A red koi is called a benigoi. You won't see many of them offered for sale because breeders do not try to create them....they are usually the result of a kohaku breeding and are usually culled (killed) as soon as it is evident that they will not have a red and white pattern.

Here is a link that might be useful: benigoi

Red and black would be awesome. But I never see that either. I've bought quite a few koi with deep orange that I hoped would turn red over time but I've never seen any koi with true red coloration on it for sale.

The Hi Utsuri (red and black) are very nice.
Yeah, most of the solid "red" koi look more orange than red.
Looks like you are in Texas?
Seems there is a koi breeder down in TX ...Brett Rowley http://www.brettsfishfarm.com/ He's in Liverpool TX. They don't seem to have any pictures of fish for sale right now though.
Just stay away from Ebay fish. AND no matter what you get or who from always quarentine!
You may even want to consider a Japanese import to get the color you want.

A Hi showa is mostly red and black, with just a bit of white on the belly and sometimes the fin tips. The advantage to a hi showa instead of a hi utsuri is the bloodlines is more stabilized and the do not get black speckles as bad as the hi utsuri does. It's nearly impossible to find a nice clean large hi utsuri.

As far as true red coloration....you probably won't find it. Most "red" koi are really a reddish shade of orange. Dark true red (like a crimson red) does not exist.

Hi Neighbor.. I found a good deal of koi not far away in Lonoke, Arkansas. Razorback Koi. There is a guy at the bait shop in Maud that makes a weekly trip to a goldfish and minnow farm next door to this one. I have been thinking of calling him and see if he would bring the fish back in his truck after I place an order. I want a few to try to start breeding them. That process fasinates me and I have been studying it a lot on the web. There is also a gal in Atlanta,TX that is beginning to breed some also.
AND when are you coming over here to see me?

Who in Atlanta?? You could email the name..
I grew up there. I've been trying to find a time to see you but been tutoring my brother in chemistry almost every night after work and weekends too. Maybe we could make a trip up to Arkansas together. I've got rose friends up there!

I had a red koi when I was still really a newby. It came from Wally World of all places and I think I paid $6.95. I don't put out a lot of money since I won't be breeding them. Since most of my fish are Comet feeder fish you really couldn't expect me to have expensive taste, could you? I just get the ones I really like and think will survive. This one was all red except for a white belly and white fins. It grew fast and was huge but the heron was able to see it among all the other less colorful and smaller fish. Maybe I'll find another cull one of these days.

I have several red Koi babies. If you are interested in purchasing a few, contact me at: robincbyers@att.net

They are babies, around 1.5 to 2 inches long.

I saw this koi at a hotel in Austin.
I really really want one!
Is there any place online to look? The place y'all mentioned in Texas doesn't have any for sale right now. Plus he's 7 or so hours away.

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Wow. That Razorback Koi place is North of Fayetteville. That's probably 7 or more hours away too! Guess I won't be driving for koi.

c, if you shop online, look for "aka" and "hi". Both are used to describe red.
Like Aka Matsuba or Hi Bekko.
Aka Matsuba are fairly easy to get and are red koi.
They will get a lot redder in your pond after you have them for a while.
HTH
Corrie

i just bought my red koi from this place. i believe they can ship them. there prices are amazing 2.00 for a small one and 20.00 for a very large one. i hope it helps

mailto:info@carolinafishhatchery.com
910-533-2152

carolina fish hatchery

me too! I want a red one too!

Thanks for all the leads everyone. I was in Minneapolis on Saturday for the Upper Midwest Koi Show. Interestingly, I saw several beautiful all red koi for sale from the nursery/garden center that was hosting the show - Bachman's. Not very many from the dealers at the show.

Quick question....I have gotten all my koi from ebay so far as it is the most feasible for me in terms of cost and delivery (what with living in the middle of nowhere like I do). Was that a bad move? Are ebay fish poor quality?

i have not bought via ebay, but i do buy via north carolina fish hatchery. they deliver also. i will give you a list of there prices. they are babbies from there f-1 bruts. i guess they are good. i'm not to good at the classes yet.

Koi Prices
4-6" $7.00
6-8" $9.00
8-10" $12.00
10-12" $20.00
12-and up starting at $50.00

Contact Phil or Bonnie 910-379-7689.

i hope you are able to get the one you are wanting.

