Hi Laura. Your black koi is called a Karasu, or crow. Karasu are a very old, primative variety. Most spawnings between the colorful varieties produce many black offspring, most of which are culled (destroyed or sold off early to low end markets) because they are not very desirable among high-end hobbiests or those who show koi. I don't think in all the years I have been attending shows that I have ever seen a karasu at a show. I had one once but gave him away because he was not visable enough in the pond. Even though his body may look perfect, he is not going to be considered a high quality fish, just because of the variety that he is. Sorry.

Here is a link that might be useful: koi varieties

The issue is really whether you like him or not. I have many "mutts" that are very beautiful fish. They won't win any shows, but I like them, and that's all that matters.

I've actually never researched what makes a Koi "show" quality as it simply doesn't matter to me. What matters is do *I* think they are pretty.

My current collection includes two fantail Koi, one yellow & black and the other orange & black. I understand fantails are not even in the running for show quality. But I think they are just so pretty when they swim, like little angles gliding thru my pond.

But my favorite koi is just reddish-orange and white. Not shaped well either, tall instead of wide. He has a red face, red tail, white band around the middle. One patch of color on top near it's fin. I named him "Nemo" when I saw him at the fish store.

The girl selling him to me called over her friend and told her "look, Nemo's daddy found him!"

He's a keeper for me!

cindy you are just a wealth of inforation. i apreciate it so very much.

i was hoping that i lucked out and got a real good one by some fluke of a chance. but it makes scence that they would not be good for showing. my son loves him , he picked him out and named him night hawk. the name suits him real well so he will be with us for a long time.

we went to a nursery in town today and to our surprise they had koi. but the poor guys did not look well kept. there watter was so dark, and no filter was hooked up. some of the guys were even under the nets where they could not get to the food. the lady was not even concerned. but most of them had very pointed heads, kind of see through like. and there colors were very strange. none of them looked like the pics that you have shared. but they were a bit better than the ones i saw from carolina fish hatchery. one was sort of interesting it was blue on top with dark scales to each side of the top fin ( i think it is called lateral fin??) (i'm trying to learn all of this termenlogy) and he had some orange on his side fins sides and tail fin. it was cute. but i'm worried about the quality. she wanted 20.00 for him it was about 4 inches to 5 inches long. so i did not get him. i really want to wait untill the fall harvest to have you help me. i don't really want to show them right now, but my son is really getting into the fish and he is talking about wanting to go to shows and maybe take fish. since his is high functioning autistic i really want to help with anything he is intrested in. it helps him stay grounded and with us not to mention he will study and talk and talk about the kois. this is real good for him. so we really want to get some good ones that he can enjoy and show when they are ready. he is so smart, he has memorized the page you sent about the judgeing of koi and what to look for. when he saw the blue and orange one he said it was nice but not a good quality. hehehe i took his word for it. my mind does not hold information like his so i trust him more than me.. (if that makes any scence at all) ...

i better run. i have a ton of chores to do today.

thankyou so very much laura