As many of you know my parents own a greenhouse and my dad actually brought up breeding koi last night and selling them at the garden center and online. He told me to do some research/find catalogs for supplies, ect. How exciting! He doesn't know whether to do this in an actual greenhouse or to build a heated shed for them. He's going to start small with only a few fish to see how it goes. If this goes well he is interested in growing aquatic plants too. He said we can be partners and I'll get half the profits! Ponds are really big here in the area and I think it would be a great opportunity to let people know how to properly care for them.

Anyways just wanted to share, I'm pretty excited!

Oh that sounds great! Very exciting!
I hope you can fix this!
My local LFS, where I sell my fry, is a garden where
they mostly sell plants, but also fish, even tropical!

OMGOSH OMGOSH! TAHT SOUND SO EXCITIGN! OOOOH YOUARE SO LUCKY! IT WOULD BE SUCH GREAT FUN! AHH I"M JEALOUS!

that's really great!! i can feel your excitement when i'm reading this LOL man, that is so awesome!

that is so cool..

Do you are ready have a website??

if not then get a free one at www.freewebs.com

Thanks guys! My brother is working on a site for the greenhouse/gift shop. We may do an extension off of there.

Wonderful news!!!! Congrats to you and your Dad! I hope it all works out for ya!!!!

Congratulations Erin..
Are you going to import from Japan as well?

Wow Erin! -how cool is your dad? what a great business venture, I wish you all the very best in setting it up, and of course expect to be kept up to date with your progress

I'm not sure about that yet Fred.



I know! I've always thought my dad was cool but this takes it to a new level! Thanks Mads!

Well, doesn't that sound like fun, Erin! Quite an undertaking there, but well worth the effort.

In Minnesota, you might need a greenhouse, or something heated, but not too high in temperature. Koi can handle quite a lot, and they need the cooler temperature to prepare for the coming spring and the breeding season. It is kind of their inner clock, and essential if you want to see any offspring in the warmer months.

And prepare for quite a mess and just a "couple more" eggs than goldfish - 1000s of eggs, literally! There is nothing more impressive like a bunch of koi spawning, and somebody better be at hand for the unavoidable cleanup afterwards.

Thanks Andrea! I'm sure we'll need more than a few words of advice for this undertaking! He said he wouldn't do it if I hadn't moved back home as I'm the "goldfish expert".

He'll be in good guiding hands with you. And it sounds like the perfect extension to his line of business too. Wow, you are so lucky. Family businesses when they work out are the very best kind because you all know each other so well that there are fewer misunderstandings plus each generation has their own skill and ability to offer.

Maybe your water problems can be sorted once and for all with some kind of huge filtered water source set up for the pond/s and as part of the business that could be tax deductable. I can see so many benefits all round for everyone in your Dad's plans. I have to agree, what an amazing Dad you have

That sounds like a wonderful undertaking - a real challenge! I LOVE challenges.

I hope you keep us up to date on how it is going - as you create ponds and the fish breed and....well, everything. Vicarious living, you know!

The one and only time I had to clean up after a pond of spawning koi was enough to make me NEVER want to do it again. There were globs of eggs and yuck all over the walk around the pond, dripping from the plants, slopped up on the walls of the pump house. It was a horrid mess!

Randy little buggers!

wow that sounds exciting! I've begged my parents so many times to start an online fish business lol and then after like 10 weeks they said ok then we'll sell all ur fish online. They come up with the dummest jokes, I would never sell my fishies and they know it!

That sounds really fun Erin have fun how big will the pond be? Remember pics or else

Are you going to sell goldfish (Comets, Wakins, Jikins, Commons, Etc.) too?

Thanks everyone for the kind words of encouragement! We're going to start with one stock tank of fish and go from there. Starting small! We'll probably start with koi and maybe get a few comets/commons too. I want to be able to educate thru this too, so people don't throw tons of fish in their 100 gallon ponds! I'm excited about the aquatic plants too. He said if all goes well he will start selling pond supplies as well. I think we're going to have to expand!

Don't worry guys, pics will be a priority! Since I don't have a home of my own to build a pond, I'll get the next best thing!

Koi come in so many interesting and cool colors. If you also bred commons it would be cool if you could breed them to have some of the same coloring as the high priced koi. Nobody seems to be doing it so it could be a niche.

The book "Koi Kichi" is a good book that will give you some insight to koi breeding. I bought the book last year. The bits and pieces that I read was very informative. It's a high priced book but you can take it as a tax deduction.

If your looking to get a website I have a friend that could get you a good deal on a website. He works with large website company that hosts millions of websites. The websites can be set up with colorful spash pages, 2000 item shopping carts with e-commerce, maps to your business, 24 hour customer support, and changes can be made instantly (your website would never be under contruction while you wait for updates). If your interested in learning more about his websites PM me and I'll have him call you or give you his number.

That sounds like so much fun! A lot of work, but definately fun!