American Breeder Profile – Barstow Koi Farm                                                             Back to Home Page

By: Karen Pattist

 

T. K. Liu was a professor of Chinese Literature in Taiwan, but Koi was his obsession.  For 40 years, he owned a Koi farm in Taiwan and was learning to breed and raise Koi while he was teaching.  When he retired in 1991, he came to the United States and started Barstow Koi Farm in Newberry Springs, CA. with the idea of being the first high-quality domestic Koi breeder in this country.  His eldest son Ken, joined the Taiwan military and served as an officer for 17 years.  Their second son, Mu was accepted to the New York College of Design.  Mu married Pauline who was a practicing attorney a year ago.  Mr. Liu passed away in 2002, and is survived by his wife, who gave the Koi farm to their sons.  The farm is currently run by Ken, Mu and Pauline.

 

 

From Left, Ken, Mu and Pauline Liu with Mocha

 

While it is certainly unusual to find a Koi Farm in the desert, Mr. Liu knew that the most important thing was the water quality.  He discovered that New Berry Springs had wonderful underground water, albeit typically sandy soil. 

 

The first 5 mud ponds were excavated over a period of 10 years.  Each 1 acre pond was dug to 12-16 feet deep because they knew they would need to line the ponds with clay to hold water in the sandy soil.  The farm had a large deposit of white clay which they excavated to use as lining for the mud ponds.  Even with 4 feet of the clay, the ponds still leaked.  They were spending vast sums of money pumping water in to top off all the ponds on a regular basis.  The well water had so little oxygen that they then needed to spend even more money on aeration.  The fish they were breeding looked OK, but were not thriving.  Mr. Liu hired a PhD mineralogist to analyze the clay they had been using in Taiwan, and compare it to the white clay on the property.  After discovering the missing components in the white clay, a search was started to find the correct clay for lining the ponds.  Luckily, clay with the perfect composition was located in huge deposits only 15 miles from the farm.  They trucked in enough to create a 4 foot lining in every pond.  For a ½ acre pond, it took 120 loads at 20 tons/load! 

 

This red clay had all the beneficial minerals and bacteria.  It not only absorbed ammonia, but it also prevented the formation of some types of algae.  The clay also acted as shade to keep the water temperatures at a steady 78 degrees even when summer air temperatures peaked at around 135 degrees!  All types of shade cloth were tried, but none of them equaled the natural protection produced by the clay-based muddy water.  In the daytime, this clay absorbs heat, and then releases the heat to the ponds at night.  This is very important when the day and night temperatures of the desert can vary by more than 50 degrees every day.  The winter water temperatures at the farm rarely fall below 40 degrees, and even in the smallest ½ acre ponds, the temperatures are rock steady.  It is the change in water temperatures that stresses Koi.  The depth of the ponds is also very important whenever temperature variation is to be avoided.  In addition to natural shade, the clay also aids the Koi’s digestion.  Because Koi have teeth but no stomachs, the clay can aid in the breakdown in food, much like gravel does in chickens.  Ken says that healthy Koi dig in the clay for food – and that they even nestle down in it to stay warmer in the winter.  And, the clay makes the Koi’s colors look brilliant.  The Shiroji (white background) is a more luminous white because the Koi ingest clay with their food.  The clay also seems to inhibit the reproduction of parasites. 

 

Mud ponds in the desert!

 

Mr. Liu’s whole life was devoted to selecting excellent breeder Koi, and the results were quickly seen in the quality of the babies being produced at the farm.  When they imported new parent fish from Japan or Taiwan, they gave the new Koi a year to get used to the different water chemistry and temperatures before they were bred.  “This acclimatization partially accounts for the health of the babies,” according to Ken.  The babies are born into the farm’s high pH and high alkalinity water, and because this is their natural environment, they become remarkably robust and resilient to problems in their eventual home ponds.  The babies can go anywhere and survive.  The Barstow Koi seem to have a natural resistance to parasites and disease.  Ken attributes this to his ‘natural system’ for growing the Koi.  The farm doesn’t use any antibiotics – especially in the mud ponds where they could contaminate the clay and affect other Koi in the future.  Ken is careful to never wipe out all the beneficial bacteria found in the clay and water with chemicals.  “A natural system never uses chemicals,” explains Ken, “and the ponds must have a natural balance to produce strong Koi.”  The Koi’s gills are checked regularly, and the water is constantly tested.  The farm’s veterinarian is always impressed at the vigorous health of the Koi, and the standards that the farm maintains. 

