LIFETIME SUPPORT
Buy a koi from us. Keep us in your contacts.
When you buy a koi from Waterwheel, you're not closing out a
transaction, you're starting a relationship. We've been clear
from day one that we're a small family farm, and one of the
things that means is that you actually get to talk to us. Not a
customer service department. Not a chatbot. Us.
Lifetime support means exactly that. For as long as you keep
that koi, or any koi, from anywhere, you can come to us with
questions and we'll do our best to help.
WHAT LIFETIME SUPPORT IS
Our lifetime support is the ongoing access to our expertise, our
experience, and our willingness to help you succeed as a koi
keeper. It's the kind of help you'd get from a knowledgeable
friend in the hobby, except this friend runs a koi farm.
It's:
- A koi expert you can reach out to with questions, for as long
as you keep koi
- Honest answers based on real experience, not generic internet
advice
- The kind of ongoing relationship that's hard to find with most
koi operations
WHAT YOU CAN ASK US ABOUT
Pretty much anything koi-related. A few examples of what we
regularly help customers with:
POND SETUP AND DESIGN. Filtration questions, sizing, plumbing,
aeration, planning a new pond, expanding an existing one, we've
built and rebuilt enough ponds on our own farm to have useful
opinions on most of it.
WATER CHEMISTRY. If your numbers are off, or you're not sure
what numbers you should even be testing for, ask us. We'll walk
you through it.
KOI CARE. Feeding, seasonal adjustments, dealing with
temperature swings, what to do when something looks off, the
day-to-day stuff that comes up over the course of keeping fish.
HEALTH CONCERNS. If something's not right with one of your koi,
send us a photo and a description of what you're seeing. We can
often help identify what's going on and suggest a treatment
approach. We're not a substitute for a veterinarian when one is
genuinely needed, but for the kinds of issues koi keepers run
into regularly, we can usually point you in the right direction.
VARIETY IDENTIFICATION. Got a koi and you're not sure what
variety it is? Send us a clear photo and we'll tell you. We can
do this for koi you bought from us, koi you bought from
somewhere else, koi you inherited with a house, koi you've had
for ten years and never identified, doesn't matter where the
fish came from. We'll always give you a straight, kind answer.
Koi identification can get snobby on the internet, and that's
not how we approach it. If you have a Hirenaga Kohaku, we'll
tell you that's a Hirenaga Kohaku, and we'll happily explain
what that means and where it fits in the wider world of koi.
GRADING QUESTIONS. If you want to know how we'd grade a fish,
yours or someone else's, we'll give you an honest opinion. Same
standards we apply to our own inventory.
GROWTH TRACKING. Send us a picture every six months and we'll
happily tell you how your koi is developing. It's genuinely fun
for us, and it's a nice way to see how the fish from our farm
are doing in their new homes.
NEWSLETTER
Our newsletter goes out weekly. Each issue is built to be useful
and interesting, with a mix of things like:
- Current available stock, often with a chance to see new fish
before they go up on the public site
- A spotlight variety, covered in depth with information about
its history, characteristics, and how to recognize a good
example
- Koi care tips — practical, seasonal advice for keeping your
fish healthy and your pond running well
- Koi facts and trivia, because the hobby is more fun when you
know the stories
- Farm updates — what we've been working on, what's coming in,
what we're excited about
As our breeder relationships grow, we'll start adding breeder
spotlights, deeper looks at the Japanese farms we source from,
their history, their bloodlines, and the people behind them.
Newsletters also occasionally include things we don't list here,
because we like to keep them fresh.
The general principle: if
it's interesting to a koi keeper, it might show up.
Sign up is free. You can unsubscribe anytime.
PRIORITY ACCESS FOR CUSTOMERS
Customers on our list also get a few perks that come with being
part of the Waterwheel community:
EARLY ACCESS TO NEW KOI. When we bring in new imports or list
new homebred F1 fish, our customers get to see them before they
go public. If something catches your eye, you have a head start.
THE VARIETY WAITLIST. If there's a specific variety you're
hunting for, add your name to the waitlist. When we get that
variety in, you'll be notified, in order, based on when you
joined the list. First on the list, first pick.
BREEDER REQUESTS. If you're after a koi from a specific Japanese
breeder we work with, let us know. We'll do what we can to
source it for you on our next import. This isn't a guarantee,
since we don't control what's available on the breeder's end,
but if it's possible, we'll make it happen.
HOW TO REACH US
Use whichever channel works best for you:
- EMAIL — for most questions, especially anything that needs a
detailed answer or includes photos
- CONTACT FORM on our website — the easiest way to reach us if
you don't already have our email
- WHATSAPP for quicker back-and-forth conversations
- SOCIAL MEDIA DM Facebook, Instagram — we check these
regularly
- PHONE we keep phone calls for shipping questions, farm visit
appointments, and anything genuinely urgent. Our phone number
is in the contact section of the website.
We respond to all messages within 24 hours. We may not always
get to messages during the day, there's usually a fish-related
task happening somewhere on the farm, but we set aside time
every evening to catch up on everything that came in during the
day. So even if you don't hear from us straight away, you will
hear from us. The only times that might slip are family
emergencies or rare phone and internet issues.
WHY WE DO THIS
Honestly? Because we like it.
We like talking koi. We like helping people figure out their
ponds. We like seeing photos of fish we sold years ago looking
magnificent in someone else's water. We like the part of this
business that's about the hobby and the community.
Lifetime support isn't a marketing gimmick for us. It's the part
of the job we'd be doing anyway.