Almost 30 years ago, Martin Kammerer discovered his fascination with Koi and traveled to Japan for the first time, where he visited the Konishi Koi Farm in Hiroshima. His friendship with Joji Konishi, owner and president of the fish farm, led to a close and successful business partnership. Today, the German company even bears the same company name and is the exclusive European representative of the Japanese Koi breeder, whose tradition spans over 100 years. J-BIG had the opportunity to speak with Martin Kammerer, Managing Director of Konishi Europe GmbH, and his daughter Lisa-Marie Kammerer, who is set to take over the family business. We talked about the company’s beginnings, the unique aspects of the Koi trade, their collaboration with Japan, and their plans for the future. A story of intuition, trust, and a remarkable German-Japanese business symbiosis.
J-BIG: Living in Baden-Württemberg, how did you originally come into contact with the world of “Koi”?
Martin Kammerer: That was one of the great coincidences in my life. While I was studying, I worked at a discotheque, but eventually grew tired of it. Around that time, my father built a Koi pond and asked me to go buy some fish. I came across these fascinating Japanese fish at Kölle Zoo in Heilbronn and was immediately captivated. The sales rep advising me was a young student, and I quickly asked the manager if he needed another student for the fish department. He hired me on the spot.
The lucky part was that this—around 1997—was essentially the beginning of the Koi business in Europe. At that time, there were only two Koi dealers, and Kölle Zoo was one of the very first. Later, dealers started springing up like mushrooms, and I was the youngest among them, full of initial enthusiasm. I was one of the first, and completely passionate about it.That was the perfect initial spark.
J-BIG: How did your passion for Koi develop?
Martin Kammerer: Many people think I turned my hobby into a profession, but Koi was never a hobby for me. From the very beginning, it was a deep enthusiasm, and today, it’s my absolute passion. That said, I’m not the type to spend two hours by the Koi pond in the evening—I simply don’t have the patience for that.
After a few years at Kölle Zoo, the wholesaler I worked with at the time took me to Japan and introduced me to the Konishi Koi Farm. Joji Konishi, the owner, and I liked each other immediately. And once you’ve formed that kind of ‘brotherhood’ in Japan, it tends to last a lifetime.
J-BIG: How did the collaboration with Konishi and the renaming come about?
Martin Kammerer: At the end of my industrial engineering studies, I had a decision to make: either pursue a conventional engineering career or continue in the Koi trade. I called Joji Konishi and presented him with those two options. He already knew I had a talent for Koi trading. When he asked what my conditions were, I told him I wanted to use his company name to give the business authenticity. I also wanted exclusive rights to sell his Koi in Europe. He agreed to both
To this day, that agreement remains unique worldwide. No one outside Japan is permitted to use a Japanese breeder’s name in this industry. This special position allowed me to build a brand, market specific Konishi bloodlines and varieties in a targeted way, and promote the name itself. Instead of buying from a breeder who supplies many dealers, I work exclusively with Konishi—and have developed a genuine brand-driven business.
For example, our fish and products have been available at Pflanzen-Kölle and Kölle Zoo for the past six years—on the condition that only Konishi Koi are sold there. If fish from different wholesalers were kept in the same pond, diseases would spread.
J-BIG: Tell us about the history of Konishi in Japan. The company is over 100 years old.
Martin Kammerer: The Konishi Koi Farm was founded in Japan in 1919. The grandfather of current president Joji Konishi originally worked as a carp farmer, running a traditional aquaculture business in the mountains of Hiroshima. Over time, he gradually began breeding Koi as well. However, during the Second World War, parts of the farm were destroyed by the atomic bomb.
His son, Toshikatsu Konishi, initially worked primarily as a dealer. The distance from Hiroshima to Niigata—the traditional center of Koi breeding—is around 1,000 kilometers. After the war, Japan’s economy, like Germany’s, experienced rapid growth. As prosperity increased, so did the demand for Koi, which at that time was still a purely domestic phenomenon. Toshikatsu frequently traveled to Niigata, where he bought high-quality fish and sold them in Hiroshima.
He became so influential that he even acted as a middleman among the breeders in Niigata. Toshikatsu was a sharp businessman and played a major role in driving up the value of Koi. He would buy fish at a certain price and resell them for three times as much. In doing so, he also helped the breeders, who began receiving significantly higher prices for their fish.
J-BIG: So Koi farming in Niigata is the origin of the Koi business?