It's usually very unwise to buy fish from Ebay. There is a very bad virus that affects koi called Koi Herpes Virus. It is contageous and kills around 60% of the population in a pond. any koi that survives it is a carrier fish and can pass KHV on to other fish. I am aware of quite a few cases of Ebay vendors selling KHV affected fish. The only Ebay dealer I trust is Richard Rombold (SJKoi). He is a reputable breeder and runs a closed farm (he does not bring in new fish, potential source for KHV contamination). I believe Kodama also sells on Ebay (or at least he did) and even though his fish are imports, I have not heard of anything bad from his fish.

loriques, what on earth is an f-1 bruts??? I have been involved in showing fish for a long time, and that is not a grade of fish. The fish pictured on their web site are all pond-grade fish, not high quality fish at all.

i have no idea at all what is an f-1 burt, that is what they called them when i spoke to the man. at least that is what it sounded like. there main buisness is pond stocking, bass, crapie, catfish ect. he said they use the koi for grass and weed controll in the ponds. and then he explained how they started breading the koi for sale.

i'm really new at this. i'm not intrested in showing the fish. i just like the colors and they way the ponds look in the yard.

thank you for letting me know though. i honestly am very new to this...

hugs laura

You know what Laura, it does not matter if a koi is show quality or not. If YOU like it, that is all that matters! The F-1 he mentioned might mean they are first generation from his original brood stock. I think in plant breeding that's what the f-1 refers to. f-2 would be fish that have the f-1 fish for parents. what the "burt" refers to....who knows! Doesn't matter though. I just got really picky since I started showing fish. I used to not care. It sure would be less expensive if I had never developed an eye for high grade koi though!! lol!!

hehehe, i know what you mean. i bought two koi for 115.00 for the pair. they died in one week. that was my fist koi purchase and i thought they would turn out to be really preaty. but after they died and i spent all that $$ i decided preaty is great, but show quality is not for me at this time. maybe after i get more experiance at raising koi and keeping ponds. idk. in my area koi are not well desired and i have not found a club anywhere near me. so the carolina fish hatchery is great for me. they are so cheap if they die it will not break me, and they are preaty. but so far i have not lost one single fish that i bought from them. actually i have been putting in a new pond this week so i can and buy more saterday.. hehehe i just love ponds. so far i have three and i have plans for 3 more. but for those i have to wait untill i can aford a new breaker box. but any how i love the fish and i love working with my ponds. our house is very small and this has allowed all the family to enjoy something out side and away from the tv.. hehehe. that was my main goal. my father in law and brother in law live with us and they are both handicaped; so it has provided a great way to get them involved in stuff out side and have something that is there responsiblity to feed and such. not to mention they just love the fish..

have a great day everyone. i'm off to work on fishinshing the rock work for my pond.

laura

ccoombos1... what is a pond grade fish. i'm way not good at any of this yet.. hehehe but i'm trying to learn all i can.

will pond grade get the colors, bright and preaty. i have found that it seems that the koi classification seems to be very particular.. like the color pattern being even on both sides. i bought a white and orange one but there is only a little color on one side and alot on another side. also one fin has some orange and the other is all white. he is preaty though.

thank you at all for any help that you can give me.. hugs laura

loriques: Stopped by my favorite fish farm today on the way to the pond supply store for pond liner. Took this pic.

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These are 6"-8" fish. They are in unfilter spring water. Don was busy elsewhere but these usually sell for about $10 each, your choice. I guess you might call them "pond grade". I stood and drooled for a while, but I already have too many fish.

Laura, koi fall into several categories. Show quality means the fish has the right body shape, the right fins, the right pattern and the quality (just like with show dogs). Pond grade just means it is not show grade. There are several unofficial classes of pond grade. There are ones that are almost show quality, except for maybe a scar or other damage, or the pattern is wrong but they are still pretty and are a recognizable variety. And then there is what is affectionately called "pond mutts". Those are koi that don't really fall into any known variety, or are a very bad example of a variety such as an orange koi with black speckles all over it. Or they may be solid orange or yellow non-metallic fish, which are normally culled by higher-end breeders. Those koi are produces by the thousands in many spawns and are disposed of early because there just isn't a market for that many solid colored non metallic fish.

oh my gosh they are so preaty. i wish i live in your area i would go right over and buy some today. with my new pond i have room for 10 more fish.. i'm so excited. koi are just so preaty. i love the pond it is crystal clear.. i so wish i could have a pond like that..

thank you so much ccoombs for helping me learn about the grades and such. i will keep my eyes open and see if i can find a few there that are a little bit higher quality of there fish. maybe i will get lucky and find one or two. i hope.

ccoombs1, i just wanted to let you know. i went to see the fish from carolina fish, oh my gosh. i so see what you mean. the colors were so light and washed out. there heads were sort of see through looking, and the koi they said was red and white was no where near that at all. it was a light orange and white. he said it would turn red as it got older. i understand that is most likly true with koi in general , but there is no way i can see a very light orage turrning a deep red. he even told me that there was scaleless metalics in this one bin, and they had scales. very few metalic looking scales, but definatly not no scales. some of the fish had ick, and he said there was no way it was that because they just came out of the pond. but they did have ick. i'm so sorry i ever drove that far to see them.. live and learn. but i'm continuing my search for a place to buy my koi.. i'm not going to give up.. hehehe... hugs have a good day, laura