 

Both Ken and Mu have made sacrifices for the sake of the farm.  Mu gave up his career – as did his wife Pauline.  Ken insists that it is Mu’s amazing natural talent for culling that has made the farm uniquely successful.  Even with the best breeding pairs, profitable culling is the most important part of any Koi farm.  Of the 400,000 eggs that are produced by one mating, only 300 to 3000 Koi are actually sold.  It is Mu’s remarkable ‘eye’ that can pick a tategoi (or Koi that will likely improve in the future) when the babies are only 1” long.  He continues, “While I have been doing this for 10 years, I cannot begin to match the expertise that Mu has.”  One Shiro Utsuri that Mu recently selected for a customer won Reserve Grand Champion at the 2003 Bakersville Koi Show.  Mu had singled out that Koi as a special tategoi when the baby was only 1” long!  Ken provides his technical expertise learned in the military to the farm, and Pauline does the marketing, accounting and all the paperwork.  The farm now has 15 mud ponds, and Ken, Mu and Pauline do their best to keep the quality of the Koi being produced at a level their father would have been proud of. 

 

Ken’s Kohaku Tategoi that will be held to grow out	Pauline helping with the culling

 

The Koi at Barstow Koi Farm are bred naturally in special spawning tanks.  While other farms induce the laying of eggs, Ken has found that parent Koi who have been treated with drugs have a reduced breeding career, and they can even be damaged or killed.  The drugged parents certainly have a shorter life span.  Ken uses the old system of gathering soft fir branches and tying them into switches that the Koi then use to make a nest to lay their eggs on.  This is the same method used by Taiwan Koi farmers over 300 years ago.  No plastic ever touches the fish.  Mr. Liu learned this system over 55 years ago, and “the traditional methods are still the best” says Ken.  It is important to use only the correct branches that will be soft enough to prevent injury to the Koi.  The female is most important to the baby’s conformation, while the male imparts his color to the fry.  One female is paired with 2-3 males.  Each of the babies is carefully tracked to determine the successfulness of the pairing over successive generations.  Many years of experience are required to become successful at production.  The goal is always for bigger and more beautiful Koi.  Ken says that a successful operation must constantly keep those goals in mind.  If a farm is only interested in profits, the quality of the Koi will certainly decline. 

 

Five to six days after hatching, the fry are moved out to one of the mud ponds.  There, they are fed and grown for 45 days.  When they reach about 1 to 1 ½ inches – they are brought in to cull.  No other Koi farm in the country culls babies at this young age.  The fry are incredibly small and fragile, and any stress will kill them.  The seines used are very delicate and special.  Most other Koi farms don’t cull nearly as drastically, because they can sell all the Koi they produce to different markets.  If the pairing was good, Mu will keep only about 5% of the fry from the first cull.  The remaining 95% are sold as bait and feeder fish for a few dollars per thousand fish.  “If the fry are not culled at that size, the larger ones will eat the smaller ones which typically are the ones you most want to keep,” says Ken.  Larger fry are nearly always single color and closer in their appearance to wild carp.  They become very aggressive especially if sufficient food is not provided, and may gobble up all their potentially valuable brothers and sisters.  In some pairings, only .05% is kept!  If the pairing has failed entirely, then they must quickly make a decision to breed another pair or lose a year of production. 

 

Culling is a proficiency that can be acquired, but Ken thinks it must also be a talent that is innate.  Japan has many talented cullers.  The best Koi come from the farms with the best cullers.  In Ken’s opinion, Mr. Dianichi, who passed away recently, was the undisputed master.  The first cull is the hardest, and defines the farm.  It requires more than skill – one might say that it requires imagination.  The culler must look into a crystal ball and divine the future potential of each baby.  And a culler must also be an expert fish handler.  It is easy to stress the babies and devoted care must be taken with each individual.  As a result, they only seine 10,000 to 20,000 fry at a time, and then the selected babies are returned to a different mud pond as soon as possible.  The culling takes place 16 hours a day.  Mu says it is serious business!  There is no music playing, and no joking.  The weather is always hot, and the work is intense.  It takes a lot of sweat and devotion to create really lovely Koi.  Usually only 1 in 30,000 Koi is kept!  In farming other varieties of fish, there is no culling and anyone can thus become a fish farmer.  Becoming a Koi farmer requires a unique blend of discipline and talent.  How long would the average person be willing to sit looking for a Picasso in 400,000 pictures?  And that is only the work load for one pairing, for one year!  That also explains part of why good Koi are so expensive.  Mu culls for quality rather than quantity, and each exceptional tategoi is valued for its rarity. 

