308 Boxes of Koi: Largest Koi Import from Japan!
Jan 27th 2023
On Jan 18th 2023 Fitz’s Fish Ponds received its largest shipment to date. It included 308 boxes with 2,992 koi. The entire shipment weighed 11 tons and contains some of the most beautiful koi the United States has ever seen. This is the single handed largest koi shipment that has ever been brought over to the US from Japan and to pull it off successfully, so many things from paperwork to prepping the tanks to organizing team members had to be done just right.
FFP arranged for 6 trucks and about 15 team members, customers, and volunteers to receive the koi from JFK airport. Our friends from Garden State Koi, who had koi on this shipment, also came with 2 trucks and 4 team members to help. Tim Waddington from Quality Nishikigoi flew in from the UK to be here for the shipment as well. Back at the farm, our Fish Care Team worked to ensure all of the tanks were prepped and are ready for the new shipment of fish to acclimate properly. We had approximately 35 people at the farm helping to unbox and organize the koi and carefully get them into the correct tanks. The entire day takes a true team effort.
In this shipment are koi from the top breeders in Japan. We bought from Marusei, Shintaro, Shinoda, Maruhiro, Iwashita, Marusada, Chogoro, Hiroi, Masaki Aoki, Marusho, Torazo, Hiroi Seji, and more. The sizes range from as small as 30 cm to our largest koi ever at 105cm– a beautiful Mukashi Ogon from Marudo Koi Farm.
Overall the day was a great success. We were able to help facilitate the import of all these beautiful koi, not only for our farm but also for the many customers that came to Japan with us in the fall and hand selected their own koi. It is very comforting to know that the fish are now stateside at our facility and that they all arrived in great condition.
The koi will now go through our quarantine process which takes about 30 days. After this, we will open up our farm for customers to check out our amazing new stock.
If you are interested in koi or want to come to the farm to see all of these beautiful new koi call AJ at 908-301-4722
