be worth it, if you can find the right quality males. In addition modern selective breeding has blurred the lines between the structure of female and male Koi. Today there are lots of male Koi with what are essentially female looking bodies. So the days of the obviously shaped thin heady males with massive tails, are past.
While all breeders know which Koi are male and which are female from them being a few months old, with some exceptions of course, that specialist information isn’t generally available, therefore paying serious prices for tosai can be a precarious business, especially for those pursuing female only collections. This is complicated by the fact that its often the case that there’s a larger percentage of the best and best looking/most expensive tosai, that ultimately turn out to be male.
The Tosai Conundrum
The opposite of buying big Koi is of course focusing on smaller Koi, that you can grow and develop. This has the benefit of the purchase price being less, but the disadvantage that the associated risk is more, and can be much more. To a significant degree success or failure depends on who your buying from, and what the bloodline and breeder is. Many Koi keepers, totally frustrated by their failed tosai adventures, now refuse to buy Koi under two years old. While that’s understandable, our previous assertion applies, buying Koi from a trusted source can reduce the risk, and increase both the percentage success rate and your overall enjoyment, from what can be an amazingly enjoyable process.
Japan
There will almost inevitably come a point when you want to visit Japan and buy Koi. When you do your in for a big surprise. The notion that great Koi, at a fraction of the price they’re available in the UK, are everywhere; is completely wrong. In fact £ for £ its cheaper to buy in the UK, but that doesn’t come with the experience and associated memories of Koi hunting in Japan, but you do need to be prepared to pay for it!
Furthermore, the purchase price you pay in Japan isn’t the total UK landed cost you will ultimately have to pay. No one works for free, so there will always be commissions to pay. Agents and your dealer all require paying for their services. Transport in Japan is expensive, and air freight from Japan to the UK is even more expensive. On top of all that, all Koi imported to the UK are subject to VAT, and where appropriate import duties too. When all these associated extra costs are factored in, expect the total landed price to be considerably more than the original purchase price of the Koi in Japan.
Leaving Koi to grow in Japan has also increased in popularity. The prospect of leaving your Koi in Japan to grow for another season has great appeal, but it can be expensive. It’s also important to be realistic as this is only a viable option for accomplished Koi, with significant potential. There’s also increasing debate about the real Koi development difference achievable in a modern heated UK Koi system, versus a Japanese mud pond. If you also factor in the increased risk posed by a mud pond vs a Koi pond, its clear that growing Koi in Japan, is only for very special and specific Koi.
And Finally…
While you absolutely get what you pay for, it remains the case that Koi Keeping is as expensive as you want it to be. Given all the factors, risks, benefits and challenges, when it comes to the value and quality of Koi over their entire life, and given all our accumulated experience, it seems to us that spending more of your budget on your system, and less on the Koi, rather than the other way round, delivers exponentially better value…. But schhhh don’t tell everyone, or they’ll all be doing it!
