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Hello Koi Enthusiasts!
This blog is here to provide a spot for various things that do or might pertain to Koi. This stuff is intended for your entertainment, and is not meant to meet the stricter standards of our ebooks and courses, so use this info carefully and at your own risk. The short articles here may be descriptions of techniques that have proved effective, an introduction to new fish research, facts, graphs or just something FUN about fish! This information can be a springboard for your imagination and an entertaining place to learn something new. Information that was first published in Question of the Week can be found here.
The more we learn about Koi, the more FUN this hobby is - and we always say - if you're not havin' FUN, you're not doin' it right!
We all know watching Koi is very relaxing. Turns out that hobbies help us in many ways! Read more below the break...
While some of our Koi are hermaphroditic (have reproductive organs of both males and females), they don't change gender. Turns out Clown Fish are much more interesting than Disney led us to believe! Read more about it after the break...
Fish Robots are getting better.! Maybe they will make an affordable one that we can use to watch our Koi! More after the break...
When we are looking for pathogens or studying cells, we use a microscope. But the problem has been that there has always been a trade-off between imaging speed, detail or the well-being of the sample. Koi keepers using microscopes are well familiar with the problem - if you scrape a Koi and put the resulting mucus on a slide, you only have a few minutes to find and identify the bug before it dies and stops moving. That's because the intense light used to see into the sample actually cooks the bugs. This article explains new techniques being used for microscopy, and hopefully options that will become available to Koi keepers in the future! A link to the pdf, thanks to the HHMI Bulletin Winter 2015, is provided below the break.
These are the so-called Five Freedoms that were developed by John Webster in 1995.
We need to have a caption contest!
Fish sandwiches do not need to use fish as an ingredient...
Click on the title or pic above to see another cute picture....
Here is an excellent list of good and bad plants for your water garden or pond. Compiled by Prof. D. H. Les, May 1999, from the book:
While this article is about Salmon, we know that handling is incredibly stressful for Koi as well. It is possible that the findings of this study might also relate to Koi Carp. Of specific interest is that handling/netting stress was more problematic in females, fish with existing deformities or health conditions, and in young fish vs. older fish.
I spotted this article in Science, and though it might be of interest. Might it be a technology that would eventually be of use to Koi keepers?
This short article is by Gary Elmore, CKK and Certified Judge. There is a whole picture essay on the rescue in the Pond Pictures Gallery, which shows Gary's equipment, tanks and a closeup of the fish. As always, the bulk of the story is after the break...
Unlikely buddies? Seems that animals don't think about it the same way... Lots of pics of dogs and fish on the internet, but this one is great!
In January, 2014, the Keppler spacecraft discovered a distant solar system with a planet that has the same mass as Earth, and it's called KOI-314c.
If you had any doubt as to the reproductive power of Koi, this story should make you a believer...
We all know about the overuse of antibiotics these days, and the horrible drug-resistant strains of bacteria that kill people are the result. The question is - do Koi hobbyists contribute to the problem?
Spike Cover wrote this excellent article back in October 2007, and it's just as true today as it was then! Click on the picture or title to read the full article...
This article was written by Ken Austin, one of the K.O.I. instructors, for the SKAPA Club Newsletter. Notes added by Karen Pattist.
Ah - the dreaded yellowish looking head... One of our K.O.I. nutrition students recently asked why some Koi have yellowish skin, rather than pure white. Here are some of my thoughts about yellowish skin...
We have a very active group up here in New England called the Northeast Council of Aquarium Societies (NEC, http://northeastcouncil.org/NewNEC/). While the member clubs specialize in small fish that can be kept in aquariums, I am often amazed at how much overlap there is between aquariums and Koi ponds. We are all in the business of keeping beautiful water! This short article was copied from the Greater Pittsburgh Aquarium Society September Newsletter called FINformation, and written by Eric Bodrock. I think it has excellent advice for Koi keepers too! See if you can read the article, substituing "Koi" for "fish" and "pond" for "aquarium" - and let me know if you agree!
This article is by Rosimeri Tran, one of our CKK Scholarship Students in 2014. Congrats Rosimeri, and THANKS! for such a great article!
Big Fish, Little Pond problem?
Click on the pic or title to see 2 more...
You know, if you're not havin' FUN, you're not doin' it right! Thanks Smitty, for these 2 funny web photos... Click on the pic or title to see more...
I got this picture from a Koi buddy - and it's actually taken from a real web site: nfdb.gov.in. I'm thinking they have a good sense of humor in India...
Found painted on some steps in Seoul, South Korea.
Koi are popular art objects in many cultures - see more below...
Guess what I found while shopping? A big stack of paper plates - and they have KOI on them! There are 2 Koi on each plate - can you find them? Answer below...
I found this article posted on the NPR website, under "the salt" section...
I don't often wax philosophical about my own Koi. Over the years, I've kept Koi in a variety of ponds and even in a Show Tank in the basement for 3 years. While my observations are not scientific, I do have 30 years of observational experience, and I tried a new Koi food this year with startling results! I wanted to pass my musings along to you, FWIW...
One of my old Show Koi. She was my favorite!
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!If you're not havin' FUN, you're not doin' it right