Martin Kammerer: Absolutely. The original koi farming in Niigata had a very practical reason. Farmers in the mountain regions grew rice, but had no source of protein. Carp were kept in the rice fields and provided that protein. Around 300 years ago, a color mutation occurred, and farmers began breeding these colorful carp—what we now know as Koi—as a sideline. There were already specialized breeders at the time, but they couldn’t yet make a living from it.
Toshikatsu Konishi changed that. He also traded in the first Grand Champions, the winning fish at the world championships in Tokyo, and slowly built up his own farm in Hiroshima.
J-BIG: When did the internationalization of the Koi business begin?
Martin Kammerer: The internationalization of the Koi business only began after the Second World War. Before the war, there were no transparent plastic bags into which oxygen could be pumped, which made transportation much more difficult. Back then, fish were transported in barrels—often in quite adventurous conditions. If even half of them arrived alive, it was already considered a success.
The first world exhibitions for koi took place in the 1960s. Any fish swimming in our ponds today would have easily won back then— the standard was still very low. As Koi prices increased, more breeders became interested in the business. There’s really only one reason why Koi breeding is expensive: production is very costly. The higher prices allowed breeders to invest, build greenhouses and expand their facilities. Today, the Konishi Koi Farm is a huge operation with 15 greenhouses.
Bjoern Eichstaedt follows the history of the Koi business in Europe with great interest.
J-BIG: Can you tell us more about the scale of the Konishi Koi Farm in Japan?
Martin Kammerer: The farm employs around ten people. There are between 80 and 100 ponds, each ranging from 50 to 200 square meters, used for rearing baby Koi from the larval stage up to about 20 centimeters in size. In addition, there are outdoor ponds located 10 to 30 kilometers from the main farm. These ponds actually serve as water reservoirs for rice farmers, helping ensure that rice fields remain irrigated during dry periods.
Konishi Koi Farm has around 40 of these outdoor ponds. The largest is about the size of a football field; the smallest is roughly 300 to 400 square meters. Each spring, fish are placed into the ponds and fished out again in autumn. Interestingly, very little technology is used in this area. The entire process is still heavily shaped by traditional methods and manual labor.J-BIG: Können Sie uns mehr über die Dimension der Konishi Koi-Farm in Japan erzählen?
J-BIG: What exactly does the Koi business look like? What kinds of business models are there?
Martin Kammerer: The traditional business model is very different from ours. In Japan, Koi breeders are essentially farmers who specialize in breeding Koi. But unlike regular carp farmers, they don’t rear fish for food, but rather according to aesthetic criteria. When it comes to grading, there are better and worse, more and less beautiful specimens—and then there are the rare exceptions. The unfortunate thing is that Koi are often reduced to just those few outstanding individuals. It’s like show jumping: the media focuses on the horses sold for 10 million euros, but the sport is really made up of tens of thousands of amateur riders.
In our business, Koi priced under 1,000 euros each account for 90 percent of our revenue—and 1,000 euros is already an incredibly high price for a fish. The top 10 percent may range from 10,000 to 100,000 euros, but those are the exceptions. The core of our business lies in smaller fish, around 12 to 15 centimeters in size, with entry-level prices starting at about 20 euros.
What sets us apart is that we work exclusively with a single breeder and now distribute over 90 percent of Konishi’s Japanese production. It’s a true symbiotic relationship. Nearly everything Konishi breeds comes to us—except for fish needed for exhibitions in Japan or a few individual specimens sold elsewhere.
Another key difference from the traditional model is our online auction strategy. We began holding no-reserve auctions about twelve years ago and have been running them every week since. This approach has eliminated the seasonal nature of the business. In Japan, auctions always have starting bids. The fish are pulled from outdoor ponds in autumn, and that’s when dealers from all over the world come to Niigata to buy directly from breeders. By contrast, our system allows us to conduct business year-round.
J-BIG: How did you develop this strategy? What other sales methods do you use?
Martin Kammerer: When I made the agreement with Konishi in the early 2000s, everyone was talking about auctions and eBay. I asked my programmer to find an unfinished auction module and implement it on our website. He built the auction house around it and we began selling online with just a few fish. For a short time, we had a strategy where the second-highest bidder would receive 3 percent of the auction price as Konishi Koi Points, credited to their customer account. That incentive helped the auction platform grow relatively quickly.
