Mr HL Ong and family

For the last few months we have HL and his family visiting us regularly and adding koi to their new koi pond after each visit.

This morning, the son, whose name with initial CK spotted a Sanke with the letters CK across the body and decided to add this koi to their collection. The daughter picked a 14" friendly yellow kawarimono from our newly completed koi ponds. Pictures show Mr HL Ong and family viewing and selecting koi. HL also purchased a salt tester which is useful should there be a bacteria attack.

HL's koi pond has a swing above the pond which makes viewing of koi particularly enjoyable! I look forward to feature his koi pond in my blog soon.

New Arrival - most outstanding Japanese farms

Above picture shows Mr Chew and his family members, all smile after selecting one Omosako Shiro Utsuri and a Ki-Showa. Serving them is Gee, our sales staff. Mr Chew became the 3rd customer to make booking for our new arrivals. A Mr Shak has booked 2 Izumiya Yamabuki Ogon and Mr Fong has purchased several Platinum. Our strong supporter, Mr David Kee also purchased one Omosako Shiro and 2 Otsuka Hi Asagi.

We thank you for your support and look forward to you picking up your new purchases next week!

More pond facilities at retail outlet

We are adding more ponds to the outlet. Two small 1-ton ponds (picture above) and a much bigger 18-ton pond will be added. Construction for the two small ponds started today and is expected to complete within the next 5 days.

The 18-ton pond, with intention to double up as a Show pond for potential customers planning to make ponds; is expected to be ready come 3rd week of November. Will bring you more details as we progress along.

New arrival - August

We have just received our new stock from Japan. These koi are available for viewing at our retail outlet. Pictures of them are already posted. Sales will commence next Tuesday but you are able to make your bookings right away. If you are prepared to quarantine them yourself, it is possible for you to buy them right away. We make it simple for you.

Our in-house discount policy applies to new arrivals too! We look forward to welcome you.

Holland Koi Show - Pond bottom drain and Cocoon

Returned late this afternoon and posted more pictures of the Koi Show on main page of blog. This year, the weather was fine throughout the 3 days, unlike previous years where occasional light rain fell. The crowd could easily be more than 30,000 and must be the biggest koi show on earth!

Visited several big distributors for koi and pond accessories in Holland and Germany. Along with the desire of some new pond owners, we have brought in bottom drains with oxygen diffuser. Please refer to the above picture.

Over the years, many koi hobbyists in Europe are feeding their koi with cocoons (picture at top) which is a very affordable koi food supplements. This food is very high in protein - close to 60% and koi on such diet grow very fast. It is also very well-liked by koi and so it is a kind of titbits for koi like chocolates to children. We plan to bring in cocoon for our customers to feed their koi too!

Holland Koi Competition - 17 to 19 August

At Holland Koi Show and participated in the competition for the 2nd year. Better result this year as we have been awarded two 1st prizes and three 2nd prizes out of 7 koi submitted. Last year we got one 1st prize and three 2nd prizes.

Will be travelling to Germany today before returning back where more pictures will be featured here for your viewing pleasure.

Oxygen for your Koi

Several koi hobbyists contacted us as they face with green water. One even ended up with several of his koi dieing suddenly early this week.

It is important to have basic pond and filtration designs which promote effective water circulation with jets and efficient bottom drains. To find out more, go to Koi Care page for a more detailed explanation of the importance of abundance of Dissolved Oxygen in your Koi Pond. Happy reading......

Customers from Muar

Many far away customers have been visiting us over the months. This afternoon we welcomed this family from Muar. They bought 5 koi and also koi food before making their 3-hour journey back home. We thank them for their support!

Pond - Sin Chew Daily advertisement

We share with you the advertisement we recently placed. Do consider us should you have intention to have a koi pond built - you stand a chance to win the fabulous Tancho.

