Taniguchi Kawarigoi: 18 More Up for Auction

The Taniguchi kawarigoi are back. The first auction went, in Ricky's words, "absolutely nuts", with fish commanding high prices as bidders fought over them. Now a fresh selection of 18 different fish from the same batch is live for auction on the Ricky Stoddart Nishikigoi platform, and this time every one of them opens at a £100 start bid.

A quick reminder of what these actually are

Taniguchi Koi Farm is best known for one thing: Golden Corn. Ricky calls him the mad scientist, and this batch is the latest thing to come out of his tank. There is no official variety name for these fish yet. Taniguchi has not said much about where he is heading with them, but he spawned the same pairing again this year, which tells you he is taking it seriously.

The parent set is what stops you in your tracks. The female is a 96cm Ginrin Matsukawabake. The male is a Kikokuryu of around 75 to 80cm that originates from Dainichi's Botan spawning, the same spawning that gave rise to almost every non-gosanke Dainichi produces today: Kin Matsuba, Black Zeus, Black Diamond, Yellow Monkey and Ginrin Karashigoi among them. With Shusui and Karashigoi blood sitting further back in that line, you start to understand why one simple pairing of two fish has thrown out so much.

Why the variation is so wild

Cross a fully scaled Ginrin fish with a doitsu metallic one, and put that Botan bloodline behind it, and the offspring go in every direction at once. Within this one batch there are wagoi and doitsu fish, ginrin, metallic, aragoke and big-scale types, straight Kikokuryu and Beni Kikokuryu, Ginga-style metallic Matsukawabake, Ginrin and Doitsu Ochiba, Ginrin Chagoi and Soragoi, Mukashi variants, and even a fish Ricky can only describe as a metallic Golden Corn with kanoko starting to break through.

Ricky covered the full story in his Bloodlines video, where he traced each of these variants back to where it comes from. It is worth a watch before you bid, because it explains what you are looking at and, more importantly, what these fish could become.

The part that matters most: growth

Interesting is one thing. Interesting and able to grow big is another, and that is what makes this batch special. Growth genetics are what Taniguchi is remarkable at; Golden Corn would never have been what they are if they did not grow the way they do. With a 96cm female and a big Dainichi male, the structure and body potential in these fish is there from the start.

Kawarigoi like these are a long-term game. Many of them will change and change again as they put on size and volume, and the darker Kikokuryu-type fish in particular are expected to lighten and reveal their true pattern as they move through nisai and beyond. Ricky has seen it before with Kikokuryu-based fish, and he has said openly that this is one of the most fascinating bloodlines he has seen come to light in recent years.

This release

18 fish. A cool mix across the full range of variations from the batch. Every lot opens at £100, which given what the first auction fetched is a very different entry point into the same bloodline.

Head over to the auction to see each fish individually, and get your bids in.

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