Butterfly koi

If the black koi is the most intriguing of all koi, then surely the butterfly koi is the most beautiful.  The butterfly koi is not another variety of koi, it is just a unique type of koi characterized by its long fins and tail often accompanied by its dazzling color.  They are truly a sight to behold.

Butterfly koi painting

(painting image courtesy of shant-shantimarie.blogspot.com)

Initially, the butterfly koi was mistakenly thought to be a hybrid of goldfish and koi.  Certain goldfish strains do have slender, long fins and tails and interbreeding between goldfish and koi is not something new so the association is understandable.  But this mistaken assumption is largely dispelled now.

The long fins and tail of the butterfly koi is a result of the interbreeding of long-finned carp and koi.  It is said that this was first done in Japan where they inter-bred wild long-finned carp (which were a dull gray in color) from Indonesia with Japanese koi (which were very colorful).  After many tries, they were able to produce an extraordinary type of carp that combined the long fins and tail from the Indonesian carp and the lively colors of the Japanese koi.  Since then, these stunning fish have made their way to almost every country in the world.

Butterfly koi

The butterfly koi bred and grown the same way as normal koi.  In fact, the butterfly koi fry do not look much different from normal koi fry.  They only start to display their elongated fins and tail between 6 months and a year.  Since butterfly koi are a hybrid strain of koi, they do have a greater resistance to disease, are stronger and more colorful.

Butterfly koi are ravenous eaters and grow very quickly if you feed them a lot (especially in summer.  See my page on Koi Biology).  But the uniqueness of the butterfly koi is their long and slender fins and tail.  The longer these are, the more special they look.  So for the butterfly koi, there is an additional consideration of growing their fins, not just their size.  If you just feed them indiscriminately their bodies may outgrow their fins and thereby lose their distinctive long fins.  So it takes a special skill to know how much and how often to feed the butterfly koi to ensure their fins grow as long as possible.  Hence keeping butterfly koi is like an art.  But if you do it right, your butterfly koi’s fins and tail may even grow as long as the body.  Now that would really be a beautiful sight.