Koi with quality between 70 and 90 percent are primarily sold through the auction house. Prices for two-year-old fish typically range from 700 to 2,000 euros. Some are sold directly, while others remain in Japan for breeding purposes. The top 10 percent are sold at fixed prices set in Japan—usually between 5,000 and 10,000 euros, and occasionally even more. The price-to-size ratio in Koi increases exponentially.
J-BIG: How big is the Koi market in Germany?
Martin Kammerer: According to a survey by the Federal Statistical Office, around 106,000 Koi were imported from Japan to Germany in 2022. We sell between 20,000 and 30,000 Koi per year, so roughly a quarter to a third of the German market.
There are around 3 million garden ponds in Germany, and about 700,000 of them have Koi swimming in them — sometimes without the owner even realizing they’re Koi. Our YouTube channel, which is mainly followed by a German audience, currently has around 95,000 subscribers and gains about 30 new ones every day. I estimate the number of serious koi lovers in Germany to be around 100,000, and this number is constantly growing.
Lisa-Marie Kammerer: Our pond shows are always fully booked, and professional pond builders are getting more orders than they can handle. Interestingly, our customer base is getting younger. You might expect this to be a hobby for the older generation, but we’re seeing a lot of people in their twenties building Koi ponds. It’s often men who take up Koi keeping as a hobby.
J-BIG: And where does this growing interest come from?
Martin Kammerer: One interesting phenomenon is that many carp anglers are becoming Koi enthusiasts. Through social media and our YouTube channel, they discover that these beautiful, colorful animals can be raised at home. Many of them transition from carp fishing to Koi, or pursue both hobbies simultaneously. Some even build 10,000-liter tanks in their garages to raise their fish.
Koi from Konishi are also exceptionally large, which makes them especially appealing. Every Koi farm has its own area of specialization: Sakai, for example, is known for the best red-and-white fish, while Konishi is famous for its particularly large yellow Koi.
J-BIG: How does the generational change in your company work? Lisa-Marie, how did you get into the business?
Lisa-Marie Kammerer: It wasn’t something I thought about as a child, but once I got older, I started to seriously consider it. I grew up around the Koi business, but it was never my personal hobby—I wasn’t the type to sit by the pond for hours. But when I was about 18, I realized that I might really enjoy working in the company.
I’ve now been working here full-time for three years and have quickly grown into the role. Today, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. The work is fulfilling, and I truly enjoy it. I’ve followed in my father’s footsteps, but I also want to bring my own personality and ideas into the business.
J-BIG: Where do you see potential to bring your own ideas into the company?
Lisa-Marie Kammerer: I’ve started being more active on Instagram and TikTok. While my father used to be the one in front of the camera, now I’m the one appearing in the videos. This allows me to bring my own style and ideas to marketing and also appeal to younger audiences. The topics around the fish remains the same, but the way we present them can evolve.
I also take after my father in many ways, and we have a kind of unspoken understanding. I’ve observes how he works and have adopted that approach. I’m also spontaneous and intuitive by nature—which has been a great fit from the beginning and is one reason why our decision-making runs so smoothly.
Martin Kammerer: Despite our intuitive way of working, we’ve built a highly structured business. Our auctions start every Monday at 8 p.m. and end the following Sunday at 8 p.m.—without exception, for the past twelve years. We also run regular promotions, like our Christmas and Easter food campaigns. Every morning at 6 a.m., two new videos go live on our YouTube channel—and that’s been the routine for nearly ten years. We’ve created a solid framework that keeps everything on track, but what happens around it is driven by intuition.
J-BIG: What it is like working with Konishi in Japan?
Martin Kammerer: Our cooperation with Japan is built on a strong foundation of trust. When we receive a new shipment from Japan, I often don’t know exactly what’s coming—or what it will cost—until shortly before it arrives. A few days in advance, I’ll call to ask so I can prepare the tanks. The connection between us is so seamless that it feels like we’re one company: we serve as the sales organization, and Konishi in Japan is the production side.
Of course, there are cultural differences. For example, the Japanese express curiosity and enthusiasm in a different way. A good example: in ten years, no one in Japan has ever asked about one of our videos—even when we show the most spectacular gardens with the largest Koi.
