I have a pond at home with a pet koi named spot. He's red with a large black spot.
That sounds cool and I'm sure provides a nice aesthetic. Are there any distinctive features of the koi fish?
They can be distinguished by their color, patterns, and scales.
That's cool, I think they are traditionally found or popularized in Japan. Do you only have one koi fish?
group of fish originally found in Central Europe and Asia. Various carp species were originally domesticated in East Asia, where they were used as food fish. Carp are coldwater fish, and their ability to survive and adapt to many climates and water conditions allowed the domesticated species to be propagated to many new locations, including Japan. Natural color mutations of these carp would have occurred across all populations. Carp were first bred for color mutations in China more than a thousand years ago, where selective breeding of the Prussian carp ("
in colour with some black spots on its neck, near the head. There is also a much less common blue variety known as the blue orfe. As they grow quite large they are not considered to be suitable for indoor aquariums and it is normally recommended that they are kept outside as a shoal in a pond. They require better oxygenated water than koi or goldfish but can be kept in association with these species. Golden orfe were very popular as an ornamental pond fish until koi became readily available in the 1960s.