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Linebreeding is the means by which a bloodline is established and maintained. However, consistent linebreeding is not common in Australia. There have been numerous outcrosses to unrelated koi. There has been a lot of outcrossing to other varieties.Bloodline traits are passed on through the genotype. The recognition occurs in the phenotype. The majority of Australian koi are a mixed bag of skin, scale, pattern and body types. This makes picking a tategoi difficult as there is muddied mix of genetics determining the future development. To date, the bag of genetic mix has made the production of an Australian Bloodline less likely if not impossible

Lets make some distinctions between bloodline and some other, similar concepts. Some synoyms or related words of bloodline include, lineage, ancestry and pedigree.

Lineage can be confused with bloodline. Lineage is ancestry. My parents are from Ireland and Wales. That is my ancestry. I have a sanke that I know came from koi bred by Keith Dubber. But I can not identify any repeated, inherited traits from any generation since the the original parents.

Pedigree is a ‘family tree’ history. It identifies lines of descent. Pedigree is a tool for mapping geneaology. A family tree is one such chart form to show descendants of an individual. It highlights siblings, crosses (inbred or outbred) and relationships to other lines.

In some animals, the pedigree is also recognises standardized breeds that separates one type from another. These breeds when cross together are true to type i.e. Great Dane Parents will always produce Great Dane offspring. In koi, this approach would not be applicable as Sanke parents will produce at least three different varieties of koi, sanke, kohaku and bekko.

Is there a case in Australia for developing a Pedigree Registry? A pedigreed animal has a recorded ancestry that is often kept in a registry. Pedigree differs considerably to a bloodline. It would allow ancestry to be traced but would not record bloodline traits. It could not be a tool for knowing the future, likely development of a koi. An identified bloodline will allow for some predictability in this area. I say some predictability as environmental influences are important in either realising the development of the phenotype and conversely other conditions can prevent those traits from being fully expressed.

Pedigree is often interchanged with the word purebred. You may sometimes see advertised “Purebred Japanese Koi”, which in Australia is nonsense. They may have a Japanese lineage. They are bred in Australia and therefore are Australian Koi. Only “Purebred Japanese Koi” are bred in Japan.

Where does this leave the original question? If there is/are Australian bloodlines, little of it has yet been identified, less recorded. Given the mainly ad hoc approach to breeding, the existence of an Australian bloodline is in my view unlikely at this time. I do know that there are presently several hobbyists who have been making an effort to stick to a linebreeding program. Out of these, I do believe that over the next 40 years, there will come something that will be called an Australian Bloodline. But, it will only be called a bloodline if someone or several people go out of there way to identify those repeated traits within a known, established line.

I do hope that this discussion will inspire those and future breeders to continue to linebreed and develop that future bloodline/s. Some hobbyists bred koi and some are koi breeders. Everyone starts out pairing koi they can get their hands on in the hope of producing something nice. As you spend time in the hobby, most evolve into koi breeders, who set out with a goal of improving on what they have. They have a vision of what they hope to produce, they stop being people who breed koi and become koi breeders.

The better versions in our spawning results start off almost completely white or small areas of sumi with the dark brain showing through the thin skull. Most of these develop more sumi later. We cull those with shiro and a pink skull. Those that start off mostly black, stay that way.

I will try to get  a photo later in the week of this koi, showing the sumi below lateral line.

So, the serious backyard hobby has taken up the pursuit of producing quality in very small bodies of water during the time when the farms were focused elsewhere. Most of the koi exhibited at shows, year after year come from our suburban ponds. There will be a significant negative impact of the hobby due to the new regulations and compliance requirements. Sadly, the bulk of the commercial side of the business will no longer be supplying koi to small pet shops in the usual quantity. These lower grade koi have a been a common introduction fish to the new koi keeper. The fish produced out of our tiny backyards will not be able to fill the void left by the exit of koi farms. Once a koi keeper sells/trades/barters/consigns or similar, some of the koi they have bred to a pet shop, they may be considered a commercial operation and will be required to obtain the aquaculture permit. The new regulations do allow a koi keeper to sell/trade/barter/consign or similar their koi without a permit, so long as they do not meet two key criteria.

1) Total facilities including filtration must not exceed 10,000L &

2) The koi are bred for the purpose of sale/trade/barter/consignment.

A koi keeper can have facilities greater than 10,000L, so long as they are not breeding for the purpose of selling. Breeding for the purpose of improvement is allowed and the sale of some of those koi is permitted, so long as the primary objective was not 2) – (there is the potential for much subjective interpretation here).

For the past few years, the serious koi hobby has taken up the main responsibility of improving the stocks. Most of the koi taken to shows were produced in someones backyard. Over the next few years, this may be the sole source. The serious koi keeper rose to the challenge of producing the quality the farms ignored. Those people, and the club base will now also need to take the main and possibly sole responsibility of new introductions, without the benefit of a pet shop/garden centre distribution base.