I have been a koi enthusiast for 20 years. It all began when I built my first pond in 1988.
My first pond was just a 2000 gallon hole in the ground with planting ledges all the way round it. It was not the prettiest, it was not even close to the specifications of a koi pond - but it was mine! I built it and I loved it.
Over the years, I tweaked it a little here and a little there. Then in 1996 the koi spawned in the pond. We had thousands of fry swimming around the pond getting gobbled up by the golden orfe. I decided to try to remove the fry from the pond in a bid to save some of them and to see what varieties had been successful in breeding. I managed to save a couple of hundred which were transferred into a borrowed 500 gallon tub. Over the summer months the numbers of fry diminished due to their cannibalism! but in the autumn I still had 30 or so at nearly 4". There was an assagi which I could not explain how this came about at the time, madori goi and some rather poor quality sanke. I ended giving them all away to friends as I had too many. I was told by a local pet shop that the assagi was a shusui offspring - right?
Then in 1998 I decided to rebuild the pond again this time bigger and better. I built a wall using blocks laid flat all the way round the existing pond enlarging the volume to 5000 gallons. I purchased Oase Biotech filters which I was advised (again by the local water gardens salesman) would be more than sufficient for the size of my pond. So, I spent around £3000 getting all the materials and equipment only to find out that the filtration was nowhere near adequate for the size of pond I had.
During 1999 I managed to breed around 300 long fin koi. There were kohaku, purechina, yammabuki and one stunning tancho. I was successful because I had built a small pond in the greenhouse, and actually moved the Brood stock into there to spawn. Once they had spawned I removed them back to the pond. I ended up selling nearly all of the new koi in the local free ads.
In 2003, still not happy with my water quality, I decided to upgrade my filters. To finance this I decided to sell some of my larger koi.
I sold 7 of my larger koi and purchased additional filtration. I had money left over so decided to buy some new koi. I went to a dealer just outside of Hereford and spent over £600.00 on 13 small koi. Within two weeks - THEY WERE ALL DEAD! - I was gutted. All my other fish were fine. It must have been my water quality he said. That was the day Central Koi Supplies came about. I could offer quality koi at very affordable prices. I was also approached by a local landscaper, to assist with the construction of ponds and water features. At the time I could only offer two days a week due to other commitments but before long it turned out to be full time work. During this time I gained valuable experience in pond construction and landscaping, and the funny thing is - it never felt like work, I was enjoying what I did, and getting paid for it.
During working on the ponds I set up Central Koi Supplies, registering with the local council in order to be able to actually sell koi. I got my first shipments of Koi direct from Japan in April 2005. In all I imported around 600 koi that year. That was the year of the great earthquake in Japan.
My first buying trip to Japan happened in November 2005. This was only 8 months after the devastating earthquake. I could not believe the level of destruction. What was more amazing was how only about 58 had died from that earthquake. The Japanese are extremely resilient people, they are all working hard to get back to some sense of normality.
On that particular trip I had advance orders for various varieties, and I still managed to blow my budget. Toshio Sakai has some of the most beautiful go-sanke ever produced. - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!
Anyway, we are Central Koi Supplies and we are located in the centre of Hereford. We cover every need of the koi enthusiast from just simple advice to designing and building ponds to customers requirements. We offer a comprehensive maintenance program, covering anything from filter maintenance to covering holidays. We also offer a quality fibreglass service at very reasonable rates.
Due to the different types of jobs we do, it is always advisable to call me if you are intending to visit our premises.
My first pond was just a 2000 gallon hole in the ground with planting ledges all the way round it. It was not the prettiest, it was not even close to the specifications of a koi pond - but it was mine! I built it and I loved it.
Over the years, I tweaked it a little here and a little there. Then in 1996 the koi spawned in the pond. We had thousands of fry swimming around the pond getting gobbled up by the golden orfe. I decided to try to remove the fry from the pond in a bid to save some of them and to see what varieties had been successful in breeding. I managed to save a couple of hundred which were transferred into a borrowed 500 gallon tub. Over the summer months the numbers of fry diminished due to their cannibalism! but in the autumn I still had 30 or so at nearly 4". There was an assagi which I could not explain how this came about at the time, madori goi and some rather poor quality sanke. I ended giving them all away to friends as I had too many. I was told by a local pet shop that the assagi was a shusui offspring - right?
Then in 1998 I decided to rebuild the pond again this time bigger and better. I built a wall using blocks laid flat all the way round the existing pond enlarging the volume to 5000 gallons. I purchased Oase Biotech filters which I was advised (again by the local water gardens salesman) would be more than sufficient for the size of my pond. So, I spent around £3000 getting all the materials and equipment only to find out that the filtration was nowhere near adequate for the size of pond I had.
During 1999 I managed to breed around 300 long fin koi. There were kohaku, purechina, yammabuki and one stunning tancho. I was successful because I had built a small pond in the greenhouse, and actually moved the Brood stock into there to spawn. Once they had spawned I removed them back to the pond. I ended up selling nearly all of the new koi in the local free ads.
In 2003, still not happy with my water quality, I decided to upgrade my filters. To finance this I decided to sell some of my larger koi.
I sold 7 of my larger koi and purchased additional filtration. I had money left over so decided to buy some new koi. I went to a dealer just outside of Hereford and spent over £600.00 on 13 small koi. Within two weeks - THEY WERE ALL DEAD! - I was gutted. All my other fish were fine. It must have been my water quality he said. That was the day Central Koi Supplies came about. I could offer quality koi at very affordable prices. I was also approached by a local landscaper, to assist with the construction of ponds and water features. At the time I could only offer two days a week due to other commitments but before long it turned out to be full time work. During this time I gained valuable experience in pond construction and landscaping, and the funny thing is - it never felt like work, I was enjoying what I did, and getting paid for it.
During working on the ponds I set up Central Koi Supplies, registering with the local council in order to be able to actually sell koi. I got my first shipments of Koi direct from Japan in April 2005. In all I imported around 600 koi that year. That was the year of the great earthquake in Japan.
My first buying trip to Japan happened in November 2005. This was only 8 months after the devastating earthquake. I could not believe the level of destruction. What was more amazing was how only about 58 had died from that earthquake. The Japanese are extremely resilient people, they are all working hard to get back to some sense of normality.
On that particular trip I had advance orders for various varieties, and I still managed to blow my budget. Toshio Sakai has some of the most beautiful go-sanke ever produced. - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!
Anyway, we are Central Koi Supplies and we are located in the centre of Hereford. We cover every need of the koi enthusiast from just simple advice to designing and building ponds to customers requirements. We offer a comprehensive maintenance program, covering anything from filter maintenance to covering holidays. We also offer a quality fibreglass service at very reasonable rates.
Due to the different types of jobs we do, it is always advisable to call me if you are intending to visit our premises.
About Us