Tancho Draw 2008

With the intention to allow our customers to enjoy the beauty of Nishigikoi, we are giving away a very beautiful Tancho as our prize for a Lucky Draw for our pond customers. Here are the Rules and Regulations of this draw.

1.This Draw is open to customers who engage Kohaku Koi House to build or upgrade Koi pond.
2.Koi pond assignment must be confirmed on or before 22 July 2008, the closing date.
3.Every RM10,000 worth of pond contract sum will entitle the customer to one draw ticket.
4.The draw will be conducted on or before 23 July 2008 at our premises.
5.Customer can view the Tancho at our retail outlet In the event of any unfortunate circumstances to the Tancho, we will replace koi of similar value.
6.If less than 6 participants, we reserve the right to extend the closing date.
7.Picture of winner will be posted on our web blog www.kohaku-koi-house.blogspot.com.

If you have intention to build Koi ponds, do get in touch with us for a discussion.

Visitors and customer

Our German customer, Mr Schierhoelter made a visit to our farm at short notice. He was truly impressed with what he saw - the quality of our koi and the facilities we have including the water quality. We also welcomed visitors from other Malaysia koi farms, Mr Chai and Mr Mahendran.

Singapore Koi Club Koi Show

The Show was held on 2 June. A 82 cm Sanke was crowned the Grand Champion. Spotted several of our customers at the Show. Two of them are Mr Oh and family and Mr Ng with his eldest son. We hope you all had a wonderful time.

Aquarama 2007 - Overseas customers

This afternoon, our farm hosted a visit by many overseas customers from Italy, Japan and others. They were impressed with our facilities, the set-up of our farm and our effort in preventing KHV. One of them placed orders and also arranged for us to send him pictures of our coming harvest as he wanted bigger koi for his big pond back in Italy.

We would like to convey our thanks for their visit and look forward to see them again soon.

Koi Pond - Fabulous koi in completed pond

Finally a total of 33 koi ranging in sizes from 5 to 16 inches swimming in this nicely shaped pond. A new challenge has started, we have to monitor the pond carefully as the maturing process of the pond just started only few days ago.

Thank you Mr & Mrs Hoe for the opportunity given to us to promote koi keeping. The joy and excitement for you and your family members have just begun.

After slightly more than 5 weeks, the pond was eventually filled with water on 5 May to soak up and clear piping system of construction dirts and dust. The water pumps were switched on this morning. The pond maturing process to prepare the pond for koi will commence this Wednesday after the water is totally discharged off. Few more final touch-up works will be carried out over the next 3 days before official hand-over.

This is the overview of the pond after another week, with all concreting works completed.

What we are left with now are finishing works.

Picture on the left shows shallow pond where water will be flowing down to the koi pond (picture on the right).


Picture here shows filter chamber with 5 compartments. More works will be needed to build up the filter compartments where the various filter media will be placed. Right at the bottom are the catchment compartments where waste can be effectively flushed to the dry chamber on the right for drain off.

Saturday, 14 April 2007



This pond project commenced early afternoon of 30 March '07. The overall pond outline has taken shape. Background is the koi pond with a shallow pond at the front end (not visible) with a combine water volume of 13 metric ton. The size of the filter chamber at the foreground is built with a ratio of approximately 26% of the pond. Picture taken on morning of 13 April '07.

The koi pond will be built with fountain vase and water flowing from two locations along the wall lined with cultured tiles.


Sunday, 25th March 2007, 11.36am



This is the location where a koi pond is being considered and should be ready 6 weeks from now. The owner took much effort consulting Fengshui master on the best location for this new koi pond. Such effort is important and brings about peace of mind. Even the day and time for the work commencement of the pond have been determined by this Fengshui master.

We will do our best to have a great pond to meet the satisfaction of Mr Hoe and his family members. This is going to be a pond filled with great koi for sure.

Koi Pond - Budget approach - unveiled

Picture shows the completed koi pond. Take special note of the built-in filter box just behind the pond. Next the water has to be prepared before the koi can be released onto the pond. Congratulations to the proud owner of this Taman Johore resident.

