Butterfly Koi by Nancy G. deGarmeaux
Some of the most beautiful fish you can add to your pond are butterfly koi. Years ago, koi were crossed with Indonesian long finned carp, Kohaku and Showa, in Niigata, Japan.
Metallic Butterfly Koi
They were crossed to improve body shape. Some of the offspring were unusual but not really desirable. They stopped producing in 1993 due to unreliable results and poor reception in the marketplace. Once the market was developed, they resumed production.
If you should purchase butterfly koi for your pond, there are some key elements to remember. The better the conditions in your pond, the better your fish will do. Always feed your butterfly koi high quality food with little or no fillers. You need a great filtration system for your pond.
Red / Orange
Bacteria and parasites are free-floating at some point in their life cycle and you will want a UV filter to kill these, as they are the culprits for fish kill in your pond.
Depending on the size of the butterfly koi you purchase and the size of your pond, your koi should reach 14″ to 15″ in length. Under ideal conditions, 30″ to 36″ inches in length. To reach jumbo size, all conditions must be ideal.
The life span of your koi will depend on the conditions, ie feeding, filtration, pond size, water quality,etc. The oldest koi recorded were 70+ years. A normal life span for your butterfly koi is 20+ years.
Butterfly koi are among the most beautiful fish you can add to your pond. The colors are the same as regular koi but their tails and fins can really be unusual. They gracefully swim in your pond and are beautiful to watch from any angle. 
Your butterfly koi will look forward to being fed and they will watch for you and come to the area of the pond you are feeding in giving you a front row seat to observe their coloration and “butterfly” fins and tails.
If you buy a $20.00 butterfly koi, it will be worth $200 a few years later! Enjoy!
Twitter
Facebook
Delicious
My son used to have two amazing butterfly koi about 14 inches long but last summer a great blue heron got them both. We have not found any locally that are quite as pretty.
J.R.
We have three little butterfly koi we picked up at a garden center and a big guy (or gal) about 20 inches long. Their fins get much more dramatic as they get bigger. My wife calls the big one an angel koi. They are not easy to find here in Texas.
I think our 450 gallon pond is too small for koi as they get to be large fish. I have never seen the butterfly koi before but they sure look interesting.
We have the metallic looking ones, two of them. They are starting to get more active, we won’t feed them til May.