I do not buy many fish myself. Years that I seriously persue breeding my koi there are often many thousands of fish to sort and I get to keep only a few to raise due to space restraints. Lotsa fun culling it down to a few real nice ones that get to be grown out though. Occasionally in years past I have been known to buy small koi to grow out in the garage tank and greenhouse pond, but I still cull them pretty heavily as they grow and often look at hundreds before I buy one. Maybe it is like gambling for me. Always looking for that one special koi that will survive my clumsy attempts at raising an impressive and beautiful fish. So, gotta get there to see if they have any for me to bet on! Have learned that you can buy a very expensive fish and ruin it with poor husbandry quickly and that most fish are always going to grow up to plain old specklegoi. If I am going to buy one it better be nice for all the effort it will require. Looking forward to shopping at the casino "Michigankoi".
Mikel