Look at the idea of just buying a blue tank complete with filter chamber (this is not shown in picture yet) and all required filter media and then have a contractor set it up. This approach is low cost and take about a week to have the whole system set up, allowing the owner to enjoy the fun and excitement of koi keeping.

Picture shows work in progress of a Taman Johor resident having his place done up. More will be shown when it is completed. See us at our outlet for more information if you have this in mind.

Talks on Koi Care

Another week-end just passed by. As usual we have many customers dropping by to our retail outlet. Some to purchase koi while others came to seek advice and information on koi care. I came to realize from feedback provided by one customer this afternoon that organizing talks on koi care for new residential areas will be a good way of promoting koi keeping.

I will seriously consider this and hope to be able to bring our expertise to lend support to koi hobbyists who just started out. Meantime should you need help please feel free to visit us at our outlet or give us a call or click - more about koi care page - where relevant topics on how to take care of your koi are featured.

Sales are open for new arrivals

Yes, make your way to our retail outlet to view and also bring home the koi you fancy. We are also available on Mondays if appointment is made.

Remember, our new discount policy also applies to these new arrivals. So far, our customers have been pleased with the discounts offered as they deemed it to be a fair and no-hassle approach given all customers are treated with the same importance. The amount of discount really depends on the quantity of koi purchased and whether the customer is our regular and loyal customer.

We look forward to welcome you!

New arrivals - Viewing and bookings

Picture shows 5 of Mr & Mrs Hoe's booked koi, 4 Kikusui and 1 Hikari kawarimono, not shown are the Koromo, Ginrin Yamabuki and Platinum.

Several interested customers came by to view and book the new arrivals. Our regular customer Mr Ng has booked a Shiro Utsuri. Mr & Mrs Hoe, our koi pond customer (pond ready for koi in about 2 weeks' time) came by today and booked 9 pcs and were given 20% discount! They have also decided to upgrade and pay the difference for the other 9 pcs that came with the pond as a package.

A Mr Khoo called and requested picture of several varieties he has interest in to be emailed to him. Mr Khoo, you will get the picture you requested once this entry is posted. Happy viewing and selection! We are glad to be able to "go the extra mile".

New arrivals from Japan

New stock is scheduled to arrive and ready for viewing on 26 April. Make your way to our retail outlet and be the first to book the koi you fancy.

We have put in place a discount structure to reward our loyal customers and also with the sole intention to make buying from our outlet, a hassle-free experience. Come and find out more.

Black (Ma) Koi

Many customers want black koi. During my recent Japan trip, breeders there are not willing to sell black koi for two reasons. (1) Black koi are not true Nishigikoi as they are more for consumption (2) They are generally not well taken care of, as such they are highly likely a carrier of viruses. With the current fear of KHV (deadly virus that can wipe out all your koi collection within days) it is of upmost important not to have such black koi imported. Not wise to take such high risk!

Customers are advised to consider Bekko or Shiro utsuri instead. These koi have both black and white colors and are good substitute.

Japan - A reflection.......

After almost 30 years I got to see Sakura again - in full bloom. I first landed in Japan some 34 years ago and learned the Japanese language and culture while undergoing industrial training with Matsushita Electric.

One thing has not changed a bit after so many years, and that is the hospitality of the Japanese people and their very humble personality. They are always mindful of what they could do better and seldom give excuses and always willing to take responsibility. Remarkable.

I have uploaded this Japanese song, Nada Sou Sou which caught my ears as I enjoyed (with tears) this movie on a recent SQ flight. Enjoy this nice song as you go through my blog!

Koi Auction and buying trip in Japan

Participated in the just concluded Koi Auction at Narita Koi Farm where 53 breeders (including big names like Sakai and Dainichi) came together to sell their koi at the auction.

