About HKF
Hanover Koi Farms (aka-HKF) is a full-time Koi farm/retailer located in South Central Pennsylvania, very near the state border with Maryland. We sell Koi retail to the general public both online and to walk-in customers to the farm! We are in a beautiful rural setting just outside of Hanover, PA. HKF is within an hour’s drive from downtown Baltimore and open to the general public for the sale of Koi, Butterfly Koi, and Koi/Pond related products. We are very close to many famous sights like historic Gettysburg, Codoras State Park/Lake Marburg and many shopping outlets. We are also very close to Amish country in Lancaster, PA. There is tons to see and do in the area so make a day of it with the family!
We are one of, if not the largest retailer of Koi and Butterfly Koi in the country. We generally have thousands of fish for sale at any given time! Our selection is overwhelming, and we promise you have not seen more Koi for sale anywhere–especially when talking Koi of this quality, and including the much sought after Butterfly Koi!
We also sell online and at the farm anything you could ever need for your pond or fish! This of course minus all the crap products and snake oils sold by others. We only sell what we use and know works from years of testing.
This farm is a 24/7 endeavor, and most people do not realize what is truly involved in breeding and raising Koi properly. Due to the amount of farm work involved, our business hours are limited. So be sure to check out out “Contact Us” page for a complete listing of business hours.
We put our heart and soul into these fish, and, believe me, it shows. Building this business over the years has given me great pride and a sense of accomplishment, but it has also been a difficult struggle. I need to give lots of credit and thank all my family, friends and customers who have helped me and continue to help me along the way. They too are another reason I have been able to persevere.
Our main focus is the breeding of many varieties of Koi and Butterfly Koi, and with the latter we have some of the best in the world. Being trained partially by one of Japan’s top breeders went a long way in helping me develop the many bloodlines now available only at Hanover Koi Farms. I can say with confidence that after many years of hard work and trial and error, we have become a much sought after “brand”/bloodline of Koi and Butterfly Koi.
Our specialty is smaller sized fish but we sell many varieties/breeds of Koi and Butterfly Koi. The variety of breeds is what we are known for. Due to the vast selection of different varieties we breed being our primary focus, we specialize in smaller sizes of Koi and Butterfly Koi up to 10″. These sizes are what we have most of at any given time. Sporadically we have larger sizes but the bigger the size the less we have in stock in comparison to smaller ones. We normally only grow fish here at the farm to larger sizes if they are higher quality and/or potential future breeder stock. So understand that the inventory of sizes and classes changes, and this is especially true with larger fish above 12″. We do not stock may of these in comparison to the thousands of smaller sizes. Most folks do not want to pay the price that larger high quality fish command, and therefore we sell primarily the same higher grades in smaller sizes that anyone’s budget can handle.
The Healthiest Fish Available!
My first interest in Koi was not actually the fish themselves but more the microbiology of the pathogens that can hurt them. I was fascinated with the parasites and various diseases they can get, as well as how to keep the proper water quality. With this fascination came an intense desire to learn all I could about keeping them healthy and thriving. Understand that I spent many years becoming a leader in the industry when it comes to Koi health. All of this knowledge and experience has led to developing protocols to assure that you get the healthiest fish possible.
We are known throughout the industry for our strict quarantine and treatment protocol, as well as our bio-security measures. As a matter of fact, we are responsible for developing these protocols regularly used by others in the industry that care about the product they sell. Understand that these places are few and far between and most places DO NOT DO what they should to assure you get the healthiest fish possible.We have literally worked with millions of fish over the years in developing these proven methods. This vast experience has made us one of the leading authorities on Koi health.
When it comes to Koi, Hanover Koi Farms has one of the top rated quarantine facilities on the planet, as well as one of the strictest quarantine protocols. No one feasibly can, or does, much more to make sure you get the healthiest Koi available. Here are a few points that make the above statement true:
- A microscopy is done on 10% of the population of all batches of fish prior to AND after treatments utilized during the quarantine period. This ensures the use of proper treatments and their effectiveness. Once the fish are proven clean, only then do they become available for sale.
- ALL batches of fish are temperature cycled in an attempt to induce any viral symptoms to show themselves. The two primary viruses targeted are SVC (spring viremia of carp), and KHV (koi herpes virus). Each of these virus have their own optimal outbreak temperature ranges, and the fish are generally cycled three weeks in each temperature range.
- Spring and well water (free of fish pathogens) are utilized in every closed system on the farm. This ensures that no pathogens from other populations enter any closed system before or after treatments.
- No fish will be sold unless they have been fully treated and quarantined. Once treated, the fish are housed in closed systems in which no untreated fish or water can enter.
- All equipment is routinely sterilized to aid in further bio-security.
- A percentage of certain batches of fish are periodically sent to a lab for testing. This is done primarily when there is any sort of ailment that does not respond to the standard treatment protocols.
- All systems are isolated or segregated from each other by various means. This helps ensure that cross-contamination is eliminated.
- These are just a few of the things that are done here at the farm to assure bio-security. We do all that is physically and economically feasible to help ensure you get the healthiest fish possible. The bio-security here at the farm is constantly be upgraded as I deem needed, or as money allows. I look at bio-security as something that is never as good as it could be, and I am constantly looking for ways to improve upon it. In my mind, anything less than a “lab grade” clean room is falling short, so you can rest assured I am always doing all that is possible and feasible to improve upon it.