 

Barstow Koi are bred in many varieties

 

Barstow Koi Farm does not feed the culls back to the retained tategoi.  Ken feels that any cannibalism produces disease over time.  It is not the natural way the Koi have evolved, and farms do it just to save money on feed.  After an additional 45 days, the previously selected tategoi are culled for the second time.  These fry are now 3” long.  This culling is much easier – both because the patterns are much easier to see, and because there are so many fewer individuals to look through.  About 40% of the second culling is kept.  The remaining 60% is sold to dealers and stores at wholesale prices.  After each culling, the tategoi are returned to a different pond to facilitate tracking.  By the time an older Koi leaves the farm, they have probably spent time in every mud pond.  When a pond is emptied of Koi, the water is recycled from pond to pond, and the clay is allowed to dry out in the sun to allow for natural build up of fertilizer which, after the water is added, will produce natural micro-organisms for the fry to feed on.  Fresh water from the well is only used to replace evaporation, and must be aerated. 

 

After another 2 months, about 5 months after hatching, the babies are 6-8” and are brought in for their final cull of the year.  About 50% of these are kept to be sold as Nisai (2-year old Koi), and the rest are sold to individuals and dealers.  Showa are culled for a total of five times before they are sold, and the fry must be kept separate from other Gosanke (Kohaku, Sanke and Showa) so they don’t get culled for the wrong reasons.  “Showa are definitely the hardest variety to produce,” says Ken.  Showa in the U.S. that are raised in water with high pH and high alkalinity, including the conditions found at Barstow Koi Farm, have wonderful Sumi (black).  Ken produces exceptional Shiro Utsuri and Shiro Bekko for this reason.  But Kohaku are difficult, as the hardness seems to inhibit the Hi (red) formation.  Ken and his father spent many years determining exactly which bloodlines of Kohaku would thrive in their water.  Actually, they could cheat the production of high quality Kohaku by using filters and water treatments.  But Ken feels that it would not be what is best for the eventual buyers.  “The Kohaku produced by the farm should thrive and look exceptional in any water in the states,” according to Ken. 

 

Ken seining larger Kohaku	(both) Barstow Nisai Kohaku

 

Another unique practice at Barstow Koi Farm is the hand-mixing of 350 pounds of paste food per day to feed the growing babies.  Ken insists that Koi are bottom feeders, and that floating pellets are not good for them.  The floating pellets contain too much air, and deprive the Koi from digging and using their barbells to find food.  Ken’s day starts before 6 a.m. with mixing his daily requirement of paste food.  Into the basic powder, any variety of protein and vitamins can be added.  Because the paste is a sinking food, Ken feels that it is much more natural for the Koi.  Only healthy fish can thrive from swimming in the constantly changing water pressure from the surface to the depths of their deep mud ponds, and weak Koi are naturally culled.  The remaining Koi become strong both from their diving and from their incessant search for food.  Ken remembers his father telling him that using floating food just to be able to view the Koi was wrong.  But now he doesn’t worry about seeing the fish for extended periods!  Sinking paste food is also considered easier to digest and is said to create a stronger immune system. 

 

Even with the best practices, Ken uses a quarantine tank with a temperature protocol to ascertain the health of any incoming Koi to be used for breeding.  There are 70 tanks, each containing from 600 to 3000 gallons of water, that are used by the farm for quarantine and sales.  Each tank has its own independent filtration system.  A heater is used for the quarantine tanks.  After a newly imported Koi has rested from its journey for a few weeks, the temperature in the tank is slowly raised to about 75 degrees – which is the trigger temperature for KHV.  75 degrees is maintained for about 3 weeks and feeding is stopped.  The stress from discontinued feeding weakens the immune system and is sometimes enough to trigger the disease if the temperatures are correct.  The Koi are also scraped and the slides are examined under the microscope for parasites, and the gills are checked.  The tank temperature is returned to the ambient temperature and the Koi are fed and rested for 2 weeks.  Then, the tank temperature is raised to 80 degrees for 3-5 days, and aeration is added.  The Koi are still eating.  The tank temps are allowed to return to ambient again and the Koi are rested another week.  Finally, the tank temperature is raised to 90 degrees for 2 days.  If the Koi displays no disease during these cycles, it is now considered ready to acclimatize to American waters.  The new Koi is added to a tank of naïve Koi and allowed to experience the temperature cycles of the seasons for a year.  After a year, Ken is confident that the Koi is not a carrier of KHV, and can be used for breeding.  Only Koi for breeding are imported to the farm.

