Many years ago when I was raising angels and selling to almost all of the local pet shops I met and had an association with the probable developer of the Koi angel. Jody Gianni (New York) had an add in T.F.H. somewhere in the area of 7-8-9 years ago. When I saw this angel I absolutely fell head over heels for this fish. Normally I am not for the color forms of wild fish and I stick with the more wild types of color forms. There are some notable exceptions to that rule for me but in general I stay with the wild forms of fish...but in this case the love of the color markings were instant. For several years I bred and kept the strain of “Koi” angels going but as the pressure of producing more and more angels and the pressures of my real world job clashed, I had to give up the love of angels for a while. Just like the producing of angels was really not to make money but the love of the fish, the “love at first sight” of the Koi angel has never gone away.

My search for the Koi angel began again about 2-3 years ago. I found just about everything in the fish world except the real “Koi” angel. I found people who are calling Gold Marble angels Koi’s... I’ve had people tell me there is no longer any Koi angels that there are now “Sunset angels”.........I’ve had people send me pairs of angels that simply weren’t what they thought ......what a search. The search all came gloriusly to an end when I went to the most obvious spot that there was......Steve Rybicki, New York. Steve is simply the only person in the world that I am aware of who makes a total living raising and selling angels. I gave him a call and my soul was released. Not only did he have them but he had an improved version of the old Koi.

OK..........I digress from the point of the article! What is a “Koi” angel.

1) Blusher gills
2) White body....not silver
3) Black marbeling
4) Orange-Red “crown”

Lets talk about the parameters. The “blusher” trait brings two of the four traits with it. Of course it brings the red in the gill area. Some people think that the gill plate is missing but that is not true. The gill plate is transparent and the red gills show through. If you think about all of the “blusher” andgels you have seen in the past you may all of a sudden realize the next trait that is linked to the “blushing” trait.........white body. That’s right folks. The blusher angels have a white body! If the angel has a silver body then there in NO blusher gene in the background that will show up any where soon. Now.....there is a trick here. There can be “blusher” genes in the mix and the body can be white and there is no transparent gill plate. That’s OK....in fact some people don’t like the red gill plate and prefer the white gill plate. There is another fact about the red gill plate......as the fish gets older the redness...or the transparency of the gills tends to lessen. So that older Koi don’t tend to carry the red in the gill area.

The marbling is a matter of taste, as well, but there should be some marbling to be a “real” Koi. I tend to like more and dark marbling but not so marbled that it blocks out or masks the white body.

Now to the most difficult part of the Koi. The orange-red crown. This feature really sets the fish off for me and the more and deeper red (orange) on fish the better. Steve Rybicki says he thinks the amout and depth of orange color is affected by 1) good water quality 2) good light and 3) great food. An absence of any one of the three and it seems that the fish will lack the “crown”.

OK....I’ve re-found the Koi angel. But be careful folks that you get the real Koi. What makes the Koi so difficult to raise is that there are more traits to be bred for here than in any other angel. You need to breed for the blushing trait. You need to breed for the marble trait. You need to breed for the “crown” trait. Trust me folks....after breeding these for 3-4 years many years ago I found that maintaining the line is difficult. It’s not so hard to get two parents and get a spawn or two.......but maintaining the line is the key!