how did we get here?

2005
The City of Detroit closed the Belle Isle Aquarium. Of the over 4,000 fish and aquatic creatures, only the Koi fish remained because they were owned by the City. The Belle Isle Botanical Society took care of the Koi . 

2006
Friends of Belle Isle Aquarium  
(FOBIA) signed a service contract with the Detroit Recreation Department to care for the Koi and move them twice a year between the lily pond and the holding tanks in the BIA basement. 

2008
FOBIA created the “Koi Transfer - Koi Wrangling” event with their own volunteers to help transfer the Koi to and from the  lily pond. 

2012
FOBIA, along with three other island 
affiliate groups, merged to become the Belle Isle Conservancy. The BIC re-opens and manages the Belle Isle Aquarium, now free to the public. FOBIA hosts the first 
community Koi Wrangle that got the public involved with moving the Koi and helped support their commitment to pay for the Koi’s upkeep.

2016
The Koi Wrangle grew to be a large community event with hundreds of participants. 2016 hosted the final Koi Wrangle events. 

2017
The Lily Pond Stabilization project was 
completed, providing  an outdoor home 
for the Koi year-round. The Koi Festival was introduced in to continue to engage the community in place of the Koi Wrangle. 

Japanese folklore tells stories of the Koi fish as warriors of the water who, in some tales, ultimately reach their destiny by turning into a dragon after swimming upstream and reaching the top of the falls. According to legend, if a Koi fish succeeded in climbing the falls at a point called Dragon Gate on the Yellow River, it would be transformed into a dragon. The fish are regarded as a symbol of perseverance in Japan because hey are known for swimming upstream no matter what the conditions are. 

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Koi, more specifically, Nishikigoi, is translated from Japanese as “brocaded carp.” Wild koi are native to the fresh bodies of water around the Black, Caspian and Aral Seas. These fish are colorful, ornamental versions of the common, or Amur, carp native to the freshwaters of Asia. The Koi is known in Japan as the "warrior's fish". Each May for the Boy's Day Festival, beautiful Koinobori streamers in the shape of Koi are flown from poles to represent the Japanese parents' hope that their sons will demonstrate courage and strength. The Belle Isle Conservancy Koi Festival is greatly influenced by the Boy's Day celebrations and traditional Japanese festival games.

Though carp domestication is believed to have begun in China as far back as the 4th century, modern Japanese Koi are believed to date back to early 19th-century Japan where wild black carp (or Magoi, a type of common carp) were kept and bred by rice farmers as a food source to survive severe winter weather conditions. The result born from this was a vibrantly colored carp with an admirable figure that stood out from the rest with it’s rare beauty.  As the farmers developed their breeding operations, they figured out how to breed fish of specific color combinations, and as awareness grew many started to appreciate Nishikigoi like a fine work of art. The world was not aware of Koi color variations in Japan until the early 1900’s when Koi were exhibited in Tokyo, Japan and now, after centuries of breeding  there are now dozens of different color varieties of Koi.

Koi can grow up to 3 feet (90 centimeter) in length and weigh more than 12 pounds each. They are omnivorous feeders who will eat food found at all depths of water. Our collection of Koi are fed a floating pellet, though they will also eat aquatic insects, algae and plants.  They can even be trained to eat from your hand. Koi have an average lifespan of 40 years, and it is believed that the oldest-known Koi lived to be nearly 230 years old. A fish's age is determined by testing it's scales, which produce growth rings much like a tree.

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Belle Isle Aquarium Koi Pond

2019 Koi Festival 

Iconic Architecture
Minoru Yamasaki, a Japanese-American architect who practiced in Michigan for 40 years, was one of the world's best-known architects in the early 1960s. He is the mind architect behind  several iconic Detroit buildings including the One Woodward building which is his first skyscraper, and the only one he designed prior to the World Trade Center. The building originally housed the Michigan Consolidated Gas Comapny. 

Curbed Detroit lists Yamasaki's most important architecture in and around the City. Check it out the list here. 

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One Woodward Ave. 

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