Many koi do turn darker red with age, but many don't. The red color on a koi can be as shallow as just covering the scale or it can go very deeply into the skin. One way to tell is to pick the fish up and bend it slighly. This will cause a space to open up between the scales. If this space is white, the beni (the red color) is very thin and weak. That fish will probably end up losing his red at some point. If the space is dark orange or red, the koi's color runs very deep and will last for years. So that skin that you see between the scales can run anywhere from white (poorest quality) to red (best quality). The koi with dark skin between the scales are rare and expensive. The lighter that skin is, the cheaper the fish will be. But this is just one factor with overall quality. If the thickness of the red is excellent but the fish is poor in other ways (pattern, body comformation, skin quality, etc) than it still may be priced very well and will be an attractive pond fish for years and years. It's all very complicated and takes a long time to learn. But is also a fun topic to study more on.

If the fish you saw looked pale and washed out, chances are they would not improve. You were wise to pass on them, especially if they had ich!! Fish do pick up parasites in the mud ponds and should always be treated prior to selling them.

I have been buying lots of Koi from Carolina Fish Hatchery for the past three years now, among other places as well. I have never once had a fallout with their fish, nor have I had received or seen any of their fish which contained Ich. I have bought many high grade koi from them including Benigoi (Red Koi) and Doitsu (Scaleless Koi).

Strange how Wholesale Buyer JUST registered to brag about the high grade koi he bought from Carolina Fish Hatchery. And for the record....there is no such thing as a "high grade" benigoi. Benigois are usually culled at a very young age because the are not desirable for show fish. If they DO have high grade koi available, why are ALL of the koi pictured on their web site very low grade? Strange.......

i have no idea about the koi they said they bought. i just know what i saw. one fish had white spots on its tail and another had a large white patch of what appeared to be rolled back looking skin on the edges. when i asked they said a haring bird must have attached him. but a friend of mine bought some fish from them that day. she drove from va to get them. when she got them home one had a broken top fin. the yellow one had large white spots on its tail, and another one that was orange and white had part of its tail missing and lots of white spotting on it.

now this is not to discredit them as sellers at all. pond koi from my understanding do have parisites and such. and these fish were caught that morning and brought to the sale. with out being treated or anything. she used some prema fix and malafix and they all seem to be doing well now. also, the fish are getting darker in color. i think it is the koi clay that she is using in the pond and on there food.

but it is not a real big deal. when you pay so cheap for the fish you would expect to have to treat them and quariteen them.. i mean 3.00 a fish, you can't expect way to much. she is happy with them though.

i do wish they would have had some true red ones and some with darker colors or longer fins. i have a butterfly the same size and his fins are way bigger than hers.. i like the long flowing fins.. just my opion...

i would really like to find a red and white koi. anyone have any sugestions of where i can find one. thank you very much.. oh my i just thought a red and white butterfly would be so preaty with the long fins.. any ideas at all.

It is great to buy fish where you can watch them for a minute or an hour if you wish. The seller has time to talk to you about them and even advise you as to how to select your fish. Seldom see a fish with anything close to a bad blimish on them.
RE: pic a few post up the page.

Laura, a red and white koi is called a Kohaku. Lotusland koi farm in north carolina breeds some fantastic ones. Some are really expensive, but some are quite reasonable. At his fall harvest sale, he always has a tank of 4" or so koi that are around $10 each. None are junky fish either. His harvest sale is the last weekend in September.

For a longfin kohaku, the best breeder I can think of is Tank Hollow Fisheries in Texas. I think the ones he shows on his web site are all sold, but he has plenty of others that are smaller. Give him a call.

You can also check with Tarheels in North carolia. I know he does not breed longfin kohakus, but he does have a lot of other gorgeous longfins. Blackwater creek in Florida has a lot of longfins too. Also, I don't know how far Greenville, SC is from you, but there will be a koi show there the first weekend of October and should be a lot of really nice koi for sale.

Here is a link that might be useful: tank hollow

thank you so much ccoombs. i will most definatly be at the fall harvest sale. i'm also going to be in gainsville sc ( my son has to have a ride to his fathers house that weekend) yeah. so cool. it is just a short hop over to greenville. do you know much about the the prices. i don't really have alot of $$ to spare but maybe some will be 10.00 or less that will grow to be good ones. i thank you so much for all of your help, your links, and advice. i really apreciate it so very much..

my email is loriquesinberry@yahoo.com

Laura, I sent you an Email. I'd be glad to meet up with you at bradys or the show and help you pick some fish. Just let me know!

Cindy