There are several sources for long-fined koi. The first being those that occur naturally through the breeding of regular Nishikigoi that are natural mutations. These are not very nice long-fin koi. Then there are the hybrids that come from the cross of Nishikigoi and a long fin carp from Indonesian. This was done in both the United States as well as Japan at about the same time. I'm still gathering information but I think it was in the early or mid 1980's. I'll add more information as I get it.

The name "Butterfly Koi" comes from Blue Ridge Fish Hatchery in NC. In Japan they are called Longfin Koi, Long Tailed Koi, Water Dragons and sometimes Dragon Koi.

Below are two stories. The first one is how the Butterfly Koi was first developed in the US and how they got the name as told by Wyatt LeFever, president of Blue Ridge Fish Hatchery, Inc. The second is about the development of the long-fined koi in Japan as told by Joel Burkard of Pan Intercorp.

Photos are compliments of Price's Fish Farm who also breed Butterfly Koi.

"Butterfly Koi"
by Wyatt LeFever

Now, for the story of butterfly koi development here at Blue Ridge Fish Hatchery. About twelve years ago, we noticed an ad in a pet industry trade magazine, of a firm in New York City offering long-finned koi for sale. This immediately piqued our interest since Blue Ridge has been a national supplier of koi, goldfish and other coldwater ornamentals for a number of years. We had to see some of these so-called long-finned koi. An order was placed with some anticipation. As I remember, we received about a dozen of these fish. They weren't koi at all, but appeared to be a wild carp with long fins and a wild gray color. We have since learned that these fish came from a feral population of carp that inhibited the ditches and canals of Indonesia. No one seems to know the origin of these fish, their exact species or how they acquired the long fins and tails.

Anyway, on with the story. These long-finned carp weren't very pretty and didn't appear to have much commercial value. However, we decided to put them in a fenced and protected pond and grow them to maturity. We had only three or four fish left two years later. They had grown into brutes weighing six to eight pounds each. They were very unattractive, even down right ugly. We thought these fish wouldn't sell, but what would happen if we cross- bred them with koi? Could we transfer their long fins and vigor to colorful koi? It was worth a try. We stocked two female long-finned carp in a two-acre production pond with two of our best ogon (metallic) male koi. The males also had gin rin or sparkle scales.

We eagerly awaited the spawning and subsequent hatching of the fry. These hybrid offspring proved to be very strong and of rapid growth. But on close inspection when they were still very young, they looked mostly like wild carp. We were very disappointed and discussed culling the whole pond and putting it to better use, but finally decided to let them mature to the end of the growing season. I am certainly glad we did, as some very interesting fish were beginning to appear. A small percentage of them turned into some extremely beautiful fish with color and long fins and tails. Some of them had long fins with a luminous metallic glow that could be described as pearlescent. We were admiring them in a small pool when my son Randy said, "They remind me of butterflies". Hence the name. We realized we had some diamonds in the rough. We were pretty excited about their commercial possibilities.

We would now select the very best, grow them to maturity and breed them to each other to establish a strain. We were hoping these hybrids wouldn't be sterile as in the case of the koi/goldfish hybrids. Of course we would have to wait two to three years to attempt to breed our F1 butterfly hybrids. The selective breeding was pretty much done by my son Randy and my brother Rick. The very best of these first generation hybrids were stocked together in one of our best ponds. We monitored the pond carefully. There was an excellent spawn and hatch. The fry grew rapidly in spite of being rather crowded. We noticed that they had hybrid vigor. However, by the time the fry reached about an inch in length, the prospects didn't look so good. Again, they mostly resembled wild carp or bait fish, but we decided they may yet develop long fins and color. Sure enough, by fall, when they had grown to the length of three to four inches, a good percentage of them had developed into beautiful butterfly koi. Their commercial possibilities began to look very good indeed. With further selective breeding, here was a koi that, unlike regular koi, was beautiful when viewed from the sides as well as the top. They swam with such grace and regal bearing. What a beautiful pond fish they would make! Due to their hybrid vigor they are stronger, more hardy, and more disease resistant than either common goldfish or regular koi.

We subsequently learned that a very fine and beautiful strain of long-finned koi had been developed in Japan. We learned that they also used the wild Indonesian long-fin carp to develop their long-finned koi or "water dragons", as they are known in Japan. They probably started their hybridizing program even before we did here at Blue Ridge.

