That will be the warning shout that goes around Niigata breeders for the next couple of days , ill get to the reason why later .Today we were joined by Mark Gardener of https://www.niigata-nishikigoi.com/ , we started advertising with Mark when he started the site and still believe to this day that Mark does a lot of great work bringing the news and facts direct to the world of what is happening in Niigata . ( Advertising with Mark has many other advatages that in sure Mark will discuss with you , feel free to call him .) Anyway , enough of the plug and on with the fish . The day started at Miya koi farm who is the cousin of Miyatora , a very nice guy and has some woderful koi of many varietys . I looked at some nisai and saw some very nice showa so i selected what i thought were very good koi , pleased with what i had picked and with the skills of Mark Gardener on hand some great photos were taken .While Mark was standing on the filter covers and i was returning unwanted koi , i heard the familier crack of wood , Mark had gone through the filter cover and just about saved him self from an early bath ! Mark decieded that he was not going round to the next pond as it was too dangerous as it represents near on an obsticle course to get there , and with the value of Marks camera equipment who could blame him .Feeling alittle more confident i managed to get there to see some very nice koi bought from the main pond by a dutch customer , one of the biggest gin shiro i have ever seen , and a stunning kin showa . I got round the tanks that blocked the path of my return very well as was quite pleased that i had gone where Mark hadnt , thinking that i was a bit more aware of the rotten wood than mark , i stepped right at the edge of the wood , my weight surported by the concrete that the wood sat on , but the wood was much worse than i realised and nothing could pevent the inevatable . This time i took two boards out , airpumps and everything joined me in the filter bay . The breeder was over like a shot and prevented me falling backwards and straight in the pond , he seemed more worried about me than the damadge , but i still felt bad that me and mark had probably given him a couple of hours work .I know that Mark and myself are a not small guys , but these breeders filter covers are stating to really become rotton , some are still there from the day the filter house was built , come on guys , spend some money and get them changed ! Outside we spoke to the agent , i said i was worried what with falling through at Torazos we would give the British a bad name , he laughed and said we already had before to day , you two just made it worse ! The first three photos are of the koi we picked at Miya koi farm , the showa on its own was one reason for buying the box in the first place ! From here , we went to Yamazaki koi farm , ive never really got on here and never found the prices to my liking , today that was about to change . We were in a rush as we were running late , so we diddnt have a lot of time , but i was very impressed with the quality and cariety of the koi , ill definatley be going back , while there i had to select some fish as i saw some koi that had been ordered by customers in the uk . Some sansai Hariwake , Gin matsuba ,and a huge kin matsuba , some nisai gin rin benigoi , shiro utsuri and others .Just waiting for Mark to send some photos , but there are pics of the matsuba , benigoi and hariwake