Potomac Fish Experts Talk Koi At Sherwood Library

Although koi expert Mike Frady is from the koi club called ZNA, the presentation about Koi he gave at Sherwood Library Tuesday night was A to Z.

 If you ever want to know anything about these captivating and beautiful fish - varieties, care and maintenance, and even koi shows - Frady is your man.

When most of us think of koi we imagine the large white fish with striking orange patterns swimming in man-made outdoor ponds.  There are many varieties of koi.  These began, to emerge as Frady explained Tuesday night, back before the 1800's when the Japanese were raising black koi as a food source.  Once, a koi was discovered with a red streak on its belly, due to a mutation.

Said Frady, "Koi are a common carp that through the years have mutated to become the living jewels they are today."

By the 1800's, he said, the Japanese were raising koi for sale, trying to breed them to encourage variety.

In the 1940's, when the U.S. military came to Japan, servicemen saw koi and wanted to bring them home.  This is how the koi got to America.

Today, the ZNA Koi club (it stands for Zen Nippon Airinkai, worldwide koi organization) has chapters all over the U.S.  The Potomac chapter, Frady said, has about 60 members.  Frady is also the assistant editor of the national magazine Koi USA and is a koi judge.

At koi shows, Frady explained, the koi are judged on different categories such as body shape, skin luster, color, and swimming ability.  He gave a detailed pantomimed demonstration on how to transport your koi to shows (no koi were at the presentation).  He showed the use of a long net to pick up the koi.  "If you don't pick them up correctly you can break their backs," he said.

Koi can be transported in a large plastic bag, into which the koi owner pumps pure oxygen.

Frady said there are 35 koi shows per year around the country.  The next one will be in Vienna, VA, September 9th through 11th, 2011.    During shows, he said, koi are kept in separate tanks to prevent the spread of disease.

"The biggest challenge in keeping koi," Frady said, "is keeping them alive." 

In attendance at this Sherwood Library event was one audience member, Jason Evans of Herndon.  He said he does not have the space for a koi pond in his yard, but came to the presentation because he was interested in the subject.  "I wanted to learn a little about koi," said Evans.  "I find them fascinating."