I’m sure “real” koi keepers do not name their koi but I’m partial to attributing some personality to the koi in our pond. We went to the annual Koi Acres open house in Scandia, MN over the weekend. Koi Acres is really a unique place. They build ponds and really work at the art of koi keeping. They go to japan every year to purchase top quality koi from the breeders. They work hard at being excellent at what they do – I’m just thankful they are in Minnesota. The Koi Acres staff have always been helpful and they are happy to share what they know.
back to the weekend, there is a koi auction and we were really not planning to participate. However, my husband saw the giant twenty inch long koi available and said let’s get one. He really wanted a beautiful yellow koi but dropped,out of the bidding as it crept passed one thousand , but that’s another story.
We came home with two koi…a little karashigoi that I named Takuan (top photo) and a very large sanke, that I named Momo-chan. Momo is from a well known japanese koi breeding farm. Adding her to the pond was an instant calming influence. She’s a good leader. 
