They Are All Carp

They're All Carp

By Rich Street, Washington Koi & Water Garden Society

Almost 20 years ago, I got a paper cup containing a very small goldfish in my inbox at work from a "secret pal". I had some prior experience with tropical fish and at least knew enough to know that he wouldn’t survive in the paper cup. When I got home the goldfish promptly usurped the cookie jar. My girlfriend, Lisa, (now my wife) felt sorry for him so he got upgraded to an aquarium and got some new fishy friends, which he promptly ate.

A few years later I put in a small pond in the back yard of our new home. I decided the goldfish needed friend large enough that he wouldn’t eat them. So off I trooped to the old B&I in Tacoma, WA (anybody remember Ivan the gorilla?) and bought some funky looking fish called koi. They were about the same size as the goldfish, but grew faster. Not many of those fish survived in those days due to my pond keeping skills, but that goldfish did. He was tough as nails! My pond keeping skills improved over time and that goldfish survived my mistakes for a bit over 15 years. Whether he succumbed to old age or just another of my mistakes is still a point of debate.

I finally figured out that I needed to know more about water quality than I did the fish. My pond and my skills have come a long way over the past years. I have concentrated on koi and tried to learn about their needs, but Lisa and I now have goldfish once more. I just keep them in different environments from my koi. Some of the hardier of both species will survive together, but I have slowly learned that the environmental and dietary habits frequently end up being different. For example, to maximize the body confirmation on some breeds of goldfish the water depth should be only a few inches, but a large koi body needs several feet of water depth to maximize it’s confirmation. But they are carp and I love them and the challenges of keeping them.

My car’s license plate says "CARP" and I am frequently asked if I’m from the south or am a carp fisherman. I reply that I keep Japanese koi (I don’t mention the goldfish). After a moment of blank look I see a light glimmer and that is usually followed by "Oh, you mean the big goldfish, like in the hotel in Hawaii?" For a moment, I think to myself if I really want, need, or could explain Linnaeus’ 1758 work and the intricacies of the genus Cyprinus and Carassius in the family Cyprinidae? This thought immediately ceases and I just say "ya, that’s the ones."