Hey Steve. The question is imported from where? There are many places in the far east where we get Koi. The major difference in the Koi is bloodlines. The Koi from Japan can be very expensive. They and China have been breeding Koi for centuries so the fish will almost always breed true. Mutations are most often destroyed. Other markets such as the Philippines and Malasia are not so old and the fish can differ greatly from the Japanese and Chinese Koi. I don't know if there is a market for the Chinese Koi. Domestic Koi, those bred here, don't really have an established bloodline. While many of the domestic Koi present great color and form they are essentially mutts or hybrids. The Butterfly Koi that is so popular here is not really acceptable in Japan and China at this time. That may change since demand is growing. Sandy

Genetic modification has been practiced by humans for thousands of years. Do you, dear reader, think we're eating wheat, corn, or whatever crop you care to name that is identical to the wild species from which they came? Of course not. the simplest form of genetic modification is" selection". so somebody in the distant past noticed this barley plant had fatter seed heads than all the others, saved those, maybe even crossed them with another plant with desirable characteristics, ad infinitum, all the way to the present. "Genetic engineering" is the thing that's got folks in a tizzy. That's where genes from one organism are spliced into a totally unrelated one, to confer some characteristic or other into that plant. Jeepers creepers, there sure is a lot of confusion! Then, toss in the single word 'Monsanto', and you're all set! Pseudo-knowledge at its very worst, and will be the undoing of us yet. We're born explorers, always looking under rocks to see what's there. Should we not be what we are? Should we simply gather berries, perhaps snare an animal every so often, to provide ourselves with food. My gosh, this internet may just be the dumbest thing yet, at least in so far as what it's doing to our critical thinking ability. Come to think of it, Einstein predicted exactly this-that our technology would advance to a state where we no longer can or will think. It's in good display right here. +oM

Um, excuse me dobesrule, but that is completely wrong. There is no such thing as a "pure evil" animal, only poorly treated and raised. The species it's self is not the unpredictable one, it's the human that raises it. The one and only cause of aggression toward humans in any animal is it's previous experience with them. If an animal is raised around humans and interacting with them from birth they won't have any issues with humans. If they are raised by simply being brought home and being paid attention to occasionally when the owner comes home, or being followed by children and then being abused by them: pulling the animal's tail and fur and ears and hurting it, it will be aggressive towards humans, especially children. How a animal turns out is ALWAYS dependent upon how it is raised. It is wrong to make a generalization on a species' character based upon how some are treated and raised and is too common a thing to see. Previously it was pit bulls, now it's wolves and wolf hybrids. If people would stop jumping into something they are not equipped for and start educating themselves this ignorance and intolerance would end.

Tigerdunes. My house is 1900 sq ft, to be honest I have no idea what size the current heat pump is, it's original to the house which was built in 1986, its a Trane. The reason for the hybrid water heater in the duel fuel quote is to meet the efficiency standards for the NJ clean energy program, a natural gas hot water heater does not reach those standards. My current electric rate is .087 per kwh for supply. if I average in delivery it comes out to about .132 per kwh. gas rates are about .50 cents per Therm. Thanks Mike, I was afraid of prices being inflated when using the program. I know carrier is supposed to be top of the line but a 5-6k difference seems a little much. That is why I'm trying to get a few more quotes from contractors who do not participate in the program. I've talked to 2 carrier dealers and they both want to push to the program. The other dealer didn't offer a duel fuel option he just went to the most expensive heatpump they offer through the program and the gas option was about 2k more than the one I listed above. I've looked in to what is actually done when air sealing and what they are proposing I could probably do myself for a few hundred bucks, it doesn't seem worth it to me.