We step off the plane to much better weather. Looking at the forecast temperatures will be in the 20’s. The excitement is over tomorrow we get to see what the farms have in store for us. The journey from the Airport usually takes around an hour depending on traffic as the rad takes us through Tel Aviv city centre.
Waking up on the first morning to some glorious sunshine really gets us in the mood for some Koi buying. After numerous cups of tea (very English) and some nice breakfast we left the hotel to start the pre visit.
Our first stop of the day is Madankoi home to some of the best Koi in Israel. Here we hope to see some really high quality Koi. One of our main focuses this year is to be able to purchase as many Koi varieties as we can. Since the Pandemic we have had a huge increase in customers wanting the show winning koi that they can grow on themselves. Madankoi supply a vast range of sizes in Koi but one of the areas they seem to excel on is in the larger sizes. They offer a huge selection of Jumbo koi 60cm+. These fish are always in demand and being the first to see them in Israel is crucial to secure the very best Koi.
Madankoi is the largest Koi farm in Israel, not only producing koi this farm grow huge quantities of edible fish like the Striped Bass, Sea Bream and Tilapia. The operation is colossal and there is constant flow of tractors going back and fourth to the fields harvesting various fish species.
Here you see some beautiful Koi that caught our eyes straight away. Some stunning Koi with a great selection of variety.
With so many fish to see this is certainly going to be a memorable trip.The breeder Guy then Showed us some of his prized possessions. Hidden away around the corner he showed us some koi he had selected for us. These koi had been taken from a selection he was growing on for breeding.
These you will have to wait and see!!!
Before leaving we had a little time to wander around the packing facility. With quite literally hundreds of tanks full of fish its mesmerising seeing all the vibrant coloured fish in every tank.
Next Up Dag Noy Fish Farm.
Dag Noy Fish farm is Located in Kfar Ruppin Kibbutz. This fish farm is well renowned for its mineral rich waters and warmer climate, which in turn produce some of the best growing conditions for Koi. This farm is the second Largest Fish Farm we Visit . The Ponds are spread all across the Jordan valley. The scenery is breath taking.
Upon arrival we are swiftly greeted by Aviv the breeder and his team. The smile on his face tells us we are in for a treat. we start with a quick walk through of the packing house where Aviv shows us what’s going to be available for the coming pond season.
The crew have clearly been hard at work as there is significantly more fish than previous years. The first tank we approach has over 300 pieces in all measuring around the 14″ size.
Now to get down to buisness. We start the selecting in the first tank. There is a abundance of stunning Koi. Something that stood out to us when we looked into the tank was the beautiful Doitsu Fish. Our first few bowls contain lots of them.
The Koi just keep Coming bowl after bowl of high Quality Koi. Here are some of the Hariwake we have selected.
The skin quality on these Doitsu Fish is unreal. Aviv has done a really great job this year with the selecting and production of these high quality koi.
An hour or so later we finally finished the selection of the Doitsu fish. Looking at the tank we have almost selected every single Doitsu fish they have prepared. After the excitement of this first tank we stopped for a moment to have lunch. This gave us a little time to have a stroll around the ponds in the field and picture some of the fantastic birds which make this farm there home.
Time to get back at it. jumping straight back in to select these tremendous Kujaku. The stunning deep Colours on these fish made them perhaps our easiest choice to select.
Lets all be friendly like a Chagoi
Another easy selection for us is the ever more popular Chagoi. This farm produce some gorgeous Gin Rin Chagoi and new to the year are a select number of Doitsu and Doitsu Ochiba. The Chagoi is known as the “gentle giant”. Chagoi are the friendliest and most docile. With there fantastic Autumn colours and friendly nature these prove more and more popular every year.
Did You say Unique
A constant ask from our customers is ” I’m looking for something unique”. This is always a difficult one as everyone has different preferences when selecting there koi. Some of the most unique koi are the Kikokuryu. with there metallic grey background colour and glowing orange/Red splash over the top. There is no Kikokuryu the same.
Ding ding!! We will have those Goshiki!
The Goshiki is another variety of koi with is very difficult to find within Israel. Every year there is more and more Goshiki appearing. The Goshiki basically a white based Koi that has a fishnet black pattern on top of the white base that covers the entire back and runs from the top of the back down to the lateral line.
After the selection of these stunning Goshiki we couldn’t see how it could get any better. This was until we saw the Long Finned koi other wise known as Butterfly Koi. These fish have been in very short supply in recent years above 10″, so these were a very welcome site to see in Israel.
Are Butterfly Koi friendly?
They certainly are now Thanks to Dag Noy. These magnificent Chagoi Butterfly koi.
With so many Koi selected and little time to photograph the selected fish, we finish the blog post with the most recognisable Koi the Sanke. these were some of our top picked from today.
Tomorrow takes us Over for a [pre visit to Madankoi Tosai. Then to Catch up with Idan at Hazorea and select there Tosai Koi prepared for us.