This year also saw the most overseas participants with the Thais being the most aggressive, pushing the prices sky-high, the others are from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Great weather, good crowd and a very successful event for the host.

Confirmed the purchase of several popular varieties which customers have been looking forward to. They are Koromo, Shiro utsuri, Platinum Ogon, Gin Yamabuki Ogon, Kikusui and several hundred of Gosanke mix baby koi. These koi are expected to arrive end of this month. We will inform you all the exact schedule when they are firmed up.

Going 'live'

We finally have this blog 'live' at 23.00 hours as planned. Decided on www.kohaku-koi-house.blogspot.com as the blog address after seeking opinions from others. It is my hope that this blog will bring about better information for all koi keepers.

Special mention to Ms Angeline of Temasek Polytechnic for providing the technical supports which included all designs you get to see on this blog. Angeline, thank you so much for the time and effort.

Kohaku 45 cm

Spotted this very nice Kohaku 2-step yesterday. Very nice body shape and exellent color. This Kohaku has very good potential to grow very big.

Interested please call +6 019 6202628 or drop me an email ongph10@hotmail.com.

Koi sold to Singapore customer

Today we sold 85 pieces 40-45 cm of various varieties to a single customer. The customer was very satisfied with the koi she received as she paid a very reasonable price for them. These koi are meant for her gigantic out-door koi pond!

This is a case of customer having full confidence in our judgement by entrusting the selection to us. We always want to meet customer's expectation on price and quality to ensure customer gets the best value. She accepted these koi with comments like (1) color very distinct and red very red (2) the few metallic are real beauties (3) for what I paid, great value!

Europe Koi shipment - Germany

The koi season in Europe has started. Malaysia ships lots of koi to European countries like UK, Germany and Holland. We shipped our 1st overseas shipment in 2007 to Germany on 26 March and just got feedback from our customer.

To quote his exact words from an email he sent this evening, "The Koi arrived in a very good condition and they are VERY (!) nice. We like the Koi a lot and we are very satisfied."

Seeing to an overseas shipment is always a difficult task. It is never easy for two parties to match up on koi quality, but somehow in this case we managed to. Why? It is just adequate upfront preparation and communication between us and the German customer who was buying great volume from Thailand for many years. Thailand had been hit by the terrible KHV virus which wiped out all their koi.

So keeping your koi healthy in your pond is a very important part in koi keeping. Adequate quarantine of your newly purchased koi before letting them into your main koi pond is a must, just in case as in most cases one cannot tell a koi has KHV viruses. Take great care, always.

Nishigikoi - Japan vs local

Picture shows parent koi we fly in from Japan. They are all jumbo sizes!

Often customer asks about the difference between imported Japanese koi and local bred koi. In fact, bloodline is the most important here - the quality of the parent koi we use to spawn koi.

I would use this analogy to explain....... A Japanese multi-national company sends its Director ( handsome, tall and intelligent) to work in Malaysia and his wife also came along to join him in Malaysia. 1 year later when they have a son born in Malaysia. This son will naturally have features following his parents and not looking like an European or Indonesian. In summary, still Japanese.

So if we fly in Japanese jumbo parent koi to spawn our koi here, ours are not the unpolular 'local koi' (spawned with local koi of poor bloodline) but still known as Japanese koi. Our koi will grow in size depending on your pond environment and the koi food you give. Have fun hunting your koi.

Japan Koi Auction - 8 April 2007

This afternoon we received catalogue which provides details and pictures of koi from various farms which will be auctioned off on 8 April in Japan. Keen customer Mr Ng has already reviewed all the pictures and expressed interest to bid those he fancies. More customers will be making their way to view this catalogue, one of them is a Mr Yang who will be making time to our retail outlet tomorrow - he will be buying koi too! For those who are interested please call 019 6202628.


Picture shows Mr Ng (light checked shirt) with Mr PB Ong (one of KKH's directors) studying the catalogue very closely.

