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Originally Posted by TheOldSalt
It depends on what kind of scales a fish has, since there are 4 main types. 3 types aren't much help, but the cycloid scales of a koi are round and have the rings. Placoid, ganoid, and ctenoid scales are the other main types, but they're no good for this. ( well, ctenoids have rings, but the weird shape makes then hard to use. )
Anyway, don't even think about ripping off some scales just to see how old the fish is unless you have a VERY good reason for absolutely having to know. Curiosity is not a good enough reason to risk that kind of damage and infection.
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lol...I would not have even though of that and I do not plan of ever having Koi. I would love to but they just take up so much room...ok if I win the lotto I might, but some one told me you have to buy a lotto ticket to win, maybe that is why I have not won yet.
EDIT: I am confused about the amount of room that Koi need...If you really need 1000 gallons per Koi for them to thrive then how come I see photos all over the internet where the fish do not have even close to that room but are still very large? Is there more to thriving then growing large and living long?
Here is a good example photo....this is a 5000 gallon pond is all and from only the fish we can see there are 20 koi, making that a minimum of 250 gallons per fish (still alot of room in my ignorant thinking.)
Is it the fact that this are kept in a 5000 gallon pond that makes the difference. I can see how if you where to try to keep 1 koi in a 250 gallon tank that the fish would not have that much room to swim around but in a pond this size with 20 fish one would thing that they would have more "space to stretch their legs".
I am not trying to be difficult, I am just trying to understand how all these Koi farms can morally and ethically raise so many koi in smaller space. I found a site where you can buy 50 3-4" koi for $180 or 5 10-12" for $200, they would need thousands of gallons of space....maybe it is just my perception of how much space ponds take up....
EDIT of the edit: It was my perception...I looked up information on an Olympic size pool to get some measurements that could help me visualize things a bit more...
Dig it and they will bread...from the movie "Pond of Dreams"