 

Every tank on the farm has completely independent filtration

 

Ken has seen KHV both in Taiwan and in the U.S.  Because of the Farm’s extraordinary quarantine protocol, the outbreak has always been limited to a quarantine tank.  Ken destroys all Koi that have come into contact with a KHV infected fish, and feels that the disease is actually worse than has been reported.  His experience is telling him that the disease has already mutated, and any new Koi from Japan should be considered ‘ticking time bombs’ until proven otherwise.  If KHV is discovered, Ken says that even bleach will not kill it, and that he recommends letting the affected tanks and equipment air dry for at least 3 months after bleaching to be sure the virus is dead.  “Raising and lowering water temperature is not a cure,” says Ken.  “All it does is put the Koi into remission for a period, but the disease will reappear when the correct triggers are activated.” 

 

So, what does all this culling, special feeding and quarantining produce?  Ken not only produces award winning Koi in every standard variety, but he claims to be producing the very best Butterfly (or longfin) Koi in the country!  He tells a great story about how he came to have the best longfin breeding pairs.  Ken says that his father was asked to help acquire the first enormous original Carp from communist China over 30 years ago.  These large Carp would be bred with Koi to increase the size and hardiness of the ornamental Koi.  His father selected 14 large Carp, but 4 died while going through the red tape required for the purchase.  9 of the original Carp were over 2 meters long and used to improve the Taiwanese breeding program.  The last Carp was a longfin and nearly 3 meters long.  Mr. Liu was a strict traditionalist, and did not want to breed longfin.  However, when Ken was working at Barstow, he discovered how many American buyers liked longfin Koi.  After his father passed away in 2002, Ken decided to start breeding the longfins, and used the enormous Carp as the foundation for his own longfin bloodstock.  Ken now has longfins in nearly every named variety!  But it wasn’t easy even with good parents.  He found that good longfin parents didn’t necessarily produce longfin babies.  Only certain pairs produced the perfect conformation and strong fins that Ken required.  The conformation of the Barstow longfins is exactly the same as his traditional Koi because they are based on the original carp genes rather than genes that are intermingled with goldfish.  The patterns are equally as good, and the fins are strong and do not break!  Ken says the fins need to be more like wings, not the fragile and often bent appendages that are often produced.  He is particularly proud of his Kin Ki Bekko Longfin.  Also, his Bekko, Shiro Utsuri, Tancho Sanke, Tancho Kohaku, Show, Ochiba and Sanke – all longfin!  Longfins now make up nearly 70% of Barstow sales.  Nearly every other Koi breeder that is producing longfins in the U.S. has purchased his parent stock from Ken’s production.

 

Barstow Lonfin Tancho Sanke	Barstow Longfin Ki Utsuri

 

 

Ken says Koi farming is much harder than being an officer in the military.  Other breeders have suggested to him that if a Koi dies, then the customer will come back to buy another one.  Ken strongly disagrees.  He feels that a good Koi breeder must be both honest and forthcoming with information.  If a customer loses a fish, he may lose his appetite for Koi and the breeder may lose a customer.  His father was in the Koi business his whole life, and had seen many unscrupulous breeders and dealers come and go.  “Only honest people with a real love of Koi can survive in this business,” says Ken.  All of the Liu’s wants Barstow Koi Farm to go down in history as something of value.  As a first generation immigrant, Ken really believes in the opportunities that America provides to create excellence.  He knows that it would be much easier to be successful at starting a restaurant.  It would require less hours, less dedication and produce more income.  Ken says that “to be a Koi farmer, it takes a greater motivation than just money!”  He feels that Koi fulfill a spiritual need for beauty, and that he can often feel his father’s pride in excellent Koi as they are leaving the farm.