It wasn’t until after the COVID-19 pandemic, when I was able to travel to Japan again, that I learned—through a chance conversation in a bar—what Joji Konishi really thought of me and our company. He was full of enthusiasm and said I was the only Koi dealer in the world who had said during the pandemic, “Send me your fish if you can’t store them in Japan—I’ll sell them here.” If I hadn’t overheard that conversation, I might never have known how much he appreciated our partnership.
J-BIG: You mentioned that you have taken the seasonality out of the business. What does a typical business year look like, from rearing to selling the fish?
Martin Kammerer: We’ve structured our business model so that we’re not entirely dependent on seasonal patterns. However, when it comes to fulfillment—the actual delivery of fish to customers—our business is still quite seasonal. That runs from mid-April through the end of August, or into mid-September if pond temperatures are warm enough. For most Koi traders, this seasonal window is economically crucial.
That said, our work is distributed throughout the year. I travel to Hiroshima each October and November, when the new fish arrive from the hatchery. That’s when we present, photograph, and document the fish. From October through April, we primarily auction fish that are still in Japan. Customers buy and pay for them in advance, but don’t receive them until May or June. This keeps our business active year-round, even though fulfillment remains seasonal.
J-BIG: In addition to selling fish, you have also built up a large food business. How did that come about?
Martin Kammerer: Unfortunately, the reason behind it is a sad one. We owe our current food business to the major earthquake in 2011. Until then, we had always sourced our fish food from Japan, which meant long delivery times and quantities that were difficult to plan. When the earthquake hit, the NOSAN food factory in Shiogama where food was produced for Konishiwas partially destroyed. Twelve tons of finished food meant for us were washed out to sea.
After that, the food could no longer be produced there, and Joji Konishi gave us the licence to produce his food in Europe. We found a specialised manufacturer in Switzerland, the company Hokovit Hofmann, which even added a special substance to the food. This enabled us to relocate food production to Switzerland, where we have a partner that is just as strong and innovative as its counterpart in Japan.
J-BIG: What proportion of your total turnover does the food business account for?
Martin Kammerer: It’s now a 50/50 split between fish and food sales. That may come as a surprise, but remember: you only buy the fish once, but you feed it for many years. In addition, the number of customers we can supply with our fish is limited by roduction capacity, while food are not.
Many of our customers don’t buy new fish every year, but they need to continue feeding he ones they already have. And we even have food customers who didn’t get their fish from us at all. Our product is truly innovative and specially formulated for European conditions. The number of food customers continues to grow every year, while the number of fish customers stays stable due to Konishi’s production limits. In five years, it’s likely the food side will be bigger than the fish business.
J-BIG: What is your total turnover?
Martin Kammerer: To give you a few figures: Here in Abstatt, Baden-Württemberg, our team consists of Lisa-Marie, myself and two other employees. We sell around 30,000 fish a year, which is about 1 per cent of all Koi bred in Japan. We also sell a few 10,000 packs of food. Our total turnover is in the single-digit million range.
J-BIG: What are your plans for the future?
Martin Kammerer: Succession planning is is a key issue and one that’s also of great interest to our Japanese partners. Makoto Konishi, who represents the fourth generation, has two daughters and I have Lisa-Marie. So it’s quite possible the future will be shaped by women on both sides, and I believe everyone involved would be happy about that. Long-term continuity is very important to both us and Konishi.
We will continue to focus on our strengths: the exclusive partnership with one of the best Koi breeders in the world and one of the best food manufacturers in Europe. This dual basis makes us independent and crisis-proof. If there are problems in Japan due to natural disasters or other events, our food business can still carry on.
J-BIG: One last question: Where do you see cultural connections or differences between Japan and Germany in the Koi business?
Martin Kammerer: Ther’s actually a direct connection. In Japan, certain varieties of Koi are called “doitsu”, which means “German”. These Koi have few or no scales, similar to the German mirror or leather carp. These types of carp were exported from Germany to Japan between 1910 and 1918.
Today, almost every Koi variety with normal scales also exists in a “German” version with few or no scales. When such a koi is bred, the word “Doitsu” is usually added to the name. As a German in this business, I find it pretty amusing—about one in four Koi are labeled things like “German Red and White” or “German Peacock.”
Lisa-Marie Kammerer: This also showcases the Japanese sense of perfection. A Doitsu Koi has almost no scales, but a perfect lateral line with one scale next to the other. If you look at a German mirror carp, on the other hand, the arrangement of the scales is completely irregular. This shows how the Japanese perfect even a Koi’s scales.