Hikari Saki 15 kg - High-end popular koi food

In recent days, many customers came by to ask about this high-end, and I must say, popular only with those who understand the values of this particular grade of koi food. In the course of such enquiries, we get to realize the wide price range one could get from one outlet to another. Of course such products are normally found in the bigger outlets and not your usual neighbourhood aquarium shops.

There are two main reasons for this price difference:

(1) More than one distributor appointed to push the Hikari brand of Koi food.
(2) Freelance koi sellers are also selling the Saki range with cut-throat prices!

I came to know recently that Hikari also started producing koi food in China. Also I have been told that for those who have tried koi food coming from China they have not been impressed! My suggestion is for you to be mindful who you purchase your koi food from!!

Dr Chandran - the man with many hats

Got the pond serviced with the close attendance of Dr & Mrs Chandran. Spent quite a bit of time exhanging views with Dr Chandran (not on koi but his consultant role helping companies to turn around) and found him a very resourceful person with wide engineering and manufacturing knowledge.

Germany-trained Dr Chandran has great admiration for German technologies and we share the same opinions on things like (1) the importance of improving one's capability (2) Doing things right the first time and never leave any room for error. He is also in Solar energy, Automotive Engineering, Wastewater treatment plants and many others. Dr Chandran, I take my hat off you! I hope your sick koi will recover fully. Have fun.

Pond servicing - another call

Got another call, this time from a Mrs Chandran asking to service her koi pond. She sounded desparate and yet very patience. Her koi are in trouble with most swimming around on the pond surface fighting for more oxygen. For such cases, never mind that we have not agreed on a price. We have decided to make the trip this evening to see what we can do to help the koi and Mrs Chandran.

Pond servicing

A call came by from a Mr Azmy who asked to service his koi pond. It was one of the fastest deals we have made. The price was agreed at RM300. For sure we are going to do a good job. I think Mutiara Rini is a place where such service is lacking and deserves our attention
Picture shows a koi pond at the Show House at Mutiara Rini with our Display sign board.

The black koi in a feng shui 9-pc set

The black koi is one where feng shui believers like to keep while also wanting to go for many red. Well, many people have their personal preferences. The choice is yours. More information, please call 019 6202628.

9-pc Feng Shui Set - currently available

If you look closely, you will find there are several more unique varities in this 9-pc set. Goshiki, kumoryu, ochiba and even a tancho which are the higher range of koi. This set would appeal to those who have been keeping koi for a while.

9-pc feng shui set - premium mix 10 - 11 inches

This is one of the 9-pc feng shui sets we offer to new pond owners. Such pre-selected sets are by far the most popular among new pond owners as they get to view the complete set of koi and are able to visualize how they would look like when introduce to their newly completed pond. Call 019 6202628 if you want to find out more.

How much to feed?

This morning a Mr Mohan (did not ask his full name) bought 2 koi to bring his koi collection to 9 as two died after a recent rain. He also asked about how much to feed his koi. Here is our recommendation - 3% of koi food for the total weight of koi in his pond. As a guide, a 12-inch koi (or 3 pcs of 8-inch koi) weighs about 600 gm, so at 3%, the food for this one koi is 18 gm per day. How much is 18 gm? Again as a guide if you use an adult bare hand to grab some koi food and hold them at half- grip - it's about 18 gm. Have fun feeding your koi!

Taiwan trip 8 to 15 March 2007

In Taiwan now to meet with our koi food supplier. Visited the factory yesterday and left with a very good understanding of this very big company which not only makes koi food but also other pet food for dogs and cats. They have been around for 80 years! Looking at the facilities and talking to the person in charge for manufacturing, I am convinced they are trustworthy people running a reliable set up certified to ISO9001.

A trip to Japan is being planned for early April to bring in koi from various farms for our many loyal customers. They want the best value and Koi from the land of Nishigikoi. Many customers are already all excited and we will not fail them. Will keep you all posted on new developments of this trip.