Koi, king of fresh water fish, 'brings luck and happiness'

Text and photos by K. Basrie

JAKARTA (JP): It was Monday afternoon. A woman in her 40s stopped at the capital's famous fish market on Jl. Barito in South Jakarta. She looked at the 350 dazzling koi fish swimming lively in the blue pond inside the shop.

"How much are the koi?" she asked.

The seller, Budi Adiwinata, kindly replied: "It depends on which one you choose, Madam."

"What about that one?," said the woman, pointing at a golden orange koi about 20 centimeters long.

"In their home of origin in Japan, it would cost you around Rp 350,000 (US$150)," answered the trader.

"Oh...c'mon. Don't quote prices from that country. Give me a local price," demanded the woman.

"Well, Madam. It's Rp 750,000," said Budi.

"Oh, my God," she wheezed. "You know, I've already got some koi at home and I bought them for only Rp 3,500 each at the shop over there," she said, pointing to a next-door shop.

Budi argued that his koi were originally imported from Japan while "the fish over there were local koi hatched in Sukabumi (West Java)," he said.

"Okay then, I'll buy a local one so I don't have to cry when they die someday," the woman said leaving with a little smile.

"That's typical," the 37-year-old koi seller told The Jakarta Post, who was there for an interview. "Unlike koi enthusiasts, many people like her leave the shop immediately without bargaining for a price or taking a good look at the fish."

Real koi enthusiasts, no matter what their financial background, won't ever leave that soon, said Budi, who has spent half his life dealing with koi.

Sometimes, koi lovers can be seen sitting inside his shop, staring at the fish the entire day.

"It doesn't matter," he said.

In fact, Budi is doing joint research with the Indonesia-Japan Fish Research Institute to see what enthusiasm and buying power there is for koi, from low and middle income markets.

"It's my obsession to promote koi in Indonesia so that even the smallest hobbyist could buy this fish," said Budi.

For that reason, Budi opened a small koi shop two months ago to study the overall acceptance of koi by low and middle income people, who are the main customers of Jl. Barito's fish market.

He said he offered the customers a high price as part of his research to study the attitude of hobbyists. The scary price often led customers to immediately leave his shop. Budi gave several koi enthusiasts, who dared to bargain, a jumbo discount.

Last month, for instance, he sold a 30-centimeter long koi for "only" Rp 200,000 -- compared to its normal price of Rp 1.5 million -- to a pregnant woman who was really fond of the fish.

"But I don't think I could be tricked by, for example, a camouflaged wealthy man or a serious collector of koi, who asks for a low price," he said.

On the contrary, visitors coming to his shop have already been "tricked" by Budi's performance.

None of his customers are aware that the koi dealer is an engineer from the elite Trisakti University of Jakarta, an MBA graduate of the University of California in the U.S., an owner of a company producing automotive bodies in Tangerang and a former illustrator for Anita Cemerlang magazine.

Maybe only a senior Scotland Yard detective could spot Budi's cover by the Rolex wristwatch he wears.

Pain relief

Budi, who is Banten in origin, but was born in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, said he fell in love with koi for the first time in the early 80's when he had to hand over his two pet tigers to a Ujungkulon preservation park for breeding.

"The koi helped me relieve my pain after losing my tigers," said the man, who is still single.

Since his first encounter with the fish, Budi completely devoted his time with the species, leaving all of his other pets which included crocodiles, monkeys, orangutans and snakes, behind.

He spent three years learning about koi in Nigata, Japan, and later handled the operation of 16 ponds at his family-run, 2.6- hectare fishery farm at the Cijampe village in Subang, West Java.

Budi claimed that more than half of all hotels in West Java have his koi in their fish ponds.

Today, there are about 200,000 koi of different varieties, sizes and patterns at his farm, with prices ranging up from Rp 200,000 for a 10-centimeter koi to over Rp 100 million for one that is around one-meter long.

Two of Budi's favorite koi have won two championship awards in international koi contests in Singapore and Australia recently.

Koi -- believed to have originated from East Asia and later developed by Japanese breeders -- is called Cyprinus carpio. Formally, the Japanese call it nishikigoi, or the "colored carp" and the fish is considered their national fish. But it is popularly known as koi, as fish lovers call it all over the world.

"Hundreds of years ago, koi was a daily menu item in Japan, until one day, a man acknowledged the appealing color and dazzling move of the fish," said Budi.

Koi is also considered the king of freshwater fish due to its size, which could reach over a meter long, and its extensive age, which could reach 125 years.

Then, what makes koi so much more expensive than other fish?

"Normally, the price depends on koi variety, colors, pattern, size and age," Budi said.

One of the most expensive koi is the tancho kohaku, which has a single big red dot on its head and a plain white body. Due to its pattern, many collectors refer to it as the Nippon flag fish.

Generally speaking, the exorbitant price of koi is mainly due to the high cost of shipping, breeding and treatment. Budi, for example, feeds his fish imported pellets, which cost Rp 35,000 per kilogram.

"But the touch of brilliant colors, perfect shape and tender behavior of the Japanese koi have also helped boost their price," he said.

Happiness

Another factor is a belief that says keeping koi could bring luck and happiness, and relieve stress of the owners and their families.

One visible difference between Japanese and local koi is their attitude. After they become accustomed with their surroundings, the Japanese-bred koi are quite willing to accept food right from their owner's fingers.

"Unlike their brothers from Japan, local koi never show the same behavior," he said.

Koi treatment is not so complicated, said Budi. "Just carefully set up a large enough pond or aquarium, based on the number of fish you have. Carefully manage the sanitation and water filter system, and supply ultraviolet light into the medium," he advised.

Improper handling could be fatal to the fish.

For example, when Java was in a total blackout last month, a total of 620 koi in Budi's ponds died. "I lost around Rp 675 million at that time," he claimed.

But his bad experience should not discourage koi lovers-to-be, he said.

"I just hope that one day more and more fish hobbyists could keep koi at their homes," Budi said.