However, the ZNA, which sanctions all Japanese koi shows, as well as shows in other parts of the world, refused to allow long-finned koi to compete in the shows. As a result, there are very few long-finned koi being produced in Japan at this time.

We were able to obtain some of the long-finned Japanese stock and cross breed them with our butterfly koi. This resulted in some beautiful new colors not yet seen in koi at the time. The metallic underlay in the skin and fins is carried to extreme; also the sparkling diamond scale factor or gin rin really glitters. A good specimen appears to have been literally dipped in metallic silver or gold paint, then in turn, encrusted with sparkling scales. Stunning!

Butterfly koi start to develop elongated fins and tails at about six months of age, but really start coming into their own at about a year. After a year or two in an aquarium or small pool, their fins and tail will be almost as long as their bodies. We have such an aquarium in our office- quite a sight to see. Butterfly koi need to grow rather slowly, lest their bodies outgrow their fins and ruin the butterfly effect.

Butterfly koi, no doubt, have a tremendous future and the supply is quite good now. We continue to select and breed for new colors, particularly the red shades, with great anticipation. With the rapidly increasing popularity of garden ponds resulting in tremendous demand for pond fish, it is truly an exciting time here at Blue Ridge Fish Hatchery.

Special thanks to Blue Ridge Fish Hatchery for this article.

"Butterflies, Dragons & Long Fins"
By Joel Burkard/Pan Intercorp

In the twenty some odd years that I had lived in Japan I had never seen a "long fin" koi, but in 1988, I started to get inquiries from both koi keepers and koi dealers asking about "dragon carp" and "butterfly koi": koi that had long flowing fins. I was aware of the long fin carp from Indonesia, but these massive grey and brown brutes were definitely not the elegant koi that people were asking for. It wasn't until the following year that I had my first encounter with a dragon carp at Kanoh's Nishikigoi Shop in Tokyo. It was an exquisite 18 inch platinum with fins that were at least seven or eight inches long! The proprietor, Mr. Hajime Kanoh, invited me in for tea and proceeded to give me the history of what he called "onagagoi," in English, long tail koi. Several years earlier, a few Japanese breeders had crossed the Indonesian long fin with nishikigoi in hopes of getting back some of the hardiness and vigor that had been lost through years of inbreeding for color and beauty. The results were quite surprising, a koi that was extremely hardy, was very fast growing, and had long fins, long barbells and in some cases pompom nostrils similar to those on fancy goldfish.

The appearance of these "hire naga koi" (long fin koi) caused quite a stir in the usually ultra conservative world of Japanese koi, with breeders and hobbyists competing for these suddenly coveted koi amid skyrocketing prices. The quality and popularity of the water-dragons progressed until inevitably some were entered into koi shows. At this point, the airinkai decreed that these were not koi and therefore were ineligible to be shown or judged in koi competitions. Without the possibility of being shown, the interest in long fins declined almost overnight in Japan, leaving a few long fin ogon, matsuba and karasu scattered around the country. When I asked Mr. Kanoh where I could secure a supply of these unique koi, I was told it would be very difficult as no one was breeding them any more. Indeed, I found this to be the case, hearing the same story from every breeder that I contacted. Interest in butterfly koi had reached an all time low in Japan when, in October of 1991, it was announced that the Emperor Akihito was going to Indonesia on a goodwill tour and would be presenting lndonesia's President Suharto with fifty "hire naga nishiki koi" (long fin nishiki koi) as a symbol of friendship and economic cooperation between Japan and Indonesia. The photos that accompanied this press release showed some strikingly elegant shusui, asagi and even kohaku with long, flowing fins. It goes without saying that an endorsement of this nature, coming from the Emperor of Japan, catapulted the long fin koi right back into the limelight of Japanese koi keeping. Here in the United States, there has been a steadily growing interest in the butterfly koi. At the first annual Washington Koi & Watergarden Society Koi Show, a jet black long fin karasu was awarded third place kawarimono by judges Shunichi Yoshida and Shoichi Litsuka who have also judged the All Japan Combined Nishikigoi Show. The Northwest Koi and Goldfish Club Show featured a special category for long fins this year that attracted some beautiful examples of the long fin that are becoming available these days. Rumor has it that exotic koi such as long fin akame kigoi are being developed in Japan and may be available soon. Time will tell...

Special thanks to Pan Intercorp for this article.