Koi breeding: From mere hobby to big business

As a hobby, he had a passion for breeding. He started with breeding dogs like German Shepherds, Cocker Spaniels, cats, ducks, even reptiles, guinea pigs and racing pigeons and birds before he had a fancy for this multi-colored, hardy, but attractive fish called koi, (a Japanese word for carp) considered symbols of love and friendship in Japan. Moreover, the word koi is really short for the Japanese word Nishikigoi, translated into English as “living jewels.”

And living jewels they really were for Jaime “Jimi” Lim, whose hobby of genetic breeding is now solely and completely devoted to kois, because of his extreme fondness and fascination for these lovely creatures, this time not just as a hobby but as a very viable business as well.

Consider the Koi Village Pet Mall, which Lim built on a 700-square-meter lot in Paseo de Magallanes, Makati City, one of the largest koi mart here in the Philippines, where over 4,000 kois of various sizes, grades and prices, are on display for sale at any given time. Everything is a star in their own right- from the P200-peso variety up to the 80-centimeter kohaku, sanke and showa (collectively known as Gosanke), which pegs from P300,000 to P500,000 pesos each. So much so that koi lovers and enthusiasts flock to the mall to get a glimpse of these amazing by-products of breeding, some of which are bought and eventually brought home as pets.

In an interview, Lim said that when he went into the hobby of breeding koi: “Me and my brother Samuel decided to go into farm breeding and rented out a small mud pond where we started. When we breed, we have to cull out (separate the good from the bad ones), so where can we dispose these culled-out kois?”

“The only solution is to have a pet shop or a pet mall, hence this Koi Village Pet Mall, so I can have a showroom there for my koi. I discard those that I don’t like to keep and have a few good ones on display,” Lim pointed out.

How many breeds and varieties are there? “There are a lot of varieties and we have all of them – the Kohaku, Sanke, Showa, Shusui, Tancho, Aigoromo, Kujyaku, Komonryu, Kikusui, Kikokuryu, Kin Kikokuryu, Kin Showa, Gin Shiro, Platinum Ogon and Yamabuki Ogon, to name a few,” he replied.

 Lim said that the Koi Village is doing very good, for after setting it up in December 2005, demands for koi came coming up. “In most of the Makati posh subdivisions, the homeowners there have landscapes in their backyards or around the house and mostly the landscaper designs with a koi pond. We are also into pond construction, so Koi Village is the easiest place where they can buy complete accessories and pond materials. It’s a one-stop shop for the landscaper and the homeowner,” he maintained.

At Koi Village, one can avail of services like pond design, construction and maintenance, koi import and export, supply of koi feeds, consultation and all aspects of koi care. There are also koi handbooks, equipment and medicines.

Are there takers for the expensive kois they have at the mall? “Yes, there are some hobbyists and collectors that go for show-quality koi. We have clients from the rich in the exclusive subdivisions here in Manila and even in the provinces of Davao, Bacolod and Cebu,” Lim disclosed.

Koi Village is operated by the Advanced Hobbyists Genetic Breeding Station, Inc., (where Lim is President and CEO) which he established 8 years ago. Their breeding farms – the Hayashi Koi Farm located in Pandi, and Baliwag, are both situated in Bulacan.

“We have perfected the Japanese way of breeding kois through artificial breeding means and we get 99 percent or almost 100 percent hatching rate. The Japanese come here to teach us what we have not fully understood – especially the culling, they check and correct our errors in the technological procedure, every time they come back,” Lim explained.

He added that they use good quality Japanese koi for breeders because they produce more beautiful body-structured koi, better shiro (whiteness) and the red is crimson red (hi), the black (sumi) is very black and the sharpness of the edges of their patterns (kiwa) is very clear.

Even though the Japanese were the pioneer in koi breeding, which they started centuries ago, Lim is confident that in their experience, we would be better off than them, if we have the right technology and breeding stocks.

Lim lamented that in terms of koi keeping and breeding as a hobby and business here in the Philippines, we are not yet that advanced compared to Taiwan and Thailand. “China is fast coming up, Singapore is good. Malaysia and Indonesia are better than us at this stage, but with the rate our Advanced Hobbyists and Genetic Breeding Station, Inc. is going, I will say give us three more years and we can definitely be better than them,” he emphasized.

As a business, koi-breeding has a very good prospect here in the Philippines because of our climate and better facilities, (with which even Japan and China can’t compete with), so its future here in the country is picking up. For first-time koi keepers, Lim cautions them to have a very good pond and filtration system and just a few very good koi.

For inquiries on Koi Village and the Advanced Hobbyists Genetic Breeding Station Inc., call 853-8387, 527-7616 to 20 and 524-6664 to 66. You may also email [email protected]. – Edith P. Lagarile